To consider the Executive Director’s Report No. ED1906 (copy attached) on the End Violence at Work Charter which provides the background to the Charter, details how the Council currently meet the standards and sets out some options for potential further action.

The Board received the Executive Director’s Report No. ED1906 which provided the background to the End Violence at Work Charter and explained its intended focus in response to the Notice of Motion considered at the Council meeting in February.  The Report set out how the Council currently met the standards in the Charter and provided some potential options for further action. 

The End Violence at Work Charter was a campaign by Unison to encourage employers in the community sector to take violence against staff seriously and sign up to the Charter.  Incidents of violence and abuse were on the increase in these sectors which prompted Unison to develop ten measures that they felt every employer within the community sector should be able to support. 

The Charter was not designed for local authorities but the Motion requested that the Council recognised that its staff were its greatest resource and must ensure all staff felt safe and secure in their place of work.  The Board was advised that the Council had comprehensive policies and procedures in place to ensure the health and safety of employees and Rushmoor’s Unison representative had confirmed that they were content with the Council’s position.

The Report proposed a number of options for the Board to consider to enable the Council to support the adoption of the Charter by voluntary and community sector organisations operating in the Borough.  The Board supported the following recommendations:

(1)      The Charter would be raised at a future meeting of the Voluntary Sector Forum, Registered Providers Liaison Meeting and as part of general discussion with the major organisations that the Council supported financially;

(2)      The Portfolio Holder for Democracy, Strategy and Partnerships would write to all voluntary and community sector organisations and housing associations operating in the Borough, bringing their attention to the Charter and encouraging them to sign up; and

(3)      Through the Procurement Strategy work, where appropriate, when procuring services from voluntary and community sector organisations, the Council should seek to ensure safety measures similar to those set out in the Charter were in place before a contract was issued.

The Board agreed that the option to make signing the Charter part of the Council’s commissioning/procurement process should be addressed at a later date if it was felt necessary. 

The Board discussed the reporting and recording of incidents and what training was available for staff.  It was requested whether training could also be made available to councillors.  It was agreed that guidance on keeping safe and how to report incidents would be circulated to all Members.  An update on the number of organisations that signed up to the Charter was also requested; to be reported back to the Board.