Peterborough City Council employees that receive any gifts must now have them approved by a line manager

Members of Peterborough City Council Employment Committee held their first ever online meeting this week (Thursday, June 18), as more and more elements of the process of local democracy become a part of the ‘new normal’.
Among the issues the committee dealt with on its Zoom meeting chaired by councillor Richard Brown, were changes to the way that staff must now report all and any gifts or hospitality that may be offered to them, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.
Karen Craig, Senior HR Consultant at the council explained: “The principles of this policy haven’t changed and it remains the same that employees [of the council] mustn’t give rise to an inference that they’ve been influenced by any gift, any prize or any hospitality that they’ve been given.
“It simply now has its own stand-alone policy with slightly different governance meaning that a line-manager would now be required to make a decision about any small gift that might be offered, for instance a table calendar or something of very little value.
“A central record must now be kept of every single gift or amount of hospitality that comes into the organisation”
Following discussions with the UNISON union, the council has introduced for the first time an employee Menopause Policy.
Designed to increase understanding of how menopause can affect women in the workplace, it’s hoped this will allow everyone to understand what menopause is, can confidently have good conversations and are clear on the council’s policy and practices, supported by staff from Human Resources and Occupational Health.
Other policy amendments included Parental Bereavement Leave, changes to the Maternity Leave policy to include members of the Armed Forces and additional leave for any Special Constables in order to complete their training.
Updated guidelines foor council employees considered at the meeting included instructions on communication with the media and through social media.
Employees of the council should not, for example, communicate with the media on matters relating to the activities of the Council without the prior approval of their line manager or Director and direct any media enquiries to the Communications Team.
If employees use social networking sites either in their work or private life, they should have regard to the council’s Social Media Policy.
On that matter, Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald said: “Particularly during lockdown and isolation following the COVID-19 crisis, the lines between the councils’ social media accounts and personal accounts have become more connected.
“You can now switch between the various apps that you use on your phone, interchanging them from a council account to a personal one very easily.
“I’m thinking of saving the council money here because it wouldn’t be practical to pay for multiple devices for everybody, when software can be loaded onto a single device but used with interchangeability of accounts.
“Have we given any special thought to our new reliance on software that is shared between our private lives and our public lives?”
Ms Craig replied: “Trying to keep the council’s Social Media Policy up to date is clearly a challenge.
“However, during the coronavirus emergency we’ve accepted that lots things and the ways that we work with them have had to change.“For example, the use of WhatsApp by the council previously hasn’t been seen as something ‘normal’, but during these unprecedented times we’ve had to accept that it may be used by councillors for a host of different reasons, some private, some as part of their daily business as a councillor.
“A lot of people use Facebook for the council as well as having our own totally separate accounts for personal stuff.
“The blurring of those lines has been quite a challenge; but I think our policy has quite a rigid structure with governance covering what is acceptable and what is not”.

Members approved all of the policies on the agenda.