To consider Herefordshire Council’s Human Resources and Workforce Strategy.

36.       HEREFORDSHIRE COUNCIL’S HUMAN RESOURCES AND WORKFORCE STRATEGY 

The committee considered Herefordshire Council’s Human Resources and Workforce Strategy, with questions to Councillor Liz Harvey - Cabinet Member - Finance, Corporate Services and Planning  and Tracey Sampson - Director of HR and Organisational Development and a report from the Director of HR and Organisational Development to provide a summary of progress against the strategic aims in the council’s workforce strategy.

The Director of HR and Organisational Development was invited to present the report.  She explained that this was the first time that the strategy had been brought before a scrutiny committee of the Council. Thereafter, the committee questioned Councillor Liz Harvey - Cabinet Member - Finance, Corporate Services and Planning and Tracey Sampson - Director of HR and Organisational Development on the development of the Human Resources and Workforce Strategy. 

Questions included questions on organisational staffing structure, communicating Council priorities and values, the use of agency workers and cost implications, support employees, particularly female staff, with childcare responsibilities. 

The Cabinet Member was asked about the Council's organisational staffing structure and the extent that it links clearly to delivery of Council priorities, key competences and service and organisational outcomes and asked the Cabinet Member whether she believed the organisational structure the Council had was the most optimum to deliver what she and on the Executive would like the Council to deliver and whether there was work being done on organisation structure. 

The Cabinet Member commented that she felt that the structure fairly well aligned to the County Plan and the services the council is delivering.  Staff can see how they work that they do aligns to the council plan and the deliverables in the Delivery Plan and the structure is quite well fitted to its purpose.  Whether it is an optimum structure depends also on working within the organisation and a one council approach and cross cutting services. She welcomed, however, any suggestions from the committee on how this might improved. 

It was also asked whether the Council's KPIs and staffing of the different departments reflected the priorities of the Council.  It was asked to what extent that Herefordshire Council priorities and values are communicated to staff and the extent to which it was made clear how what they do makes a difference to delivery of the Council's priorities and services to local residents.

It was asked to what extent the Council brand is communicated to staff and for recruitment. It was asked to what extent the Council provided appropriate facilities to support employees, particularly female staff, but, it was emphasised, not only female staff, with childcare responsibilities.

There were questions on the overall level of agency spend for the Council as a whole had increased from £2.4 million to £10.9 million over the four years to 2021 to 2022 and that the main departmental pressure to this appeared from the children and young people's services department, but also that other Council departments with escalating agency staff costs.

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