To notify the Chairman of any items that appear later in the agenda in which you may have an interest.

No declarations of interest were received.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 10^th June 2008.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 20^th June 2008 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.  (For copy see file of Minutes).

To consider the attached Action Plan.

Consideration was given to a report detailing progress to date on the Cabinet’s response and action plan following its consideration of the recommendations arising from the work of the Overview and Scrutiny Review of Recruitment and Retention.  (For copy see file of Minutes).

With regard to Recommendation 1 - Turnover broken down by Department be adopted as a Performance Indicator to be monitored by Human Resources and reported periodically to Members -it was reported that Corporate turnover had been reported to Strategic Leadership Group on a quarterly basis.

It was noted that previously the turnover figure had been calculated to include all leavers such as those employees retiring, TUPE transferring or whose contracts had ended as well as those resigning.  It was, however, viewed that this was not a true representation of turnover.

Therefore, during 2007/08 the definition of the Indicator was changed to include only those employees voluntarily leaving the authority by resigning or moving to another authority.

Members noted that the corporate turnover for the financial year 2007/08 was 5.34%.  This compared favourably to the average turnover of 13% for the public sector.

Details of turnover by department for 2007/08 were set out in the report.

With regard to Recommendation 2 - Vacant Posts which have not been filled within 6 months of the first advertisement be reported to Members - it was reported that as at 31^st March 2008 two posts had remained vacant for 6 months or over and had been advertised but not filled.

It was highlighted that this decrease was due to new procedures implemented in preparation for Local Government Re-organisation.  A number of vacancies had been frozen and would therefore not be advertised to protect permanent employees in the event of a potential redundancy situation.

In response to a Member’s question regarding the transfer of staff to the new Unitary Authority it was explained that at the point of transfer each Local Authority would inform the new authority of the total number of staff transferring. This figure would exclude any job vacancies.

Members expressed their appreciation of the work carried out by employees of Sedgefield Borough Council and praised the good working relationship between Members’ and Officers.

AGREED:                  That the Committee is satisfied that the actions following the Overview and Scrutiny Review have been implemented and that recruitment and retention will continue to be monitored through the Strategic Leadership Performance Update reports.

Report of Chairman of the Committee.

Consideration was given to the Work Programme for the Strategic Leadership Overview and Scrutiny Committee. (For copy see file of Minutes).

AGREED :     That the Committee’s Work Programme as outlined in the report be agreed.