Agenda item

·         Paper 5 - Proposals for staffing review

-        Annex A: Proposals for group staffing

-        Annex B: Responses from groups

-        Annex C: Letters to AMs

·         Next steps – letter to AMs and publication of report

26.     The Chair gave a brief overview of the process to date as part of the Board’s review into AM Staffing and noted that he and Sandy Blair had participated in a final round of meetings with stakeholders in May.

 

27.     A summary of the Board’s decisions on AM Staffing is detailed below with the following measures having taken effect on 1 April 2013

·         One per cent pay rise for all Assembly Members’ Support Staff (AMSS)

 

·         The opportunity for new starters appointed at the bottom point of their pay scale to be eligible for a pay review after six months. Subject to satisfactory performance, they would then progress to the next incremental point on the pay scale. Their future pay progression would be on the anniversary of the six month review

 

·         Removing the requirement that positions must be externally advertised in those instances where there are suitable internal candidates who have previously been appointed through fair and open competition.

 

·         Permitting Assembly Members to increase the number of annual leave days for those staff on standard contracts up to 31 days per annum.

 

28.     The Chair also confirmed the Board’s decisions regarding arrangements it had sought to set out aimed at enhancing the strategic capacity of the Assembly, of individual Members and of party groups; whilst also providing additional career development opportunities for support staff.

 

29.     The Board acknowledged that whilst some Members had welcomed its proposals and agreed with the principles upon which they were based, they had not received support across the board.

 

30.     The Board therefore agreed that these proposals would not implement as a package. Rather, some of these changes - where there had been overwhelming agreement-would be implemented from 1 July 2013 and monitored over the next 12 months.

 

31.     A summary of these proposals is detailed below:

 

Enhanced support for individual Assembly Members appointment of a Senior Advisor

 

32.     The Board confirmed that it did not intend to proceed with this proposal for the current financial year but may return to it in the future.

 

Enhanced support for individual Assembly Members – Engagement Fund (Policy and Research Fund)

 

33.     The Board agreed to proceed with the proposal of making an additional fund available to Members so that it could be used for commissioning external research with effect from 1 July. To clarify its purpose it would be named the Policy and Research Fund. It would be available to Members to fund external research to support policy development, exploration of issues of significance in their constituency or region, or the scrutiny of policy, legislation or finance.

 

34.     Members would be permitted to combine these funds to commission larger pieces of work, although this would need to be in accordance with best procurement practice.

 

35.     The Board would monitor take up of the Policy and Research Fund and its value in bringing in additional expertise to assist Members over the next 12 months. It would initially review the operation of the new fund at the end of the current financial year.

 

 

Enhanced support for Groups – new pay band for Chiefs of Staff

 

36.     The Board agreed the introduction of a new pay band for Chiefs of Staff which would be remunerated at 10 % higher than the Additional Group Support salary. This was in recognition of what the Board saw as greater responsibility carried over other positions within the groups and in providing strategic support to the Party Leaders, Business Managers and all group Members. Only one full time post or equivalent per party group would be funded in this way.

 

Enhanced support for Groups – enhanced capacity within party groups

 

37.     The Board agreed enhancing the budget for each party group to enable them to strengthen their policy and research capacity and enable them to appoint staff at a more senior level to undertake complex work.

 

38.     Groups would still retain the flexibility to structure group offices according to their needs. Officials from the Members Business Support (MBS) Team would discuss this in detail with the groups and provide appropriate advice.

 

39.     The Chair stressed that the Board remained committed to promoting AMSS career progression and enhancing the Assembly’s strategic capacity and that the remaining proposals would be left on the table for further consideration in 2014.

 

40.     The Board confirmed that the maximum potential cost of the proposals it had agreed will be £200k for a full financial year.

 

41.     The Chair would now write to Assembly Members and AMSS to inform them of the Board’s final decision regarding AM Staffing.

 

42.     These decisions would be outlined in greater detail in the Board’s Annual Report for 2012-13, which would be published before the summer recess.