Agenda and minutes

01/21 – APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND NOTIFICATION OF SUBSTITUTES: Notification had been received that Councillor Chris Aldred was to act as substitute for Councillor Christine Willoughby and Councillor Mike Chambers was to act as substitute for Councillor Zoe Metcalfe.

(5.32 pm)

Members to advise of any declarations of interest.

02/21 – DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: There were no declarations of interest.

(5.33 pm)

of the meeting of 21 October 2020.

03/21 – MINUTES: The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 21 October 2020 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

(Three Members voted for the minutes and there was one abstention.)

 (5.34 pm)

To determine whether to exclude the press and public during the consideration of any exempt information items.

04/21 – EXEMPT INFORMATION:

RESOLVED (UNANIMOUSLY):

That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, the meeting be not open to the public during the discussion of Minute 07/21 as there will be a disclosure of exempt information as defined in Section 100I of the Act.

The exempt information in question relates to individuals, financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) as defined in paragraphs 3 of Schedule 12A to the Act. 

(5.34 pm)

To consider any questions under Standing Order 27.

05/21 – PUBLIC ARRANGEMENTS – QUESTIONS: There were no questions to consider under Standing Order 27.

(5.35 pm)

The Senior HR Adviser to submit a written report.

MATTERS DEALT WITH UNDER DELEGATED POWERS

06/21 – LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME – DISCRETIONS: The Senior HR Adviser (SHRA) submitted a written report that sought to gain approval for the adoption of discretions to be applied by Harrogate Borough Council (HBC) under the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The report recommended that HBC adopt the discretions as set out in red, in the non-shaded areas, in Appendix 1 to the report.

The SHRA advised that under the LGPS Regulations, the Council had a certain level of discretion on how it wanted to apply some of the Regulations. These were referred to under the Scheme as “employing authority discretions”. The Council had already made decisions in relation to most of the areas of discretion, but there were some areas where the Council had yet to make a decision, these were shown in red, in the non-shaded areas, at Appendix 1. The Pensions Section of NYCC had been asking employing authorities within the area to clarify their position with regard to these outstanding discretions and consequently a review of these had been undertaken. The attached document shown at Appendix 1 gave details of the regulations relating to the scheme, a description of the discretionary power available and what the Council’s policy was in relation to each regulatory discretionary area. The shaded areas showed where policy has already been agreed and the proposed policies were detailed in red.

The SHRA then responded to Members questions regarding the areas of discretion.

RESOLVED (UNANIMOUSLY):

That HBC adopted the discretions as set out in the non-shaded areas, as set out in red, in Appendix 1 to the report.

(5.35 pm – 5.48 pm)

(D)

The Head of Parks and Environmental Services to submit a written report.

07/21 – PES SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM REVIEW: The Head of Parks and Environmental Services submitted a written report on the proposed review of the senior management structure within Parks and Environmental Services (PES) and the recommended new structure and timeline for consultation.

The HoPES explained that the distribution of various functions across the PES service areas meant there was currently significant overlap between areas of responsibility as well as areas where a lack of clarity introduced a risk to the service in terms of liability. The senior management review was aimed at introducing more clarity to these areas of responsibility and aligning positions with both service and corporate objectives. It was expected that the management review would be followed by a wider review of the service to ensure leadership, management and supervisory responsibilities were properly aligned to deliver an effective and efficient service.

(Minute dealt with in exempt session)

(5.49 pm – 6.11 pm)

(D)