Response 3551091

Response to request for information

Reference

3551091

Response date

13 September 2024

Request

I am requesting information about employee representative bodies’ ability to inform and influence the development and delivery of the council’s Climate Action Plan.

By employee representative bodies we include the council’s recognised trade unions as well as other forms of non-union employee representation (ex. staff associations and employee forums).

In particular, please supply me with information relating to the following questions:

Does the council have any policies, procedures or agreements in place that enable employee representative bodies to influence the development and delivery of the council’s Climate Action Plan? If so, please share details of these policies, procedures or agreements.
Have employee representative bodies contributed to any recent consultations related to the delivery of the council’s Climate Action Plan?

If so, could you please share any relevant document, dated from 1 January 2023, including:

Meeting minutes;
Reports;
Invitations to events;
Other relevant documents

Response

I am requesting information about employee representative bodies’ ability to inform and influence the development and delivery of the council’s Climate Action Plan.

By employee representative bodies we include the council’s recognised trade unions as well as other forms of non-union employee representation (ex. staff associations and employee forums).

Councillor involvement:

The Council has a live Climate Action Plan which is scrutinised annually by a cross party Community Scrutiny Group, recommendations and actions are then sent to Cabinet for approval and action. Portfolio Holder for Planning & Housing champions all activities. The Portfolio holder is given a monthly briefing on what is going on and as a result of this is able to champion the works that are being carried out (such as the Cotgrave Leisure Centre Decarbonisation Project).

Members of the public can also attend these sessions and submit questions. It is also worth noting that these scrutiny groups are live streamed on YouTube and available to watch on the RBC channel.

Officer involvement:

With the formation of this group as £1M Climate Change Reserve has been created in order to fund real actions and top-up major decarbonisation schemes. This is again demonstrated by the large amounts of grant funding pulled in and the proposition of land acquisition. This is ultimately coordinated by the Team Leader – Environment.

The Climate Change Steering Group consists of all Lead Specialists (Heads of Service) who all have sufficient seniority and budgetary responsibility to push forward this agenda. In addition, staff who have a particular interest in climate change outside of their normal role can be co-opted on and this is done through regular 1-2-1 and annual Personal Development Plans. This group meets on a quarterly basis. The group is lead by the Deputy CEO who meets with the Executive Management Team on a weekly basis to report on actions in real-time.

In addition to the above, the CEO of Rushcliffe Borough Council chairs the Nottinghamshire Cross Council Climate Change Steering Group. This has led to projects being rolled out across the D2N2 via the Midlands Net Zero Energy Hub which promotes cross council working within the more rural boroughs/districts that may otherwise fall outside of City Council funded projects.

In particular, please supply me with information relating to the following questions:

Does the council have any policies, procedures or agreements in place that enable employee representative bodies to influence the development and delivery of the council’s Climate Action Plan? If so, please share details of these policies, procedures or agreements.
ELG is an open forum which allows employees and representatives to raise all queries regarding council business to Executive Management Team, the ELG is made up of representatives from each service area of the Council and these reps are elected on an annual basis. All climate change policies and ELG standards are available on the Council’s intranet.
Have employee representative bodies contributed to any recent consultations related to the delivery of the council’s Climate Action Plan?
Yes, the Council has recently undertaken a travel survey and views were sought from all employees regarding travel change and how this related to the new “Everyday Flex” policy. This means that we are able to provide an annual saving forecast on saved milage through staff working from home.

If so, could you please share any relevant document, dated from 1 January 2023, including:

Meeting minutes;
Reports;
Invitations to events;
Other relevant documents

Communities Scrutiny Group

Full council climate change budget setting

Community Scrutiny offsetting Climate Change Strategy and Biodiversity

Cabinet – Climate change reserve and offsetting

FOI Environment