Personnel Committee - Thursday 4 June 2026, 2:00pm - Folkestone & Hythe webcasting

Personnel Committee
Thursday, 4th June 2026 at 2:00pm 

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  1. Cllr Connor McConville
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  1. Folkestone & Hythe Officer
  2. Cllr Connor McConville
  3. Folkestone & Hythe Officer
  4. Cllr Connor McConville
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  1. Cllr Nicola Keen
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  1. Mr Ritchie Bennett
  2. Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee
  3. Mr Ritchie Bennett
  4. Cllr Connor McConville
  5. Ms Andrina Smith
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  1. Cllr Connor McConville
  2. Cllr Nicola Keen
  3. Ms Andrina Smith
  4. Dr Susan Priest
  5. Cllr Connor McConville
  6. Cllr Nicola Keen
  7. Ms Andrina Smith
  8. Cllr Connor McConville
  9. Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee
  10. Ms Andrina Smith
  11. Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee
  12. Cllr Connor McConville
  13. Ms Andrina Smith
  14. Cllr Connor McConville
  15. Cllr Nicola Keen
  16. Ms Andrina Smith
  17. Cllr Connor McConville
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  19. Cllr Connor McConville
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  21. Cllr Connor McConville
  22. Dr Susan Priest
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  1. Dr Susan Priest
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  3. Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee
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  6. Cllr Connor McConville
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  9. Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee
  10. Dr Susan Priest
  11. Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee
  12. Cllr Connor McConville
  13. Webcast Finished

Cllr Connor McConville - 0:00:07
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the meeting of the personnel committee.
This meeting will be webcast live to the internet.
For those who do not wish to be recorded or filmed, you will need to leave the chamber.
For members, officers and others speaking at the meeting, it is important that the microphones
are used so viewers on the webcast and others in the room can hear you.
Would anyone with a mobile phone please switch it to silent as they can be distracting.
I would like to remind all members that although we have strong opinions on matters under consideration,
it is important to treat members, officers and public speakers with respect.
So, afternoon everyone. I hope everyone's well.
Item number one, apologies for absence.

1 Apologies for Absence

Thank you chair, we've had apologies from Councillor Holgate.
Folkestone & Hythe Officer - 0:00:48
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:00:50
I see we have Jim Martin here as a substitute.
or just...
I'm just one with him now.
I can't put that out there.
It's a substitute.
Folkestone & Hythe Officer - 0:01:01
I think Councillor Martin is here. It's a substitute.
Perfect.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:01:04
Item number two, declarations. Do any members have anything they wish to declare as part of today's agenda?
I have a question.

2 Declarations of Interest

Cllr Nicola Keen - 0:01:13
It's declared that I'm a branch officer for a branch of Unison,
which is the same Unison that the union that represents here.
Anyone else?
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:01:20
Okay.

3 Minutes

Item number three, minutes of the previous meeting held on the 29th of July.
Any comments or concerns from those minutes?
Are we happy to agree them as a correct record?
Agreed?
Lovely.
I will...

4 Appointment of the Joint Staff Consultative Panel

Item number four, the appointment of the joint staff consultative panel,
which we appoint every year.
And the panel must include the leader of the council,
so it's fortuitous that he's with us,
and one member for each political group, which is everyone else in the room.
So we have our panel.
You can't disagree with it because we need you on that.
We're all happy with that, lovely.
Item number five is our gender pay gap reporting,
again which we receive every year.

5 Gender Pay Gap reporting

And Richard you're gonna talk us through
this year's report, thanks.
Thank you chair, good afternoon everyone.
Mr Ritchie Bennett - 0:02:30
This gender pay gap report outlines the council's statutory obligations to publish gender pay gap data on an annual basis
and provides the data that we have published already for the 2025 -26 reporting year.
Now the gender pay gap is different to equal pay.
Equal pay relates to men and women receiving equal pay for equal work, which has been a legal requirement now for 50 years.
Whereas this gender pay gap is about the difference
between the average earnings of men
and the average earnings of women across an organisation.
So having a gender pay gap doesn't necessarily mean
that women are missing out on equal pay.
But it can show inequalities and disadvantages
both generally in society and within workplaces.
We're actually required to undertake and publish
six different calculations, all of which take
different contexts into account.
and these calculations are all outlined
in section two of the report.
But of these six calculations,
I would like to particularly draw the committee's attention
to paragraph 2 .3 .1 on page 12 of the document pack,
which shows the median average pay of men and women
across the organisation.
And the reason why I draw your attention to that one
is because that is the gender pay gap figure
that is most widely referred to,
and the number that we normally see reported in the press.
Now, a positive percentage figure here
would show us that on average,
the average man has a better paid job in the organisation
than the average woman.
And that's typically the case across the country.
And the higher the percentage,
the more the average man ends in comparison
to the average woman.
Conversely, a negative percentage here
would indicate that the average woman
earns more than the average man.
But for a third year in a row,
this calculation shows a gender pay gap of 0%.
So no gender pay gap.
Alongside the data itself, the council publishes
a supporting narrative on our website
to help people understand the data
and highlight those actions we're taking
to reduce the gender pay gap.
I would therefore also like to draw the committee's
attention to section 3 .2 of the report
which starts on page 15.
As that outlines in more detail the actions the council has taken
and continues to take to support gender diversity
and reduce any gender pay gap.
I'm obviously happy to take any questions on the report.
Thank you, Richie. As always, a very clear and concise report.
Members, do you have anything you wish to raise with regard to that, Councillor Williams?
I was just going to say also, thank you for that report.
Very detailed.
I mean, I have tried to understand it.
I can't say that I understand all the statistics,
but it's good to see the 0 % carried through
over the last three years.
Do you see that continuing?
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:05:36
That is a very difficult question to answer.
I mean, obviously, I hope it does.
Obviously the measures that we have in place
and all those initiatives we have in place
Mr Ritchie Bennett - 0:05:49
to support diversity, that they will continue to do so
and therefore, I hope that that's borne out
in the statistics as well.
I will say and caveat that, as I do in the report,
that as an organisation of this size,
if we have a little bit of turnover
or a structural change somewhere,
then that can affect percentages, percentages quite a bit
or have a disproportionate effect.
But we will continue with those activities that we're doing to support diversity.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:06:24
Anyone else? No?
I know the mean average isn't the main one,
but it's still interesting to look at.
Just looking at trends, it would be interesting to see next year
if that figure is a peak as it was in 21, 22,
and then obviously it drops back down.
It would be interesting to see if that sort of pattern
starts to repeat itself,
just to see what you can take out of the trends, et cetera.
Because if it does start to look like that,
then that curve might sort of repeat itself
many times again.
But it'd be interesting to see if that's the peak
or if it creeps up even further into next year.
but obviously it's great that we're still at 0 % for the main figure.
So, we're happy to receive and note that report?
OK, agreed. Lovely. Thank you very much.
Moving on then to item number six, which is our HR annual review.
Take us through that.
Thank you, Chair.

6 HR Annual Review 2025/26

Ms Andrina Smith - 0:07:30
So, the 2025 -26 review, this is following the same format
that members will have seen for a number of years now.
And there's just a few key points I was going to pick up
and highlight to you.
And then as always, I'm more than happy to take
any questions about any of the detail.
I think myself and Mitchie can balance those answers.
So in section three, which is page 20,
it probably stands out to members
that there has been an increase in disciplinary matters
in the last financial year.
The majority were relatively low in terms of severity.
and that's why we often use section 4 .4 in our policy,
which enables, as long as everyone agrees
that there has been some undoing,
it enables a warning to be issued
without going through a full investigation process
and a full hearing.
So for low -key issues, that's often an easier way
to resolve something and just move on,
because part of the discipline,
the discipline is about correcting behaviour,
not necessarily punitive all the time.
When there is an issue that is much more serious in nature and potentially could lead up to somewhere towards dismissal,
we'll then have the full process and we support managers through those investigations and then on to formal hearings.
So that mechanism is there and we absolutely follow that, but it's few and far between unless something is very serious.
Section 4 from page 21, which is the absence section, also shows an increase this year
in absent cases from the previous year. Less short -term absences, but more in the long -term
range. We're not alone in this. Our neighbours are also seeing an increase in complex long -term
issues that they have to manage. But equally important, we are still nicely below the local
government average. Just for information, Section 5 .5, which is our turnover on page
30, didn't quite work on the printing because I actually missed out the crucial update for
25 -26. So just for members' information, I'm happy to send around the chart if it would
help as well afterwards. What it should show is a 9 % crude turnover and a 6 .8 % voluntary
So that's continuing that decreasing trend
over the last few years that we've seen.
And finally really, section 14 from page 42,
that's focusing on the work that we've been doing
towards LGR, both from a local team perspective
and also as a result of the Kent work streams
that are already up and running.
With a small HR team, it does bring additional pressure
in terms of our capacity.
Much of the current work is around getting a house in order, if you like.
Things like regular audits of the payroll system, just to make sure that's always 100 % correct
in terms of the information that sits behind the payroll details.
Ensuring we've got signed contracts on file, upstate job descriptions for all the employees,
that sort of style of work.
Wider work is also starting to look at HR capacity and skills across Kent,
identifying the information that we're going to need for TUPE.
and making sure that we can extract that in a decent way from the different systems that we have.
So it doesn't necessarily all just come from payroll, we have to find it from other sources.
And we're also starting to look a bit longer term to ensure that we're clear on time scales for
things like procuring new payroll and HR systems because that timeline that we're going to be
working on towards April 28th, there's some really key dates that we've got to hit if we're going to
move that way forward and it's going to be easy to miss them with the volume of work so we need
to have that really clearly plotted out.
This work clearly is going to increase in time,
particularly once we get past the decisions in July.
And as a result, we have reviewed the resources
that we have in the team, and we're now
advertising for a couple of additional roles
to make sure that we have got that capacity
to be able to deal with the LGR work
as well as the business as usual.
And I think just finally, it's just really worth
noting that during that financial year, several of the team members have had quite significant
personal issues during that time. I think it's testament to not only to them, but also
to the support across the wider team. The volume of work has carried on, there's been
no drop in service, and you'll see from this report it's very similar to previous years.
So it's just worth noting that the resilience is there, but I think the extra capacity is
very very welcomed. Happy to take questions and so is Richie.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:12:14
Microphone?
Cllr Nicola Keen - 0:12:19
I've been asked this question time and again by people around the county.
Is there not going to be a slow walk with the payroll because everyone's quite
every borough district to be up and running.
Surely Kent, I'm just gonna pull the plug on that.
I mean, it's early days, however,
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:12:45
I think it's probably important to look at it
from the other way around.
So when the new authority starts in April 28,
we're gonna have to have an operational payroll system
for new appointments.
So the new chief exec, the new senior managers,
they need to be on the correct payroll
with the correct terms and conditions applied.
It's much more likely that most other people
will probably continue possibly with separate pay rolls
for a time until we move everyone over,
or we'll be building a payroll with five
possibly different terms and conditions within it.
So that work needs to be worked through quite clearly.
But when you look at the time scales
to implement a new payroll system,
you're probably looking at eight months.
So that brings us back from investing day, back towards September time.
The shadow council is only going to be operational from April.
And in that period, there's obviously some key policies and terms and conditions that are going to have to be agreed for the new council to recruit the chief.
Terms and conditions for new employers.
So there's a real timeline that we need to work through to make sure that no plug is pulled and everyone is paid correctly.
what system is on.
Yeah, that will still be up for debate.
We won't just have a knock -on effect on that.
Dr Susan Priest - 0:14:07
Yeah, and also access to buildings.
You know, your passes, just to be able to actually
get into work on day one.
So there's a lot of day one critical things
relating to staff, which is why I'm quite keen
that the team, you know, do have some sort of
additional resource so that we can get
in really good shape for that.
Because as always with this committee,
you always ask about staff, we always prioritise staff,
and that priority is not diminishing as we go forward.
If anything, Nicola, it's absolutely really red flag,
flashing red light for us about making sure that the staff
have the basic things they need for vesting day.
Because if they don't, then our residents
won't have the continuity of care.
So there's a complete knock -on, so that's why,
in particular we're seeing that as really on the critical path for sure.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:14:58
Cllr Nicola Keen - 0:15:33
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:15:36
I think I agree. I think we had a similar spike, which seems to be about 10 years ago,
possibly. That was an unusual spike. And we dealt with the issues at the time. We have
We've seen an increase in long -term mental health cases.
They are getting more and more complex to deal with,
especially, we involve occupational health
as quickly as we can,
but they're not the easiest ones to resolve
because it's very difficult to foresee
when a return to work is gonna be likely.
But you want to give people ample opportunity
to recover and come back to work.
So it becomes a very difficult decision
as to when do you almost call it a day, if you like,
have to do something about it, or is there the hope that they will be able to recover
fully and come back? We've had a number of those cases. We've even had a couple of cases
this year where they haven't been well enough to come back, and we have had to look at dismissing
due to ill health. And I think it seems to have kind of increased unusually this year,
but we're not alone. Certainly, neighbouring authorities are seeing exactly the same situation.
So whether this is a knock on from COVID,
from, you know, and kind of these things re -merging,
whether people are more sensitive to things at the moment,
that is for various reasons,
but we're not attributing that to LGR in any form.
There's no evidence of that at all,
but it is an unusual spike.
We're calling it a spike because we're hoping
it's going to come straight back down again.
We have still got another case we're working with
that's been a long -term one.
but after that we're kind of back to normal management again.
So we're hoping it was just a kind of a blip for a year and just a normal spike.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:17:26
Any other?
Councillor Langell.
Well, I was going to ask exactly the same question as that,
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:17:33
because, and thank you for your response.
And I think it's not just to do with what's going on.
I mean, it is nationally, isn't it?
People are very concerned about the cost of living and everything else now.
And of course, if people are susceptible to that kind of
issue, then it's going to affect our work as well.
But of course, one of the things we need to do is we don't want people really
to go out of work, we want to keep people in work as much as possible.
So thank you for your update.
I think that's very important if we can keep people in work.
Too many people are out of work at the moment.
It's probably important to say, but we did have to lose a couple of people.
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:18:23
There's other instances where people had quite a long extended period off, and we have had them back into work.
So that's always the primary focus.
And I'd say it's a very difficult judgement call to then decide that that's now enough kind of thing.
So the primary yes is getting people back in
and we are successful with that too.
Yes, difficult balance, isn't it?
Difficult balance, thank you.
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:18:48
Thanks.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:18:49
I mean, just focusing on the long -term absence for a second.
It might be quite helpful,
like we've got this long list in 4 .8
of all the initiatives and things that we're doing.
And we've obviously, you know, we read through all those last year
and then we come to sort of have this spike.
So I would find it interesting to see how much engagement there is
with some of these.
You know, how many members of staff seek out mental health
first aiders, for example, and don't need any details of conversations.
But, you know, just figures like that, you know, because if that was really low
and matching to, you know, high levels of stress
related sickness and things like that, then we could find some correlations of why these
things are happening.
Some of them probably not, but yeah, certainly things that could link to that mental first
aiders, financial well -being, all those things, the number of engagements that we get throughout
the year would be quite helpful to see that data, to see if there is any correlations
or patterns or, you know, and if they're not engaging in those services, then why?
You know, is it worthwhile having them?
Do we need to improve them somehow or change them somehow to make them more accessible?
I think we don't currently monitor that.
We do, like I say, we've got a number of mates as well today.
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:20:16
I'm sure we can look at a way that they can do a tally chart.
Obviously, like I say, we wouldn't have details, but in terms of approaches,
approaches, but we can say look at how we can input that
and bring that back to members for review.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:20:30
Yeah, I just think it might help understand these numbers
sort of moving forward if they continue to be higher
than we would want them or expect them to be.
Cllr Nicola Keen - 0:20:42
One area, is it like in, I would imagine,
if you were gonna get stressed and anxious,
it would be in finance.
Or in your case, it'd be social care.
Is it in one specific area?
Is it a certain kind of job that you need?
No.
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:21:01
That's a very simple answer.
In fairness, it's more, it's not corporate services.
It's more the external facing roles.
Yeah, but across several different areas.
It's not confined to one particular team or kind of area.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:21:22
And I mean just to pick up on the points earlier with regards to LGR, I would hope that the
programme board, the HR programme board that's Kent wide, I would hope that they're sort
of picking up all those sorts of things that are, the big sort of things that are down
the line away and all the work that's going on with those.
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:21:50
I'd say some is a long way off and it's just a very early planning at the minute.
But we're doing that to make sure it then doesn't get lost in the volume of work that comes through
because it'd be so easy to, the months disappear don't they?
And we're just very conscious, we don't want that to happen.
So there's certainly conversations between us and Ashford because whichever way you look,
I think there's a lot comparing there.
So we're already starting those conversations
between us sharing stuff wider in the Kent HR board.
So, absolutely.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:22:18
And is this something that's come out of that board?
Is this something that's sort of being Kent -wide
or is this just us or, you know,
I was just thinking if everyone's sort of doing something
similar in preparation for, you know, the new normal,
then, or is this just an initiative that's just for us?
Ms Andrina Smith - 0:22:34
And if so, you know, what's the thinking sort of behind it?
What are we hoping to get out of it?
So that's a little bit of a mix of what we've often done
in terms of management essentials, if you like,
in terms of managing absence, managing recruitment.
And we do that on a rolling programme.
I say we, Richie does that on a rolling programme every year.
So that's about six modules.
But we were very conscious that,
and you probably heard Susan say in various meetings as well
that we want our staff to be in the best place possible
in two years time for whatever comes
at whatever point.
So how do we do that for our managers?
Because we're very conscious,
we support them quite heavily.
Essentially the bigger authority,
we may not be able to do that in quite the same way,
they need to be a bit more self -sufficient.
So we work very closely with Jo, the OD manager.
She had a quick look at what has been funded by Ashford.
That's all outsourced to different companies
that produces that.
Whereas we're doing this in -house,
with just a couple of external people coming through.
But the idea is to make sure our middle managers
are as skilled as possible, resilient to the change.
They're starting to look a bit broader
in terms of what members expect,
getting prepared for unitary and so on.
So it's our programme,
but I'm sure others will be doing similar iterations.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:23:55
It's always going to be a trailblazer.
Susan.
Always.
Dr Susan Priest - 0:23:59
If I get it right, if not,
we have a culture of continuous learning.
So the team have done a really, really good job on this
and I was chatting to one of your team this morning
actually about it to add in one or two things.
This is why the staff survey is so really important to us,
that engagement that you've heard us talk about before
now over the years, because if we have their engagement,
we understand then what are the issues that they're facing
and then we can adjust and respond accordingly
and put in this training plan.
So members have made available additional funds for us to increase the amount of training
and development that we offer to staff, and that's gone down really, really, really well.
And we will be testing out that question again with them through the staff survey of this
year, because it is all about positioning as well for the future.
And you will have heard me say this many times before, but being very, very fortunate in
career to have had lots of development opportunities.
And as a leader knows and my thanks to a couple of members in the room for the support for
the course that I'm on this year with the cabinet office.
And so cascading that learning and that culture of learning, continuous improvement through
the organisation is really, really important.
So this is just one snapshot of all the different things that we do.
And then extending this sort of approach through to our activities we have with youth is really,
really important as well in terms of encouraging,
it could be returners to work,
it doesn't necessarily have to just be youth,
but to come into the organisation
because they're valued and they have
development opportunities.
So I'm delighted to see that you picked up on this.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:25:43
Any members have anything else they wish to add?
Okay, we're asked to receive a note of the report.
Are we happy to agree that?
Oh, Proposer.
Councillor Langley, seconder.
Councillor Martin, Elaine Martin.
And, Chavannes, all agreed. Thank you.

7 Report of the Head of Paid Service

Okay, that brings us to item number seven,
the report of the Head of Page Service. Over to you, Susan.
Dr Susan Priest - 0:26:10
Thank you. Thank you very much and I'm delighted to give you this
report, my annual report again at this time.
As I say, in the report, it is a little earlier, just with the way the
meetings have landed this year, so I can't report back formally on the staff survey,
because it's still running until the 12th of June. But we will ensure that you do have
that information. We'll get that back to you. So this report really formally advises you,
with my deep thanks, for giving me sufficient resources to run the council. There has been
some minor increases in some teams, which is shown in the appendix, and that's largely
to respond to volumes and demands of workload,
or where we have used some earmarked funds
for that purpose, where we have been given housing funding
to do a specific role, for example.
We continue to resource flexibly,
using a combination of part -time permanent fixed -term contracts,
but we are also increasingly using internal secondments this year.
and that again, talks to my earlier point really
around development opportunities,
so that people's colleagues' substantive role
is protected through this period of change,
but equally it doesn't restrict them
from trying something new or putting themselves forward
for a new opportunity.
So we're trying to marry that with the internal
circumvents with the substantive role protection through LGR.
And also, as I mentioned earlier,
delighted in terms of some of the youth activities
and continuing to up our game with,
oh, it could be work experience, placements,
explaining the different career paths.
Of course, we have a vast variety of different career paths
that you can have under one council,
which is part of the joy of the role that I have.
So, staff sentiment, even though I said
about the staff survey is underway.
I was fortunate this morning to have
the operational management team meeting,
which is probably about the top 30 -ish, 32 colleagues
that manage staff beneath.
And one of the questions I asked them
was just a temperature cheque about,
you know, I said I've got personnel committee this afternoon.
You always, always ask how, you know,
what's the sentiment like?
So it's some real -time information for you.
So on the, I'll start with positive.
On the positives, staff are reporting that their teams feel supported and they're very
grateful for the support that is offered.
They acknowledged about learning and development opportunities, which we referred to earlier.
There's a really lovely sentiment coming through about people do enjoy their work, they enjoy
the type and the nature of their work they've got here, which is really important, I think,
in terms of that quality of the services that we give to residents.
and there were one or two very positive things said
about some quite modest, but nonetheless important
additions that we're doing, whether that's offering
some e -bikes to certain teams to allow them to get
around the patch more efficiently, that's gone down
really well, or whether it's been a new finance system
which has meant that actually some of the day -to -day
processing is much more efficient and easier to do.
Some of the more, on the downside, there is a lot
of pressure, particularly on the housing team
over the last month or so,
because we've had the regulator of social housing in,
and we expect that judgement to be announced in July.
So there's been a huge amount of work
in terms of the detail,
but I'm very extremely grateful to all staff
that have been involved in that.
So that's given me a little bit of level of anxiety,
because it is a very...
And all the legislation.
And it's very blunt, you know, it's very, very blunt,
you know, in terms of C1, C2, C3, C4.
that's your grade, that's it.
And it's all published and everything.
So there's a lot, because we have such a committed
housing team.
So that's been flagged as, you know,
people are a bit anxious about that.
There are some references, I have been this morning
to LGR, particularly one of the models
which splits the district and concerns about,
so how would that split happen?
And you know, is it on population, is it on service demand?
Is it, so, you know, there's only so much
that I can sort of give to them in response to that,
but nonetheless, it's really good to hear
that that's the nature of their concern.
And also, the other comment that's come back
related to LGR is not wanting to repeat
some of the challenges of East Cape Housing.
So there is some concern about the HRAs
being coming together and not going to one really,
really huge, big housing service
that then loses its focus on tenants.
So that was really, really useful to hear that.
Of course, at this time in particular,
it's hugely busy for some teams like council tax billing,
year end for finance.
And I guess the other general comment that we always say
is just really about the volume of work.
So that was a real time this morning feedback
that we heard and I was very grateful for colleagues
for giving me that.
So I could pass that on to you without delay.
So the report then goes into management priorities
that I've agreed with members through my own formal performance process, which is really
around giving that leadership, support for the administration and the council more broadly,
and effective communication, and then delivering the corporate plan. So that's outlined, as
well as some of the key areas that we've highlighted. So I think my conclusion is that we are well -resourced
and prepared for the year ahead and I'm grateful to members for allowing that to happen.
Happy to take any questions.
Councillor Ludd, please.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:32:12
Thank you for the report.
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:32:16
It's great to hear that you're well resourced.
I haven't heard that for quite some time.
So I hope that's the case.
And I'm really pleased to see it's a congruent in terms of what you're talking about previously.
in the director of LGR and the manager of LGR.
That's right, isn't it?
I understand that right.
Yeah.
It is and I'm delighted if it was too subtle in the report
and that Andrina is the director for Folks in High with LGR.
She's got that role and the consequential look on,
sorry without embarrassing colleagues in the room,
Dr Susan Priest - 0:32:56
is an opportunity for Richie, which is great.
and the LGR manager to support Andrina and myself
and the broader team is, I can announce it, can I?
Is Zoe Law, we've got a staff briefing later on next week.
So those are the two roles, Jenny,
that's referenced in the report.
And they are there to help me and colleagues drive
and make sure that we do have a really, really good
transition.
Can I just come back on that and say congratulations, and also to Richie.
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:33:32
And yes, I'm really pleased that it's internal.
Of course, it's really important that the day job, if you like,
which is perhaps going to take over, is carried on as well.
I mean, I know all the work that's going on in LGR,
and that's going to continue for some time, isn't it?
So well done.
And in terms of staff, you know,
I'm always keen on what staff are saying.
I haven't been in so much recently,
so that's good to hear.
And I can understand their concerns with LDR,
but I think, you know, from what I've been,
previously I haven't had the opportunity
to come in quite so often recently,
that most staff do feel that there are opportunities.
And so, you know, that's,
and if we can encourage that all the time
and make sure that they still understand
that there will be opportunities,
because it's going to take some time, isn't it,
to get settled, even if, even when we know what,
where we're going, if we know where we're going.
It's about time we knew where we're going, isn't it?
But yeah, so thank you and well done.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:34:49
Any other members of anything?
I just do contribute.
I'm not saying thank you again for the report.
Right at the end, well nearly the end, 4 .8, I just wanted to touch base on where we are
with our transformation fund and is for your thinking, I mean is what's left in that pot.
which is, you know, it's not insignificant,
but it's not what it was.
So is that still, you know, in your mind,
adequate to get us through at least this year?
Yes.
Dr Susan Priest - 0:35:29
Just to elaborate a little bit for you,
I can certainly ask Alan when he comes to FMP
to highlight that particularly for you,
but my view is that there is adequate funds
that you've made available through the prudent management
of the funds over the last couple of years
in terms of transformation reserve
and the LGR reserve that's there.
And then there may be unexpected costs that hit us,
but at the moment, I think we are in a reasonable,
a reasonably good shape to take that on.
The announcement from MHCLG or the decision,
shall I say, from MHCLG's minister
will also allocate, I think the word says,
at least 900 ,000 to each unitary
to help with the transition.
So depending on the numbers that we have in Kent,
there'll be obviously some debate about whether that
in itself is sufficient.
When MHCLG colleagues have been asked about the level,
the at least 900 ,000, what did the at least really mean,
their response was, well, we've still got the third wave
of the programme to go, we're unsure how many unitaries
the minister will finally decide,
and so they've built into their totality of their pot,
which I think from memory was something like 54 million.
They have allowed some, I think a bit of float
or ex -hedra for themselves, that they then might deploy
against certain activities.
So we can keep reporting on LGR spend,
what's coming into the county and equally what the Kent programme is looking like as well as our own impact.
I'm very happy to suggest that that goes through to FMP so you're really cited on that.
Andreno in her role will absolutely be on top of all of that budget detail as well.
So if there are any other opportunities we can certainly report that back to you.
Thanks.
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:37:25
And just to say, you know, I think the decisions that we took in terms of taking on the extra permanent director,
I think Alan's settled in very well and I don't think it's a very good decision and sets us up very well
for at least our swan song, shall we say.
Right, okay. Are we happy to receive a note of the report?
Councillor Lonsby.
I totally agree with your comments on Alan,
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:37:57
the Director of Finance.
And I didn't mean to say,
so how is your course going with the cabinet offices?
I don't think you've asked that.
Well, you know, as I said earlier,
I was very grateful for the,
I think actually it was cross -party support for me
Dr Susan Priest - 0:38:12
to do the course which spans the year.
It consists of three residential weeks, really,
I've just completed the second,
and the third one will be in the autumn.
And it has been a really, really interesting
and equally challenging course
in terms of,
oh gosh, in terms of
big picture challenges that are going on
as part of systems,
and as well as actually when you then drill it down
into knowing yourself and how you respond to certain things
and in certain ways.
And so it's been really thought -provoking journey.
The other delegates are all chief execs
of other public sector organisations,
and it includes things like vice chancellors, the Welsh
Parliament, Scotland, further education groups,
health colleagues, fire colleagues, and NHS trusts.
So there are two cohorts of 30 staff,
and I'm in one of the 30 staff cohorts.
So it's been, and we've been drawn, as I say,
across the country.
So it's been a really, really worthwhile exercise so far.
I have, one of the other points is that I've tried
to ensure that there's been a cascade
of some of the learning.
And I was delighted that some of that
I've subjected Andrina and another chief officer colleague
to which I'll let her talk for herself
about how that's gone, but I wanted not just
to take the learning from the opportunity
from this journey, but to make sure it's cascaded out.
So there's been lots of conversations
with a corporate leadership team
and lots of sharing of the material as well,
just so that we maximise the impact that any trainer that I've been lucky enough to have,
it has a wider reach really. So thank you.
Thank you. I didn't mean to put you on the spot.
Cllr Jennifer Hollingsbee - 0:40:30
Cllr Connor McConville - 0:40:33
Someone would like to propose that we receive and note the report.
Councillor Elaine Martin seconded.
Councillor Lainsbury, all in favour?
Lovely, thank you.
That moves us to item number eight.
to exclude the public for the follow -up item of business on the grounds that it's likely
to disclose exempt information as defined in paragraph 4 of part 1 of schedule 12a of
the local government act 1972.
So members are we happy to go into a closed session if someone would like to propose?
Councillor Loyn's being seconded by Councillor Keene, all in favour?