Bedroom Tax and Management & Communications ...

I promised to post up some details on the divisions on items 9.1 and 9.2 at the recent Policy and Strategy Committee ... apologies for the delay, but I'll now simply provide the text of the draft 'Action Note' from the meeting below:

9.1

City of Edinburgh Council
Corporate Policy and Strategy Committee
26 February 2013

Item 9.1 Motion by Cllr Burgess – “No Eviction for ‘Bedroom Tax’“

Committee shares the concern about the introduction of the “Bedroom Tax” and agrees to continue the motion for one cycle and requests a report on the implications for the Council’s Housing Revenue Account and housing service by adopting a “No Eviction” policy as requested by the motion.

Committee also agrees that, after consideration by CP&S on 16 April, the report be referred to the Health, Wellbeing and Housing Policy Development and Review Sub Committee on 23 April with a request that the sub committee discuss recommendations for mitigation measures and support for tenants with a view to preventing evictions.


Proposed: Cllr Henderson
Seconded: Cllr Cardownie

 9.2

Corporate Policy and Strategy Committee
26 February 2013

Item 9.2: Motion by Cllr Chapman: Management and Communications within the Council

1. notes the motion proposed by Cllr Chapman and the issues she references;

2. notes that the recommendations in the report on the Staff Survey to Policy and Strategy Committee on 2 October 2012 were passed without amendment;

3. considers that the indicators in paragraph two present an unduly negative picture of employee satisfaction;

4. whilst accepting that low staff morale, low productivity and poor working relationships should always be issues of concern for an employer with the ambition of the City of Edinburgh Council, queries the basis for the comparative statistics and their robustness in showing a level of disquiet and anxiety with management and communication in the Council;

5. notes that following the report on the Employee survey in October 2012, service specific People Plans have been updated to address the areas for improvement identified;

6. notes that a new whistleblowing policy is in development and will shortly be the subject of Trade Union consultation with a view to implementation in May 2013 and;

7. instructs the Chief Executive to report to Corporate Policy and Strategy within two cycles on the further analysis that has been undertaken on the survey since October 2012 together with the steps taken by management to deal with the issues raised, how these changes are being implemented and how they will be monitored.


Proposed: Cllr Burns
Seconded: Cllr Cardownie