Agenda and minutes

          The minutes of the meeting of Council held on 7 March 2018, having been circulated, were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

          The Mayor thanked retiring Councillors Sue Edge, John Gerrard and Stan Parker for their years of service to the Council as Elected Members. All would retire or stand down following the local elections on 3 May 2018. On behalf of the Council, he wished each of them well for the future.

(N.B. Councillors Polhill and Wharton declared a Disclosable Other Interest in the following item of business, as they were both Non-Executive Directors of the Mersey Gateway Crossings Board)

          On 7 March 2018, Council received a report which considered and responded to issues raised on the operation of the Road User Charging Scheme Order (RUCSO) for the Mersey Gateway and Silver Jubilee Bridge tolled crossings.

          The Council unanimously resolved to conduct a consultation on a proposed revised RUCSO, which ran from 8 to 29 March 2018. The Mersey Gateway Crossings Board had prepared a report on the consultation responses. As a result of representations received after the publication of the original agenda, a Supplemental Report to Council was published prior to the meeting, which asked the Council to make the RUCSO in the form as set out in the Appendix.

          The Mayor deemed that this information was sufficiently important to be considered as a matter of urgency.

          UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED: That Council

1)    confirm that no further consultation is required in respect of the updated RUCSO;

2)    confirm that no public inquiry is required to be held into the making of the updated RUCSO;

3)    make the updated RUCSO in the form (or substantially the same form) as that in the Appendix tabled at the meeting, and delegate to the Operational Director, Legal and Democratic Services, the authority to make any non-material or consequential amendments as are necessary to enable the updated RUCSO to be made;

4)    leave the toll charges unchanged – as specified in the updated RUCSO;

5)    amend the Halton Local User Discount Scheme (LUDS) Hardship Scheme as proposed in paragraph 5.1 of the report, so as to become the HLUDSS and address the anomaly in respect of disabled Halton residents as proposed in paragraph 5.4 of the report; and

6)    leave administration Fees in respect of registering with Mersey Gateway/Merseyflow unchanged.

          Council considered a report of the Strategic Director, Enterprise, Community and Resources, on the Pay Policy Statement for 2018/19.

          The Localism Act 2011 required every local authority to prepare a pay policy Statement each year, which detailed the Council’s approach to a range of issues relating to the pay of its employees, principally its Chief Officers and the Authority’s lowest paid employees.

          The purpose of the Statement was to provide transparency with regards to the Council’s approach to setting the pay of its employees by identifying the following:-

·       The methods by which salaries of all employees were determined;

·       The details and level of remuneration of its most senior staff (i.e. its Chief Officers); and

·       The Committee responsible for ensuring the provisions set out in the Statement were applied consistently throughout the Council and recommending any amendments to the Full Council.

The report also detailed the requirement from April 2018 for employers with more than 250 employees to report on the Gender Pay Gap. The calculation was prescribed statutorily, based on a snapshot date of 31 March of the previous year. Detailed information was published on the Council’s web site.

The following information was included in the report:

·       Background to the Pay Structure;

·       Senior Management  Remuneration;

·       Recruitment of Chief Officers;

·       Additions to Salaries of Chief Officers;

·       Pension Contributions;

·       Payments on Termination;

·       Publication;

·       Lowest Paid Employees; and

·       Accountability and Decision Making.

RESOLVED: That the Pay Policy Statement for 2018/19 be adopted.