Agenda and minutes

A welcome was given to Lowri Williams, who was attending the meeting to discuss the future HR strategy and plans.

Apologies were received from Adrian Crompton (Director of Assembly Business).

There were no declarations of interest.

Non Gwilym would draft a note of the Management Board discussion for the news page.

The minutes of 2 February meeting were agreed as a correct record.

The Management Board meeting was dedicated to discussions on HR matters. Lowri Williams outlined the purpose of the session, which was to set out the current services delivered by HR and provide an opportunity to review these and raise workforce or service issues. It was also an opportunity to discuss workforce priorities for the Fifth Assembly and agree how the service should develop in the future.

Lowri outlined some of the team’s many achievements during the past twelve months that have contributed to HR’s transformation. These included: the introduction of an annual capacity planning framework, and a revised recruitment authorisation approach; a development in the number of BME partner organisations; an Assembly hosted Working Families event; work undertaken on the child protection framework; leading on the implementation of the HR/Payroll system - the first bilingual system of its kind; and a number of successful ‘wellbeing weeks’. Accolades received during the period included an award for a Top 30 Working Families Employer, UK Apprenticeship of the Year ‘finalist’ award, and a very positive interim IIP inspection.

Management Board considered how the HR function operated and interacted with them as customers and what could be done differently. The Board commented that:

·                HR provided a very good service, but could be more proactive still as a team in connecting with the business;

·                there was a sense of pressure and services being stretched within the HR team, especially because of the level of recruitment, and there was an over-reliance on certain individuals;

·                the new approach to the job evaluation and grading support (JEGS) was excellent;

·                HR could promote its work better to help the organisation understand the workload and responsibilities of the team and the degree to which they were supporting business needs in other service areas;

·                clarity was needed around recruitment and the responsibilities of HR versus service areas;

·                case management support was sharper, quicker and more confident, however, this could be held back by a lack of clarity resulting from the way policies had been drafted; and

·                it was important to get the balance right between learning and development provisions for staff and business need; clarity was needed around the responsibilities of line managers to source appropriate training.

HR’s key objective for 2014-16, to further strengthen organisational capacity, reflected an already strong organisation that was largely excellent. However, there were some issues that needed HR’s support, and areas which would benefit from greater development to meet future organisational priorities.

Lowri introduced the five key work streams that underpinned HR’s key objective and would shape the service’s work programme for the next two years.

Management Board discussed the work streams and agreed that they were in line with the organisation’s priorities. The Board encouraged HR to come back to Management Board frequently to get a steer on key activities.

Lowri outlined the immediate HR projects within the detailed work stream model. The engagement work stream included the engagement strategy and action plan, which had been drafted and would be presented to the Board at a future meeting. A corporate induction video was being prepared that would be fun, real and welcoming. The policies were being reviewed to make them easier to read, accessible and enable staff to put them into practice. Both the next staff survey and the IiP assessment were due in May. However, as a result of the election the IiP date was likely to change to end of 2015.

It was agreed to return to the detailed work stream model at the next Management Board meeting on 23 March.

Action: Management Board members to consider the timing of elements, prioritisation, gaps and what they would like to happen within elements of the work stream model.

Deborah Hill was welcomed to the meeting to discuss the next steps for implementation of changes to the PMDR process. It had previously been agreed to improve the effectiveness of the system by:

·                putting emphasis on behaviours critical to the outcome of objectives;

·                using the existing competencies framework as a toolkit;

·                improving the quality of assurance through greater senior level involvement, sample checking and supporting managers; and

·                publishing guidance, providing training and raising awareness.

Management Board had previously agreed to introduce the changes from April 2015 on a gradual basis. It had been piloted informally in a couple of areas, including Research and CAMS, and worked well where staff were self-reflective, but there was a need to support the spread of good practice.  The Board had some concerns about the timescale but agreed to review the prepared guidance materials and comment on whether to go ahead with a voluntary introduction in March. There was some preference to restrict it to SEO level and above, using the guidance and evaluating before implementing fully in September.

As part of a support plan, HR would attend team meetings to explain the increased emphasis on setting competence based objectives and would offer further assistance and support throughout the process, including one to one coaching and drop-in sessions.

Actions:

·      Deborah Hill to send draft guidance materials urgently to Management Board, who would provide comments by return.

The next meeting of the Management Board would be held on 23 March.