Minute of Meeting of Employees Joint Consultative Committee of 3 December 2025 for Noting
Perth and Kinross Council · 27 May 2026
Back to Learning and Families Committee — 27 May 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Perth and Kinross Council Finance and Resources Committee Employees Joint Consultative Committee Minute of hybrid meeting of the Employees Joint Consultative Committee held Meeting Room 410, 2 High Street, Perth on Wednesday 3 December 2025 at 1.30pm. Present: Representing Perth and Kinross Council: Councillors K Allan, S McCole and M Frampton. Present: Representing Trade Unions: C Weston (EIS) V Leonard (GMB) S Hope (UNISON) M Mackie (SSTA) In Attendance: L Hamilton, P Johnstone, E Bayne, L McGeorge, F Mackay, D Black, S Stephen, B Kinnear, S Kinnear, K Robertson, J McCole, A McConnachie. Apologies: Councillor J Rebbeck with Councillor M Frampton substituting, D MacLuskey, N Ferry, S Robertson and S Topen-Cooper S Hope in the Chair. 1. Welcome and Apologies S Hope welcomed all present to the meeting and apologies were noted as above. 2. Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest made in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. 3. Minute of Meeting of Employees Joint Consultative Committee of 17 September 2025 The minute of meeting of the Employees Joint Consultative Committee of 17 September 2025 was submitted and approved as a correct record. 4. Matters Arising (i) Medication Errors B Kinnear, Service Manager, Adult Social Work & Social Care Services, P&K HSCP gave a verbal update, outlining that there is a
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high number of medication incidents with the highest being “recording error”. He assured the committee that all incidents are fully investigated and analysed with additional training provided where errors have occurred. Actions being taken in the service include continuing to raise awareness and provide clarification of when an incident is reported and recorded, follow up training as appropriate. He stated that the number as a percentage of visits carried out is low and nobody was at risk of significant harm. Further he advised that all incidents are reported to the Care Inspectorate with a number of improvement measures taken, including all staff having their standards and practices observed and thereafter are reviewed annually. In response to Councillor McCole asking about whether third party providers the Council work with report their errors to the Council, B Kinnear said they should and there is a working group looking at third party reporting and monitoring third parties. B Kinnear left the meeting. (ii) Industrial Injuries Guidance In response to C Weston asking if following the previous meeting this had been reviewed as agreed, E Bayne said there are ongoing discussions and the next action will be to engage with the unions. (iii) Zero Tolerance Posters In response to C Weston asking Councillors McCole and Allan what has been done following the previous meeting where they agreed to take zero tolerance posters forward as an action to follow up, Councillor McCole said she understands from officers progress has been made. 5. People and Culture – Equality Update There was a report submitted by S Kinnear, Employee Engagement Officer providing an update on recent and planned employment equalities activities within Perth & Kinross Council. In addition to the report S Kinnear said that all staff networks are meeting again and that in relation to the anti-asylum protests and PKC’s status as a Council of Sanctuary, David McPhee has been delivering a presentation to SMTs which can be shared or delivered on request. In response to Councillor McCole asking if what is being done in relation to menopause is sufficient, E Bayne said menopause and managers awareness is more commonplace in the conversations at work than it used to be and reasonable supportive steps are being taken where needed.
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In response to S Hope asking if more could be done to promote the various groups to the unions, E Bayne said there is a monthly Health and Wellbeing Briefing that he will share with them. We would also welcome the unions sharing and raising awareness of content. F Mackay said getting resources to schools can be challenging and there is a Staff Wellbeing Project looking at alternative arrangements for education staff who cannot attend meetings or events held centrally. In response to V Leonard asking about specific training for managers and whether people are aware of the additional support that is out there such as Access to Work, E Bayne said in the past our Occupational Health provider has delivered menopause awareness training and it’s something that can be looked at and those additional supports such as Access to Work are part of the conversations his team has with managers. Resolved: The Committee noted the ongoing employment equality activities and their alignment with the Council’s strategic objectives. (S Kinnear left the meeting.) 6. Health and Safety Performance Report Quarter 2 2025/26 – July – September 2025 There was a report submitted by the Health and Safety Team Leader (G/25/174) informing and assisting the Employees Joint Consultative Committee in monitoring health and safety compliance and performance across Perth and Kinross Council and providing an overview of health and safety activities undertaken. Resolved: The Committee noted the contents of the report. 7. Fire Safety Performance Report – Quarter 2 2025/26 – July – September 2025 There was a report submitted by the Health and Safety Team Leader (G/25/175) informing and assisting the Employees Joint Consultative Committee in monitoring fire safety performance across Perth and Kinross Council and providing an overview of fire safety activities undertaken. In addition to the report L Hamilton said they are working on a Fire Safety Management course for next year. In response to Councillor McCole asking if some information on outstanding actions could be included in the next report, L McGeorge said that this would be provided.
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In response to Councillor Allan asking why children set off the fire alarms and L McGeorge asking if there is anything they can do to minimise the chances of it happening, S Stephen advised that many of the false activations of alarm systems in schools were as a result of children with additional support needs and schools do proactively look for solutions to stop it happening. Resolved: The Committee noted the contents of the report 8. Staff Reporting: Incidents of Violence/Aggression and incidents of Distressed/Challenging Behaviour in Education Settings – Term 1 2025/26 There was a report submitted by the Quality Improvement Manager, Inclusion and Additional Support, and Inclusion Quality Improvement Officer (G/25/176) on Education and Learning’s performance in managing and reducing staff reports of incidents of distressed, challenging, violent, or aggressive behaviour that have impacted staff in the workplace. It also provides a summary of the information gathered in Term 1 of academic year 2025/26 in relation to staff reports of incidents in schools and other educational settings which had an emotional or physical impact on them and information on the activity of an established Working Group to prevent and reduce the number of incidents. The teachers unions submitted written questions in advance of the meeting with F Mackay and C Weston agreeing to a written response with discussion at a future Reducing Challenging Behaviour Group. S Stephen said they are in year 2 of the new child’s plan and know what the next steps with that will be and the Scottish Government are already reviewing the revision of physical intervention guidance with no timescale on the outcome. In response to Councillor Allan asking if there were resources they could help with, S Stephen said potentially around ASN and ISP and would detail them in an email to Councillor Allan. In response to S Hope asking about resources being directed to the small proportion of children in P1 involved in incidents, F Mackay said P1 children have not been in a school environment before, and it can take a couple of terms for improvements to show from measures that have been put in place. P1 incidents are the lowest they have been for a number of years. Following feedback they are looking at reinstating 2 in-service days in August and there is a proposal for a full week off in February. In response to Councillor McCole asking about investment in ASN/ISP provision for early years and childcare, F Mackay said there has been this
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year focussed on early years which should improve independence and communication skills. K Robertson said school holidays have been approved up to 26/27 with dates for 27/28 to 28/29 being drafted and will be put to unions encompassing F Mackay’s earlier points. Resolved: The Committee noted the content of the report and ongoing activity by a multi- agency group to reduce and prevent future incidents of distressed challenging, violent or aggressive behaviour and improve staff experience in Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) settings and schools 9. Health and Wellbeing Update There was a report submitted by the People and Culture Manager (G/25/177) providing an update on current Health and Wellbeing data and current Health and Wellbeing activities. In response to C Weston asking how PKC’s absences compare nationally, E Bayne said on 31 March 2025 they were the 10th lowest out of 32 for teaching staff and 4th lowest for all staff with work being done to improve those figures. Resolved: The Committee noted the position regarding Health and Wellbeing 10. Employee Survey P Johnstone had hoped to have overview of the data but it was not available for the meeting. Will be brought to the next meeting. 11. Any Other Competent Business - 12. Date of Next Meeting 1 April 2026