The General Purposes Committee convened to discuss and approve amendments to the council's Violence and Aggression Health and Safety Policy Standard, ensuring alignment with the Zero Tolerance to Violence, Aggression and Discrimination Charter. The committee also noted the list of councillors' memberships on outside bodies, joint committees, and school governing bodies.

Violence and Aggression Policy Standard

The committee agreed to the proposed amendments to the Violence and Aggression Health and Safety Policy Standard.

The decision was made to align the policy with the council's Zero Tolerance to Violence, Aggression and Discrimination Charter. According to the meeting agenda, the alignment of these documents helps to ensure that staff are protected from physical and verbal abuse when carrying out their roles.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places a duty on employers to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of their employees. The council developed the Health and Safety Policy Standards to provide an overarching corporate policy standard for use by all directorates, so they can meet their legislative responsibilities consistently and robustly across the whole of the council.

The Violence and Aggression Health and Safety Arrangements Policy Standard was developed to provide all directorates with a clear framework for how the council recognises and will meet its legislative responsibilities as an employer and to ensure its employees can meet their legislative responsibilities as set out in the Health and Safety at work act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety Regulations 1999.

The report noted that since the adoption of this Policy Standard, consultation with staff has been carried out on the Zero Tolerance to Violence and Aggression Charter, with the Charter being amended to explicitly state that the Council will take a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination.

The policy states that:

The Council views any act of violence, aggression or discrimination towards its employees or any other persons under its care as unacceptable, and takes a zero tolerance approach to such behaviour. As far as is reasonably practicable, the Council will ensure that employees are protected from any risks to their health and safety posed by any acts of violence, aggression or discrimination.

The policy also outlines the responsibilities of the Chief Executive, Directors, Senior Management, Headteachers, Managers, and Employees in preventing and responding to incidents of violence, aggression, or discriminatory behaviour.

Declarations of Interest

The committee noted the list of councillors’ memberships on outside bodies, joint committees and school governing bodies, as detailed in the Declarations of Interest report.

The report included a list of the outside bodies, joint committees and school governing bodies that each member of Council has been appointed to by the Council or the Leader. The list does not include bodies with which a Member is involved in a personal or private capacity.

The report also reminded members to orally declare any personal or financial interests in specific items listed on the agenda as they relate to matters under discussion.