GD IN BVRG H THE CITY OF EDINBURGH COUNCIL Committee Minutes The City of Edinburgh Council Year 2009/2010 Meeting IO-Thursday, 28 January 2010 Edinburgh, 28 January 2010 - At a meeting of The City of Edinburgh Council Present:- LORD PROVOST The Right Honourable George Grubb COUNCILLORS Elaine Aitken Alison Johnstone Ewan Aitken Colin Keir Robert C Aldridge Louise Lang Jeremy R Balfour Jim Lowrie Eric Barry Gordon Mackenzie David Beckett Kate MacKenzie Angela Blacklock Marilyne A MacLaren Mike Bridgman Mark Mclnnes Deidre Brock Stuart Roy Mclvor Gordon Buchan Tim McKay Tom Buchanan Eric Milligan Steve Burgess Elaine Morris Andrew Burns Joanna Mowat Ronald Cairns Rob Munn Steve Cardownie Gordon J Munro Maggie Chapman Ian Murray Maureen M Child Alastair Paisley Joanna Coleman Gary Peacock Jennifer A Dawe Ian Perry Charles Dundas Cameron Rose Cammy Day Jason G Rust Paul G Edie Conor Snowden Nick Elliott-Cannon Marjorie Thomas Paul Godzik Stefan Tymkewycz Norma Hart Phil Wheeler Stephen Hawkins lain Whyte Ricky Henderson Donald Wilson Lesley Hinds Norrie Work Allan G Jackson 2 The City of Edinburgh Council 28 January 2010 1 Deputations (a) Waverley Care Trust (see item 2 below) The deputation spoke on behalf of the Trustees of Waverley Care and welcomed the motion by Councillor Rust on the celebration of 21 years of Waverley Care. Waverley Care Trust was the result of a strong partnership between the former Regional and District Councils, churches, the Health Board and voluntary organisation who had come together in a time of crisis. Waverley Care provided a service which enabled people to live with HIV and Aids and provided a safe place to enable life to continue. A user of the service described the support she had received from Milestone House which had enabled her to deal with her family life. (Reference - e-mail dated 15 January 2010, submitted.) (b) Trade Unions Joint Staff Side (see item 3 below) The deputation raised concerns at the short timescale for consultation on the proposals in the Workforce Management Initiative. There had been no opportunity to try to reach agreement or improve the situation for members. The main issues raised were: 0 the Voluntary Early Release encouraged staff to leave but did not offer an attractive financial incentive 0 the placing of a 3 month limit on Redeployment of staff was felt to be unworkable and the deputation asked that this be taken out of the proposals the selection of surplus staff for redundancy was a critical area which the deputation felt was not robust, understandable , open or fair and could be open to interpretation by individual managers The deputation asked the Council to continue consideration of the matter to enable fuller consultation to take place and impact assessments to be carried out. At worst it asked the Council to consider the changes to the three policies which had been proposed by the Joint Staff Side. (Reference - e-mail and letter dated 27 January 2010, submitted.) 3 The City of Edinburgh Council 28 January 2010 Waverley Care/Milestone House - Motion by Councillor Rust The following motion by Councillor Rust was submitted in terms of Standing Order 28: “This Council: 1) Notes that 2010 sees the 21st birthday of Waverley Care, Scotland’s leading HIV charity, which has its head office here in Edinburgh and which has worked in close partnership with both the Council and NHS Lothian, being a vital plank in the fight against the spread of HIV. 2) Further notes (a) that Milestone House in Oxgangs, originally built as the UK’s first purpose built hospice for people with HIV, is Waverley Care’s flagship project - indeed, the charity was set up to ensure that the unit was built and now provides intensive residential respite support to around 100 people per year; (b) the services operating at Milestone House have always been genuinely holistic with a mix of nursing and social care staff, chaplaincy and quick access to other Waverley Care and Council staff including social workers, health promotion workers, art therapists etc; (c) in recent years it has reflected the changing epidemiology of HIV in Scotland in its care of people from sub-Saharan Africa with the help of the agency’s African Health Project; and (d) the work of Waverley Care has been noted as having international significance - with visitors from around the world wanting to see the model of care and how it can be delivered in other parts of the world and its work has been commended by a House of Commons working group on palliative care as a good example of how care can be delivered to communities which are traditionally hard to reach and often resistant to statutory services. 3) Acknowledges that reports from the Care Commission consistently speak of the quality of the service provided by Waverley Care at Milestone House, noting in the latest report available (July 2009), “This service has always maintained a high level of innovative care for a complex client group” and “It has embraced the values of diversity and equality in a manner which is genuine and supportive. It has recognised that the people who use this service have a mix of physical, psychological and social needs. Milestone meets these needs in a manner which the service users appreciate and benefit from”. 4 The City of Edinburgh Council 28 January 2010 4) Congratulates Waverley Care on its 2IstBirthday and requests that this be marked in an appropriate manner.” The Council had heard a deputation on the motion from the Waverley Care Trust (see item l(a) above). Decision To approve the motion by Councillor Rust. 3 Workforce Management Details were given of the Workforce Management Initiative and the three policies which supported its key activities. The proposed Redeployment Policy had been adjusted following consultation with the Trade Unions and had been tabled. Approval was sought for those policies, namely Voluntary Early Release, Redundancy and Redeployment. The Council had heard a deputation on the matter from the Trade Unions Joint Staff Side (see item l(b) above). Motion 1) To note the contents of the original Workforce Management report (no CEC/l03/09-1O/P&S) by the Policy and Strategy Committee and the supplementary update report (no CEC/I 09/09-1O/CS) by the Director of Corporate Services on Trade Union consultation. 2) To approve the amended Voluntary Early Release Arrangement at Appendix 1 to the report by the Director of Corporate Services for application to cases arising on or after 1 February 2010. 3) To approve the amended Redundancy Procedure and payments at Appendix 2 to the Director’s report for application to cases arising on or after 1 February 2010. 4) To continue the Redeployment Procedure in the revised Appendix 3 to the Director’s report to the Finance and Resources Committee meeting on 4 February 2010 for final consideration. 5) To approve the revised costlsavings test and approval arrangements set out in the report by the Policy and Strategy Committee to apply to early release and redundancy cases arising on or after 1 February 2010. 5 The City of Edinburgh Council 28 January 201 0 6) To note that appropriate arrangements would be established for dealing with applications from Directors and Heads of Service. 7) To instruct the Director of Corporate Services to maintain a dialogue with the trade unions on the implementation of Workforce Management. - moved by Councillor Wheeler, seconded by Councillor Elliott-Cannon (on behalf of the Administration). Amendment To note that these very detailed proposals had been presented to the Trade Unions around 3pm on 24 December 2009. To note that final decisions, in relation to these proposals, had been scheduled initially for the Policy and Strategy Committee on 19 January 2010. That report had been referred (and was now as further amended) to the full Council Meeting of 28 January 2010. 3) To acknowledge the long-term financial case for developing these proposals. 4) Not to agree that a 4-week period (which included the ChristmasINew Year holiday vacation) was adequate to ensure that all interested parties had sufficient time to properly scrutinise the detail of these significant policy developments. 5) Therefore, to agree only to note the contents of the original Workforce Management report (no CEC/I 03/09-1O/P&S) by the Policy and Strategy Committee and the supplementary report (no CEC/I 09/09-1OKs) by the Director of Corporate Services on Trade Union consultation, at this time. To continue the final determination of these proposals to the Council meeting on 11 March 2010, allowing more time for all interested parties to be properly engaged in a meaningful consultation. - moved by Councillor Burns (on behalf of the Labour Group), seconded by Councillor Chapman (on behalf of the Green Group). Voting For the motion - 40 votes For the amendment - 18 votes 6 The City of Edinburgh Council 28 January 2010 Decision To approve the motion by Councillor Wheeler. (References - Policy and Strategy Committee 19 January 201 0 (item 7); reports no CEC/I 03/09-1O/P&S by the Policy and Strategy Committee and no CEC/I 09/09-1O/CS and revised Appendix 3 by the Director of Corporate Services, submitted.) 4 Questions Questions put by members to this meeting, written answers and supplementary questions and answers are contained in Appendix 1 to this minute. The answer to Council Question No 18 submitted by Councillor Ewan Aitken to the Council meeting on 17 December 2009 is contained in Appendix 2 to this minute. 5 Minutes Decision To approve the minute of meeting of the Council of 17 December 2009, as submitted, as a correct record.