Staff and the Copeland Council Consultation

It became apparent on Friday, after a public meeting organised by the local Labour MP (Jamie Reed) that a number of staff within Copeland Council are unsure whether they are able to take part in the ongoing budget consultation.

Over the weekend I contacted the Chief Executive of Copeland Council, Paul Walker, to ask the following:

At the meeting held by Jamie Reed on Friday evening, an issue was raised regarding staff and our budget consultation.  It appears that staff believe they are not able to respond for fear of consequences in the workplace.  Could you please clarify what staff have been told regarding the consultation?  Are they able to respond?  If so, can all staff be reminded of their right to do so?

The response on Monday was swift and confirmed that staff are able to take part.  This is the response from Mr Walker:

Yes staff are able to respond and more than welcome to fill in the consultation. I have attached a copy of the October Team Brief confirming this.

We have continued with our web page future staff consultation, which has copies of all the staff presentation, minutes of meetings with trade unions etc. and also have dedicated email address for staff to access for feedback and comments, which is held by our Human Resources team

I will check the number of responses received tomorrow – I also want to make sure that we continually promote the opportunity with all staff across the organisation.

The relevant section of the team briefing is here (click to expand to full size):

 

At the moment responses are a bit on the low side, at around the 100 mark last week.  I will continue to ensure staff and the public are encouraged to respond to the budget consultation.