Agenda Document Pack - Joint Consultative Committee for Local Government Employees - 19/03/2024
North Lanarkshire Council · 19 March 2024
Back to Joint Consultative Committee for Local Government Employees — 19 March 2024 and its agenda
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7 March 2024 Members of the Joint Consultative Committee for Local Government Employees Chief Executive’s Office Archie Aitken Chief Officer (Legal & Democratic) Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk Notice is given that a Meeting of the Joint Consultative Committee for Local Government Employees is to be held in the Committee Room 1, Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell, ML1 1AB on Tuesday, 19 March 2024 at 14:00 PM which you are requested to attend. The agenda of business is attached. Archie Aitken Chief Officer (Legal & Democratic) Members : Clerk Name: Lesley Dysart Clerk Telephone: Clerk Email: dysartl@northlan.gov.uk A Ballinger, M Boyd, H Brannan-McVey, T Carragher, M Coyle, G Currie, K Duffy, J Hume, L Jarvie, D Johnston, J Logue, P McDade. G Bryson, A Clark, J Hannigan, M Quigley, J Rooney, W Shearer, H Smith, L Stewart, J Struthers, V Thompson, J Watson, D Whelan. Page 1 of 18
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Agenda 1 Declarations of Interest In Terms of the Ethical Standards In Public Life Etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 2 Monthly Sickness Absence Report December 23 and Quarter 3 Submit report by the Chief Officer (People Resources) providing the sickness absence position for each Service and the Council overall for Quarter 3, and the month of December 2023/24, as well as comparative data for the previous year 5 - 18 3 Items Requested By The Joint Trade Unions (3a) Violence at Work Charter Verbal update by the Chief Officer (People Resources) 3(b) Use of Personal Mobile Phones Verbal Update by the Chief Officer (People Resources) Page 3 of 18
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) Does this report require to be approved? ☐ Yes ☒ No Ref FW/TS Date 19/03/24 Monthly Sickness Absence Report December 2023 and Quarter 3 From Fiona Whittaker, Chief Officer (People Resources) Email simpsontr@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07583 032 047 Executive Summary This report provides the sickness absence position for each Service and the Council overall for Quarter 3 and the month of December 2023/24, as well as comparative data for the previous year. The year-to-date absence levels are showing a very slight increase compared to last year, with a Q3 2023/24 outturn of 8.36 FTE average days lost per employee, in comparison to 7.94 FTE days in Q3 2022/23. Based on the average FTE days lost per month the outturn figure for 2023/24 will be 11.15 FTE days lost per employee, 1.23 FTE days higher than the Council target of 9.92 FTE. Enterprise & Communities was the only service to see an improvement in absence levels from the same quarter in the previous year. Whilst Adult Health & Social Care’s absence levels have remained static the last two months, they are still significantly higher than the Council overall (almost 39%) and 24% higher than Single Status. If this trend continues the anticipated outturn figure for Adult Health & Social Care will be just over 15 FTE average days lost per employee. The Improvement Service has recently published the Scottish Local Government Benchmarking Framework data for 2022/23. Appendix 1 attached shows the FTE average days lost per employee for all Local Authorities (LA) in the family group and other LA with comparable FTE employee numbers, as well as the councils position. The data shows our relative position on the league table has improved from 7 to 5 from 2021/22 for single status staff. The average outturn for single status employees in our Family Group in 2022/23 was 13.76 FTE, compared to 11.19 FTE for the council. The average across all the Local Authorities was 15.20 FTE. This means that our FTE days lost per employee for single status staff is 23% less than our family group and 36% less than the Scottish local authority average. The percentage split of long and short-term absence cases in December was 72/28, which was a 10% difference from November. We continue to see a pattern of reduction in short term absences which puts us more in line with the national picture. December saw a 6% improvement in Mental Health related absences from April, which is reflective of the work that has and continues to be done in this area. Various Mental Health Awareness sessions ran from September to November for all employees. Further information on these sessions is provided at Section 2.7 below. Set out in the rest of the report is an analysis of the absence data across all Services, the work undertaken to support attendance and the Health & Wellbeing activity in the month. Item 2 Page 5 of 18
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Recommendations It is recommended that Joint Consultative Committee (JCC): (1) Acknowledge the sickness absence information for the month of December 2023/24 and Quarter 3. (2) Note the contents of the full report. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (23) Build a workforce for the future capable of delivering on our priorities and shared ambition Programme of Work Statutory / corporate / service requirement dfdsdf 1. Background 1.1 This report gives details of sickness absence levels for December 2023 and Quarter 3 of the absence year 2023/24. 1.2 The Council’s year-to-date position as at the end of December 2023 is 8.36 FTE average days lost per employee, compared to 7.94 FTE days in 2022/23. 1.3 The average FTE days lost per employee for Single Status staff as of December was 9.37 FTE, compared to 9.22 in 2022/23, and was 1.01 FTE days higher per employee than the Council overall (12%). 1.4 The split of the percentage of days lost due to long term vs short term absence in December was 72/28, which is approx. a 10% shift from November when it was 63/37. Nationally days lost due to long term absences is approx. 75%, and in April the Council split was 75/25. 1.5 Mental health related absences accounted for 31% of total FTE days lost across the Council, an improvement of 6% from April. 2. Report Summary of Information and Analysis 2.1 The sections below provide key information and analysis of the December absence data, broken down into the following categories. Section Absence Data 2.2 Year-to-date Position – 2023/24 - Table 1 2.3 Monthly FTE Performance – Table 2 2.4 FTE Days Lost – YTD and Month and Quarter 3 - Table 3 to 6 2.5 FTE Days Lost – Long- and Short-Term Split – Table 7 2.6 Top Five Reasons for Sickness Absence – Table 8 to 9 2.7 Supporting Attendance Related Work in Quarter 3 2.8 Health & Wellbeing Activity Page 6 of 18
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Year-to-date Position – 2023/24 Table 1 2.2 The Council year-to-date position (Teachers and Single Status employees) as shown at Table 1 above for 2023/24 is 8.36 FTE average days lost per employee. 2.3 This time last year the figure for the Council overall was 7.94 FTE average days lost per employee, therefore for 2023/24 there has been a slight deterioration of 5.29%. 2.4 Taking the YTD figure into account the anticipated Year End outturn figure for the Council would be 11.15 FTE days, against the Council target of 9.92 FTE. This would be 12.4% over target. 8.36 9.37 11.60 5.83 8.93 5.60 9.65 7.94 9.22 11.20 4.91 7.86 4.95 10.06 0.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 10.00 12.00 14.00 COUNCIL SINGLE STATUS - ALL ADULT HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE CHIEF EXECUTIVES EDUCATION & FAMILIES (SINGLE STATUS) EDUCATION & FAMILIES (TEACHING) ENTERPRISE & COMMUNITES Year-to Date Absence 2023/24 FTE Lost Per Employee - 23/24 FTE Lost Per Employee - 22/23 Page 7 of 18
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Monthly FTE Performance - Year-to-date FTE Average Days Lost per Employee Table 2 FTE Average Days Lost per Employee Service Apr May Jun Q1 July Aug Sept Q2 Oct Nov Dec Q3 Jan Feb Mar Q 4 *Mthly Target Mthly Avg. Annual Target Year to Date Total 2023/24 Projected Year End Total Council 0.59 0.91 0.96 2.50 0.58 0.82 1.05 2.45 1.12 1.28 1.05 3.45 0.77 0.93 9.92 8.36 11.15 Single Status - All 0.69 1.02 1.10 2.81 0.81 1.00 1.15 2.96 1.22 1.30 1.08 3.60 0.92 1.04 10.99 9.37 12.49 Adult Health & Social Care 0.98 1.25 1.38 3.67 1.30 1.35 1.37 4.03 1.36 1.30 1.30 3.96 1.29 11.60 15.47 Chief Executive's Office 0.41 0.72 0.76 1.96 0.71 0.77 0.67 2.15 0.77 0.65 0.37 1.79 0.65 5.83 7.78 Education & Families (single status) 0.52 0.90 1.02 2.46 0.52 0.84 1.19 2.54 1.31 1.47 1.17 3.95 0.99 8.93 11.90 Education & Families (Teaching) 0.26 0.54 0.61 1.43 0.00 0.35 0.79 1.13 0.87 1.24 0.95 3.06 0.58 0.70 6.44 5.60 7.70 Enterprise & Communities 0.82 1.12 1.13 3.13 0.86 1.06 1.12 3.04 1.17 1.30 1.07 3.54 1.07 9.65 12.86 2.5 The average FTE days lost per employee for Single Status staff in December was 1.08 FTE days, 0.03 FTE days higher than the Council overall. 2.6 Adult Health & Social Care absence levels remain significantly higher than other Services and the Council overall. If the current monthly trend continues the outturn figure will be 15.47 FTE days lost (4.48 FTE days higher (40.7%) than the single status target of 10.99 FTE days). Whilst all other services saw a reduction in absence levels in December Adult Health & Social Care remained the same as the previous month. Page 8 of 18
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FTE Days Lost Year to Date Table 3 2.7 The difference in average FTE days lost across the services can be seen in the graph above and shows the decrease in FTE days lost from November to December. December Table 4 2.8 As shown at Table 5 above the FTE average days lost in December were 13608.35, 375.19 FTE days higher than the previous year. 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec FTE Days Lost - YTD Council Single Status Adult Health & Social Care Chief Executive's Office Education & Families (single status) Education & Families (Teaching) 11 months Enterprise & Communities 13608.35 2329.93 335.23 4114.47 3403.20 3425.52 13233.16 2601.45 551.71 4245.92 2133.85 3700.21 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 Council Adult Health & Social Care Chief Executive's Office Education & Families (single status) Education & Families (Teaching) Enterprise & Communities FTE Average Days Lost FTE Days Lost 23/24 FTE Days Lost 22/23 Page 9 of 18
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FTE Days Lost - Quarter 3 Table 5 2.9 The FTE days lost in Quarter 3 2023/24 were 3808.77 FTE days higher than the same Quarter last year. All months saw an increase from the previous year, albeit December had the lowest increase of 2.8% compared to an average of 9.26% across the Quarter. FTE Days Lost – YTD Per Quarter Table 6 2.10 Table 6 above shows the FTE days lost per Quarter for 2023/24 per Service. There has been a significant increase in Education & Families (both Single Status and Teaching) in Quarter 3 from Quarter 2. Enterprise & Communities also saw an increase whilst the other Services saw an improvement. October November December Quarter 3 Council Total 2023/24 14645.83 16678.04 13608.35 44932.22 Council Total 2022/23 12350.40 15539.89 13233.16 41123.45 0.00 5000.00 10000.00 15000.00 20000.00 25000.00 30000.00 35000.00 40000.00 45000.00 50000.00 FTE Days - per Quarter Council Total 2023/24 Council Total 2022/23 32735 27394 6591 1753 9085 5341 9964 31922 27785 7271 1902 8986 4137 9625 44932 33935 7108 1616 13892 10997 11319 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 45000 50000 Council Single Status - All Adult Health & Social Care Chief Executive's Office Education & Families (single status) Education & Families (Teaching) Enterprise & Communities FTE Average Days Lost-to-Date per Quarter 2023/24 Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Page 10 of 18
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FTE Days Lost– Long- and Short-Term Days Table 7 December FTE Days Lost 2023/24 FTE Days Lost 2022/23 % Increase % FTE Long Term Days Lost % FTE Short Term Days Lost No of Long- Term Absences No of Short-Term Absences Total No of Absences Service Council 13608.35 13233.16 2.84% 72 28 879 1175 2054 Adult Health & Social Care 2329.93 2601.45 -10.44% 72 28 151 199 350 Chief Executives Office 335.23 551.71 -39.24% 61 39 20 39 59 Education & Families (single status) 4114.47 4245.92 -3.10% 72 28 276 375 651 Education & Families (teaching) 3403.20 2133.85 59.49% 71 29 180 263 443 Enterprise & Communities 3425.52 3700.21 -7.42% 75 25 252 299 551 2.11 Education & Families (Single Status) had the highest number of average FTE days lost in December (30% of the total FTE days lost). 2.12 Long Term Absences continue to account for the highest % of absence cases across the Council (72% long term vs 28% short term). 2.13 The highest percentage of short-term absences in December were in Chief Executives Office, 11% higher than the Council overall. Enterprise & Communities had the highest percentage of long-term absences cases (3% higher than the Council overall). Top Five Reasons for Sickness Absence Council Table 8 Page 11 of 18
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2.14 As in previous months Mental Health Related Absences accounted for the majority of absences across the Council at just over 31%. This remains similar to the previous month and has improved by slightly over 6% since April. 2.15 Bone/Muscle/Joint absences continue to be the second highest reason for absence at 17.30% of total FTE days lost. This has improved by 2% from April. 2.16 Mental Health Related conditions, Bone/Muscle/Joint and Abdominal & Gastric absences accounted for most of the days lost across the Council in December (55.69% in total). COVID related absences were not in the top 5 reason for absence in December. The remaining top reasons were Cold/Flu and Respiratory (non-cold/flu). Services 2.17 As shown in Table 7 below Mental Health related absences in Adult Health & Social Care and Education & Families accounted for the highest % of FTE days lost, approx. 34%, compared to 31% across the Council. However Mental Health related absence in Education & Families as a whole has improved by 9% since April as has Enterprise & Communities by almost 10%. 2.18 The highest % of bone/muscle/joint absences were in Enterprise & Communities, with 8% higher than the Council overall. 2.19 Adult Health & Social Care and Enterprise & Communities were the only services to have covid related absences in December and all services had cold/flu absences with Chief Executives Office having 7% more than the Council overall. Table 9 Abdomin al & Gastric Mental Health Bone/Mus cle/Joint COVID related Cold/Flu Respirato ry (Non Cold/Flu) Sensory (ENT) Council 7.08 31.31 17.30 6.22 5.91 AHSC 4.95 34.25 17.68 6.92 2.86 CE 8.81 30.92 9.58 13.54 10.19 E&F (Teaching) 7.46 31.70 13.69 10.31 6.14 E&F (Single Status) 8.11 33.90 13.59 5.50 5.27 E&C 6.73 25.81 25.85 5.48 4.60 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 % FTE DAYLS LOST TOP 5 REASONS FOR SICKNESS ABSENCE PER SERVICE Council AHSC CE E&F (Teaching) E&F (Single Status) E&C Page 12 of 18
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Supporting Attendance Related Work 2.20 To assist the Services and the Council overall in improving sickness absence levels, a number of key pieces of work have already been carried out this year out by the Employment & Policy Team as noted in the previous report that was presented to JCC in October 2023. Since then, the following work has been undertaken: 2.21 Absence Action Plan The absence action plan for the Council was agreed last July and the following actions have been completed or are underway: • new process for conducting compliance reviews developed, this will be implemented in February starting with Adult Health & Social Care and will review whether managers are complying with the requirements of the absence policies. Outcome reports and recommendations for action will be provided to the relevant Chief Officer and Senior Manager. • new absence stages report developed to allow for monitoring of key actions taken by managers in-line with the supporting attendance policy i.e RTW meetings, stage meetings etc. • updates to supporting attendance toolkits following review meetings with trade unions, the updated toolkits will be published in due course and the changes communicated to managers and Trade Unions. • ongoing communication about the supporting attendance policy and training. 2.22 Mental Health A number of mental health related awareness sessions were arranged over the months of September to November. Attendance at these was as anticipated and a significant number had to be to be cancelled due to lack of interest and support from managers in promoting these. Consideration is being given to what other supports/resources can be provided and discussions are taking place around this matter at the Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy groups. 2.23 Employee Wellbeing Self Service Health Kiosks were situated in Souterhouse and Albert Street Depots for two weeks to allow Waste and Fleet staff to check key health indicators including blood pressure and BMI. The kiosk was then situated in Wardpark Depot for two weeks in December and the key results of the health checks for all three sites are attached at Appendix 1. There were a total of 210 health checks carried out over all three sites and overall the results show that 85% of participants were overweight or obese and 37% had high blood pressure. 94 checks resulted in the participant being advised to seek GP support. 45% of participants were at high risk of a stroke or serious heart issues. A meeting will be arranged in due course with relevant Service representatives and HRBP team to discuss what steps can be taken to address the results and try to improve the health and wellbeing of this workforce. 2.24 Policy Work The Menopause & Hormonal Changes policy was approved in December and work is underway to develop the supporting toolkits for managers and employees and arrange an event to officially launch the policy, which will include awareness sessions and a menopause café that all employees can attend not just those directly affected. Health & Wellbeing Activity 2.25 Below is a summary of the usage levels across December of the health & wellbeing services that the Council provides to employees to assist in supporting attendance. 2.26 Occupational Health 123 referrals were made to Occupational Health in December. Education & Families made the most referrals with 50%. 33% of referrals were mental health related and 13% Page 13 of 18
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were musculoskeletal. 55% of all referrals were likely to be covered by the Equality Act, 14% were for work related issues. Of the 33% of mental health related referrals, 27% were deemed to be work related. 18% of the musculoskeletal referrals were also work related. Only 6 of total appointments booked were not attended at a cost of £125. 2.27 Physiotherapy A total of 52 referrals to physiotherapy were made in December, compared to 74 in November The main cause of referrals was due to back issues (19%) followed by knee issues (17%). 42.23% of employees referred were in the age group 50 to 59 and 65% of all cases were female. 67% of all cases were able to perform their full duties at the time of referral, following treatment this increased to 98% of all cases. 99% of employees referred received face to face treatment with an average of five physiotherapy sessions each. 2.28 Employee Counselling 25 employees accessed the Employee Assistance Programme across December, compared to 19 in November. Usage of the service is still low, and work will be done this year to promote this and the additional resources available to employees such as the VITA Wellbeing App. 8% of employees received direct counselling, 4% were given guided self-help, 64% received emotional support and advice through the helpline and were 32% were provided some initial emotional support and advice and then referred to other services. 16% of employees reported work related issues as the reason for accessing the service with work stress accounting for 43% of these issues. This has reduced from November despite the increase in usage. 71% of employees that accessed the service were female and 32.65% were in the age group 36 to 50. Education & Families were the biggest users of the service (48%). 3. Measures of success 3.1 Ongoing reduction of sickness absence levels will help to ensure maximised productivity and achievement of Council priorities. 4. Supporting documentation Appendix 1 – Local Government Sickness Absence Benchmarking Results for 2022/23 Appendix 2 – Key Results from Health Kiosks in Waste & Fleet Fiona Whittaker Chief Officer (People Resources) Page 14 of 18
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the Council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer-scotland- duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e-mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 15 of 18
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5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the Council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex-Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services. 5.11 Children’s rights and wellbeing impact Does the report contain any information regarding any Council activity, service delivery, policy, or plan that has an impact on children and young people up to the age of 18, or on a specific group of these? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact and the provision that has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the relevant Articles from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). If Yes, has a Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) been carried out? Yes ☐ No ☐ Page 16 of 18
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Appendix 1 Sickness Absence Benchmarking Data from 2021/22 to 2023/24 Council FTE average Sickness Absence days lost per employee Teachers Single Status Year 2021/22 Year 2022/23 Year to Date 2023/24 Year 2021/22 Year 2022/23 Year to Date 2023/24 North Lanarkshire 6.79 7.06 6.72 11.22 11.19 10.50 Aberdeen City 5.60 6.05 13.90 15.20 Dundee City 4.80 6.01 14.70 16.20 East Dunbartonshire 5.40 5.10 12.00 13.40 Edinburgh City 5.10 7.00 11.60 12.70 Falkirk 4.20 5.00 12.60 13.00 Glasgow City 5.80 6.09 12.40 13.10 West Dunbartonshire 5.00 6.04 13.30 15.30 East Renfrewshire 4.10 4.80 12.40 13.60 Fife 7.00 8.20 15.30 15.80 South Lanarkshire 7.20 7.40 13.00 13.90 West Lothian 5.10 5.60 14.50 14.80 LGBF Family Group Other councils with comparative FTE employees Page 17 of 18
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Motherwell, Coatbridge and Cumbernauld Depots Appendix 2 All Sites Page 18 of 18