Agenda and minutes

Any Member with a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest or an Affected Interest in a matter should withdraw from the meeting when the matter is under consideration and should notify the Democratic Services Officer in attendance that they are withdrawing as they have such an interest. If the Interest is not entered on the register of Members interests the Monitoring Officer must be notified of the interest within 28 days.

There were no declarations of interest.

Any other items which, pursuant to Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chairman decides are urgent.

There were no urgent items of business.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 16 July 2013.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Education Employment Sub-Committee held on 16 July 2013 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive a report regarding Teachers’ Performance Related Pay.

The Human Resources Manager: Children, Young People and Learning provided the Committee with an update into the operation of the performance related pay arrangements for teachers in Bracknell Forest schools. 

From September 2013 schools have been able to set and link teachers’ pay to performance.  The first performance-linked pay increased were for September 2014 following performance reviews undertaken during the autumn 2014.  Heads and school leaders are responsible for developing these arrangements and making pay recommendations to governing bodies.

All Bracknell Forest schools have undertaken performance reviews for their teaching staff and made recommendations to their appropriate committee of the governing body in time for the statutory guidelines. A total of 1068 reviews had been undertaken with only 2 formal appeals lodged against the pay determination.  This includes one where a determination was made by the governing body to overrule the recommendation of the head teacher.  The outcome of the appeals was not available as they had not yet taken place, this information would be brought to the next meeting.

(Action: Paul Young)

It was noted that the amount of appeals had been less than expected however this could be due to concern in implementing the arrangements or head teachers and leaders being well trained.

In response to a question regarding the difference of information provided to the appropriate committee of the governing body and the governing body, it was noted that the full governing body were aware of reviews but do not know who had been awarded the increments.

To receive an update regarding teacher recruitment.

The Human Resources Manager: Children, Young People and Learning provided the Committee with an update regarding changes to Initial Teacher Training and initiatives to support teacher recruitment and retention in the Borough.

Recruitment continues to be challenging due to increasing numbers of teachers required in Bracknell Forest.  Also there have been a number of resignations and retirement of head teachers during the 2014/15 academic year which has led to a sharp increase in head teacher recruitment activity.  The most recent figures show that there were 5 primary vacancies and one secondary. 

There were a number of recruitment initiatives running in Bracknell Forest over recent years however due to the changes in Initial Teacher training and greater demand, recruitment was becoming more challenging.  To support recruitment for September 2015 a number of activities have been planned, these include

• attendance at recruitment fairs,
• revised format of NQT pool,
• supporting Garth Hill College and the Secondary Schools Partnership with the School Direct programme,
• Liasing with Uplands Primary School to help market the School Direct opportunities,
• supporting individuals in training as teachers,
• building on links with the University of Reading to aid the recruitment of trainee teachers with raising awareness of Bracknell Forest ,
• carrying out regular vacancy surveys to keep aware of any changes.

It was reported that nationally the largest group of teachers were in their late 50s and could retire within the next 5 years which would then create an even greater problem with future teacher recruitment.

In response to comments and queries the HR Manager confirmed that:

• the School Direct places were based on need and it had been a challenge for secondary schools to obtain training allocations.  
• the primary 2015 teaching pool would be operated in two separate phases to increase the availability of teachers.
• there can be difficulty in retaining school direct trainees as sometimes the trainees drop out before the end of their training.
• Members of the Human Resources team attended recruitment fairs.
• there are no current plans to provide housing support to newly recruited or trainee teachers.
• work to encourage people who wish to have a career change to teaching could be considered in the future.
• exit interviews were undertaken with head teachers to identify any issues.
• deputy head teachers usually did not want to make the transition to head teacher due to the additional responsibilities and additional work load.

To consider the following motion:

That pursuant to Regulation 21 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) Regulations 2000 and having regard to the public interest, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of item 13 which involves the likely disclosure of exempt information under the following category of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:

(3)       Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person.

Due to the restricted content in item 7 the Committee agreed the following motion:

RESOLVED that pursuant to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, and having regard to the public interest, members of the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the consideration of the follow item which involves the likely disclosure of exempt information under the following category of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972:

(1)        Information relating to any individual.

(3)        Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person.

(4)        Information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the Authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the Authority.

To receive a verbal update on the site controller employment tribunal judgement.

The Chief Officer: Human Resources updated the Committee on recent developments regarding a Site Controller Employment Tribunal judgement.