Item 06 - JCF Minutes 12 09 24 M (including Appendix)
West Dunbartonshire Council · 6 November 2024
Back to Corporate Services Committee — 6 November 2024 and its agenda
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JOINT CONSULTATIVE FORUM At a Meeting of the Joint Consultative Forum held in the Civic Space, Council Offices, 16 Church Street, Dumbarton on Thursday, 12 September 2024 at 2.00 p.m. Present: Councillors Michelle McGinty and Martin Rooney; James Halfpenny (EIS); David Scott (GMB); Susan Shannon and David Smith (UNISON); and Connor Farmer (Unite). Attending: Victoria Rogers, Chief Officer – People and Technology; Amanda Graham, Chief Officer – Citizen, Culture and Facilities; Laurence Slavin, Chief Officer – Resources; Lorraine Mair, OD & Change Lead; Gillian Gall, Head of Human Resources, West Dunbartonshire Health & Social Care Partnership (HSCP); Claire Cusick, Senior Education Officer – Services for Children and Young People; Alison McBride, Strategic People and Change Manager; John Duffy, People, Quality & Governance Lead; Drew Cameron, Section Leader – ICT; Michael McDougall, Manager Legal Services (Legal Officer); and Scott Kelly, Committee Officer. Apologies: Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Provost Karen Murray Conaghan and Councillors David McBride, Gordon Scanlan and Hazel Sorrell; Shirley Furie and John Wagner (GMB); Peter Barry, Chief Officer – Housing and Employability; Laura Mason, Chief Education Officer; Beth Culshaw, Chief Officer – West Dunbartonshire HSCP; Sylvia Chatfield, Head of Mental Health, Learning Disabilities and Addiction, HSCP; and Margaret-Jane Cardno, Head of Strategy and Transformation, HSCP. APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR, VICE CHAIR AND JOINT SECRETARIES The Legal Officer invited the Forum to consider, in terms of its constitution, a number of appointments for the next year and it was agreed:- (a) that Councillor David McBride be appointed as the Chair of the Fourm , for the Council Side; (b) that David Scott, GMB, be appointed as Vice Chair, for the Trades Union Side; and ITEM 6
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(c) that Victoria Rogers, Chief Officer – People and Technology, be appointed as the Joint Secretary for the Council Side and Susan Shannon, UNISON, be appointed as Joint Secretary for the Trades Union Side. In the absence of the Chair, and with the consent of Mr Scott, Vice Chair, it was agreed that Councillor Rooney would chair the meeting. Accordingly, Councillor Rooney assumed the Chair. Councillor Martin Rooney in the Chair DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST It was noted that there were no declarations of interest in any of the items of business on the agenda. CONSTITUTION OF THE JOINT CONSULTATIVE FORUM A revised version of the Joint Consultative Forum’s constitution, which, it was noted, had been updated in agreement with the Joint Trades Union, was submitted and agreed, subject to the word ‘elected’ being inserted before the word ‘members’ in paragraph 6.1 of the document (as shown as the Appendix to these Minutes). MINUTES/NOTE OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS The Minutes of Meeting of the Joint Consultative Forum held on 14 March 2024, and a Note of an Inquorate Meeting of the Forum held on 13 June 2024, were submitted and approved as correct records. PRESENTATION: PHISHING Drew Cameron, Section Leader – ICT, gave a presentation in relation to Phishing. The main points covered in the presentation were: • The measures taken by ICT to make emails more secure, including spam filtering and phishing detection. • The training of users and development of awareness to be cautious when clicking on links in emails and recognise signs of phishing attempts. • That the new Egress system displayed a clickable banner on external emails providing information on possible phishing attempts. • That ICT measured the rate of clicks on test phishing emails sent to Council employees and that the rate had reduced over time which showed the effectiveness of promoting awareness and phishing training. Councillor Rooney, Chair, thanked Mr Cameron for his informative presentation.
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ANNUAL MONITORING REPORT 2023/24 – EMPLOYMENT EQUALITIES A report was submitted by the Chief Officer – People and Technology advising of employment equalities matters for the year 2023/24. After discussion and having heard the People, Quality & Governance Lead, the Chief Officer – People and Technology, and the Strategic People and Change Manager, in further explanation of the report and in answer to Members’ questions, the Forum agreed to note the contents of the report. TRADES UNION ISSUES The Forum noted that the Trades Union have not provided, in advance of the meeting, any issues that they wished to raise. TEMPLATE FOR SUBMISSION OF TRADE UNION ITEMS FOR FORMAL MEETINGS A template to be used by the Trades Union for submitting items for formal meetings was submitted for information and noted. PROGRAMME OF FUTURE MEETINGS The Forum agreed: (a) that future meetings of the Forum be held on:- • Thursday, 19 December 2024 at 2.00 p.m. • Thursday, 13 March 2025 at 2.00 p.m. • Tuesday, 3 June 2025 at 2.00 p.m. • Thursday, 18 September 2025 at 2.00 p.m. (b) that the venues for these meetings should alternate between the Council Chambers, Clydebank Town Hall, and the Civic Space, Church Street, Dumbarton. The meeting closed at 2.45 p.m.
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CONSTITUTION AS REVISED FOLLOWING THE MEETING OF THE JOINT CONSULTATIVE FORUM HELD ON 12 SEPTEMBER 2024 Version 8 – September 2024 (Updated at Sections 1.1, 5.1 and 6.1) (Supersedes Version 7 dated October 2017) ___________________________________________________ CONSTITUTION JOINT CONSULTATIVE FORUM (ALL EMPLOYEES) 1. REPRESENTATION 1.1 The Joint Consultative Forum (JCF) shall comprise 7 members of the Council and 9 officials of the Trades Unions (excluding regional officers) on the following basis:- Union Members TEACHING UNIONS (EIS, SSTA) 2 GMB Scotland (General Municipal and Boilermakers Union) 2 UNISON 3 UNITE 2 Appropriate full-time officers of the Trade Unions and officers of the Council may attend in an advisory capacity at any time. Each Trade Union may invite additional officials to attend depending on the agenda and business of the Forum. The Chair will be advised of additional attendees in advance of the relevant meeting. 2. CHAIR 2.1 The Forum shall appoint from amongst its members, a Chair and Vice- Chair. When the Chair is elected from one side of the Forum, the Vice- Chair shall be elected from the other and this will be subject to annual rotation. 3. JOINT SECRETARIES 3.1 The Forum shall appoint annually Joint Secretaries, one to be nominated by the Council and one to be nominated by the Trade Union Side. The Joint Secretaries may or may not be members of the Forum. 4. FUNCTIONS 4.1 The functions of the Forum shall be:- Appendix
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CONSTITUTION AS REVISED FOLLOWING THE MEETING OF THE JOINT CONSULTATIVE FORUM HELD ON 12 SEPTEMBER 2024 Version 8 – September 2024 (Updated at Sections 1.1, 5.1 and 6.1) (Supersedes Version 7 dated October 2017) (a) to afford facilities for regular consultation between the Council and the Trade Unions representing employees of the Council on general policy matters which are not specifically determined by the Scottish Council or its Committees and are strategic or political in nature; (b) to secure the greatest possible measure of joint action between the Council and the Trade Unions for the development and improvement of the work of the Council; (c) to consider any reference from the Council or the Trade Union Side on matters affecting the mutual interests of the Council and its employees and to make recommendations thereon to the appropriate Committee of the Council; (d) to encourage the learning, development and management of change; and (e) to consider measures to promote equality of opportunity and treatment amongst the Council’s workforce; and (f) to consider measures for safeguarding the health, safety and welfare of the Council’s employees. 5. MEETINGS 5.1 The Joint Consultative Forum shall meet as and when required but this should generally be not less than four times per year. The Chair or the Vice-Chair may direct either of the Joint Secretaries to call a meeting at any time. A meeting shall be called within fourteen days of receipt, by either of the Joint Secretaries, of a requisition signed by not less than one third of the members of either side. 6. QUORUM 6.1 The quorum of the Joint Consultative Forum shall be not less than one- third of the Trade Unions representation and 2 elected members representing the Council. 7. DISPUTES 7.1 In the event of the Joint Consultative Forum being unable to arrive at an agreement, the matters in dispute may, at the instigation of either side, be referred to the Corporate Services Committee. This does not preclude either side referring the matter in a dispute to the relevant SJNC or Scottish Council in accordance with the Constitution of that body. 7.2 Decisions of the Joint Consultative Forum shall be reported to the Corporate Services Committee to consider whatever action is required.