Minutes of meeting 26.04.22
Renfrewshire Council · 7 June 2022
Back to Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff — 7 June 2022 and its agenda
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Minute of Meeting Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff Date Time Venue Tuesday, 26 April 2022 10:00 Remotely via MS Teams, MEMBERSHIP REPRESENTING RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL MANAGEMENT T McGillivray, Head of Service (Inclusion and Quality Improvement) (Joint Secretary); J Calder, Head of Service(Curriculum and School Estate); A Hall, Education Manager (Development); M Thomas, Education Manager (Development); H Paterson, Head Teacher, Heriot Primary School. REPRESENTING RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL TEACHING STAFF K Fella (Joint Secretary), C Carson, M Russell, Y Murray, D Tollan, JP Tonner (all EIS); J Liston (SSTA); L Gibson (NASUWT) and S McCrossan (Adviser to EIS). IN ATTENDANCE L Mullin, Principal HR Adviser, G Campbell, Principal HR & OD Adviser, C MacDonald, Senior Committee Services Officer, D Cunningham, Assistant Committee Services Officer, L McLeod, End User Technician and B Dalziel, End User Technician (all Finance & Resources). APOLOGIES Provost L Cameron; Councillor J Paterson and K Henry, Head Teacher, St Andrews Academy. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.
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1 APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR PERSON In accordance with the terms of the local recognition and procedure agreement, which stated that the Chair of the Committee should alternate between the two sides comprising the Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff, it was agreed that Craig Carson would chair this meeting of the Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff. DECIDED: That Craig Carson chair this meeting of the Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff. 2 MINUTE OF PREVIOUS MEETING There was submitted the Minute of the previous meeting held on 22 March 2022. DECIDED: That the minute be approved. 3 MATTERS ARISING In relation to Item 4 of the Minute - CO2 Monitoring – J Calder confirmed that the meeting referred to had taken place. In relation to Item 6 of the Minute - JNC Council Budget – T McGillivray confirmed that the meeting referred to had taken place. In relation to Item 7 of the Minute - Covid Health and Safety – J Calder confirmed that the meeting referred to had taken place and that a further meeting was diarised for next week. DECIDED: That the updates be noted. 4 SNCT PAY AGREEMENT 2021 - 2022 There was submitted a report by the Head of Education relative to the SNCT pay agreement for teachers and associated professionals arising from the teachers’ side claim for 2021-2022. The report outlined the terms of the pay agreement which covered the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. L Mullin advised that this payment would be paid on 26 May 2022. It was noted that a one-off non-consolidated payment of £100 would be paid to every SNCT member of staff. The Teachers’ side raised concern in relation to the £100 payment and the fact that the restorative pay award(s) had not yet been settled. DECIDED: That the report be noted.
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5 SNCT COVID-19 RELATED ABSENCES There was submitted a report by the Head of Education relative to Covid-19 related absence. The report outlined new temporary arrangements which had been introduced with regard to Covid-19 related absences caused by illness, infection or the requirement to isolate. The temporary arrangements which came into effect on 19 April 2022, were to be reviewed in June 2022 and were to be withdrawn on 1 July 2022 unless there was an agreement to continue or amend. The Teachers’ side welcomed this extension as a benefit for staff wellbeing and education provision. DECIDED: That the report be noted. 6 EDUCATION RECOVERY AND STAFFING There was submitted a report by the Joint Secretary (Teachers’ side) relative to temporary secondary school teacher contracts terminated to coincide with the start of senior phase exam leave. Discussion took place on examples of this and it was agreed that this would be discussed further at the pre-arranged staffing meeting. DECIDED: That the report be noted. 7 EAL PROVISION There was submitted a report by the Joint Secretary (Teachers’ side) relative to EAL provision. The report detailed that there were increased numbers of multi-lingual classes which had a corresponding impact on the related workload. The report highlighted four weblinks to the teaching packs and proposed that consideration be given to their circulation. This was agreed. Concerns were raised that EAL resources available were inadequate both in terms of meeting learners’ needs and training support for teaching staff thereby attainment was affected. The teachers’ side felt the current EAL provision across Renfrewshire required to be enhanced to meet the increasing language needs of children and young people in schools. T McGillivray advised that EAL is an area which was being monitored and this would be discussed further with the Joint Secretary. DECIDED: (a) That the report be noted; (b) That EAL be monitored on an ongoing basis and that it be noted that a meeting would be held to discuss staffing and other matters; and
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(c) That consideration was given to the circulation of the teaching packs. 8 TRADE UNION FACILITY TIME FOR SCHOOL REPS - REMINDER OF CURRENT ARRANGEMENTS There was submitted a report by the Joint Secretary (Teachers’ side) relative to Trade Union facility time for school representatives. The report requested that a reminder of the current arrangements be issued to schools. It was agreed that this be shared again with schools given the number of new Head Teachers in the Authority. A planning meeting was to be arranged with the Joint Secretaries to look at future work required to ensure the relationship continued to grow and remained current. DECIDED: (a) That the report be noted; (b) That a reminder be issued to all schools of the current arrangements; and (c) That a planning day be arranged. 9 DATE OF NEXT MEETING DECIDED: That it be noted that the next meeting of the Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff was scheduled for 7 June 2022 at 2.00pm.