Apologies

Julie Burgess, , David Esplin, , Lynne Khindria, Hamish Johnston, Alex Killick, Gillian Lenaghan, Dorothy McKinney, Patricia McNally, Mike Palmer, Brian Steven, , Melanie Stewart, John Turner, Gordon Walker, Rona Webster.

Minute of last meeting

1. Minutes of meeting held on 8 September were approved with a word change to Point 4. The new wording reads: Discussion concentrated on the use of generic job descriptions and concerns that they might have a tendency to standardise the approach which is causing a high level of anxiety on a professional and geographical basis.

Matters arising

2. Unions asked again about the position on claims for Equal Pay. Unison reiterated their position regarding possible backdating of claims for 6 years. The position will be clarified by 22 September.

National Update

3. Clarification is being sought regarding payments to staff whilst on annual leave. There are financial implications and a meeting to discuss this has been arranged for Friday 24 September in Leeds. Colin McGowan, Janis Millar, David Robertson and Calum Scott will attend.
4. The proposed use of template job descriptions is still causing some concern. SPRIG guidance which is on the website will be revised, discussed and agreed at the meeting on 22 September. It was accepted that there is a need for a consistent approach by all Boards. It was also emphasised the need for individual members of staff to sign agreement to any new Job Description. SPRIg will continue to agree guidance for Boards but clarification is required re the issuing of any authoritative direction. It is important to ensure that work already done by some Boards is not discarded as a result of any new guidance. A request was made for a view on the state of progress by each Board. Janis Millar said she had some information and would gather more. She was also in the process of reviewing papers from West Lothian and would bring them along to the meeting on 22 September.

ACTION POINT: Janis Millar

5. It was recognised that time and resources for the matching process were the main issues. Various options for timetabling and progression of the work were debated together with payroll capacity and preferred approaches on how this could be managed. This will be further addressed in one of the future themed meetings.
6. Ian Reid mentioned the backfill cost for Glasgow and said that CE's will want to consider any solutions that would reduce this. It was recognized that this is a considerable problem for many.
7. There were still some concerns about getting individuals to sign up to job descriptions and the acceptance of national profiles. Some national profiles are still to be completed.
8. Work on the T&Cs handbook was nearly finished and it should be available soon.

 

Scottish Update

9. Network events for JE and T&Cs were well attended and a KSF one is planned for 28 September.
10. There are 2 new Administrative staff in the AfC PMU team, Caroline Nicol and Fiona Clark.
11. KSF "train the trainers" courses will be starting in October and run through to January '05. There are some concerns about the timescales for this and the fact that it is the same group of people who have been involved on the other courses. The dates are in line with National Guidelines although it may be necessary to agree an extension beyond Jan 05. Reasons for any slippage would need to be communicated to the service.
12. A request was made for a training session for members of SPRIG. Janis Millar would look into this.

ACTION POINT: Janis Millar

Annual Leave and Public Holidays

13. The paper produced by Janis Millar was discussed. A 4^th option was added which was rolling together entitlement for the next 6 months with next years entitlement and rolling it forward to 2006. Further discussion on this was required and Janis agreed to produce another paper for the next meeting.

ACTION POINT: Janis Millar

 

Admin/clerical protection

14. Work done by West Lothian using the new framework has resulted in most posts being rebanded and taking them out of protection requirements. David Renshaw said that some new profiles were still needed for some groups. A paper will be produced for SPRIG for the next meeting.

ACTION POINT: Eddie Egan

15. Any new guidance would need to ensure that people did not use unsuitable profiles when matching.
16. Some other posts within Special Health Boards also need to be looked at. David Renshaw and Janine Emerson agreed to get together on this.

ACTION POINT: David Renshaw / Janine Emerson

17. New information on Payroll staff is due out soon.

Radiography update

18. Ballot papers have now been issued.
19. Some posts had been re matched by staff in West Lothian and the results moved many of the posts into a higher band. If these results were agreed and translated across the UK the need for protection might be removed. A formal report on the work done will be produced for SPRIG.
20. Other issues outstanding include the Use of Recruitment and retention premia, SN2 linked grade, supervision of new starts working 37½ hours and job profile and matching of therapy posts. West Lothian offered to test and evaluate a therapy post.

AOCB

21. David Renshaw will bring a paper to SPRIG next week on CAJE.

ACTION POINT: David Renshaw

22. Dates of TU ballots:

Unison - last week in October, first week in November with results due 3^rd week in November.

Amicus - results due by 12 November.

Date of next meeting

Wednesday 22 September in St Andrew's House Conference rooms A&B