Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to declare any interests in the items under consideration and in doing so state:

(1) the type of interest concerned; and

(2) the nature of the interest concerned

If any member requires advice on declarations of interests, they are advised to contact the Head of Democratic Governance in advance of the meeting.

Councillor Hunter declared a personal interest in agenda item 4, the nature of the interest was that the appellant lived within this ward, but he was unknown to him.

To agree the minutes of the last meeting held on 10 June 2019 as a true and correct record.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 10 June 2019 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

Resolved: That under Section 100 (A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the whole item, including the decisions referred to at Agenda item 4 on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Committee to consider and determine a request for a review of a decision of the

Council to dismiss an employee.

(This item contains personal information regarding the appellant, which is exempt from publication by virtue of Paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972).

The Committee considered a request to review the decision of the Council to dismiss an employee.

The appellant, accompanied by a Trade Union representative, were in attendance at the meeting.

Mrs Roberts (Employee Relations Manager) and Mrs Duxbury (Deputy Head of Legal Services) were in attendance to advise the Committee on policy and procedure only and had taken no part in the original decision.

The relevant Head of Service and Employee Relations Adviser presented the case on behalf of the Authority and one of the investigating officers provided supporting evidence.

The Committee carefully considered all the representation and documentation put forward by both parties and was of the opinion that on the balance of probability an incident had occurred involving a vulnerable young person, but believed that there was insufficient evidence to corroborate the involvement of the appellant.  It was noted that had the procedures in Pan Lancashire Policy and Procedures for Safeguarding Children Manual (Section 21) been observed, which stated that a signed, dated and written record of an incident must be recorded, a clearer picture would have been presented.

In addition, the Committee agreed with the appellant’s representation that the inconsistent approach taken by the appellant’s line manager to the individuals involved was contrary to the Disciplinary Procedure (Appendix B – Guidance for employees subject to an investigation) and had put into question the impartiality of the witness statements.

The Committee was of the opinion that during the investigation stage, information had been overlooked, dismissed and/ or not fully investigated.  This would have provided a picture of the overall working environment/ relationship, which could have influenced the outcome of Disciplinary Hearing.  

It was noted that the Council representatives acknowledged that there had been a number of discrepancies during the process.  The Committee considered these discrepancies were so significant as to undermine the reasonableness of the original decision.

Resolved:

1.      That the original decision to dismiss the employee be overturned on the grounds that the Council had failed to fully comply with the relevant policies and procedures and the decision taken could be deemed unreasonable based on the evidence presented.

2.      That officers be requested to undertake a scrutiny of policies/ procedures with particular reference to the Lancashire Policy and Procedures for Safeguarding Children Manual.

3.      That officers be requested to review the training requirements/ methods of the approach adopted by Investigating Officers.

4.      That officers investigate the culture within the residential facility, the extremely negative environment and the impact on the residents.

Background papers:  Exempt

To note the date of the next meeting as Monday 22 July 2019 at 10.00am.

Resolved: To note the date of the next meeting as 22 July 2019.