Issue - meetings

Councillor Kavia submits a report on the Leicester Employment Agency Association (LEAA) which has been established to raise and maintain quality standards in agency work in the City.  The Cabinet is asked to support the LEAA by becoming a signatory member; follow current practice in using employment agencies only when conventional recruitment practices have been assessed as impractical; to accept that, in the case of schools, the Authority is limited in the control it has over the actions of individual governing bodies; to consult with the Local Government Association about their possible contribution to the issue of standards in employment agencies nationally; and to agree that by adopting the standards the authority is making a commitment to quality standards and will require its practices to be adjusted accordingly.

Councillor Kavia submitted a report seeking support for the Leicester Employment Agency Association, a group which had been established to raise and maintain quality standards in agency work in the city.  The Strategic Planning and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee had supported the proposals for the City Council to become a signatory member of the Association.

RESOLVED:

(1)that the City Council support the Leicester Employment Agency Association, by becoming a signatory member;

(2)that current practice be followed in that employment agencies should only be used to engage people when conventional recruitment practices endorsed by the Authority had been assessed as impractical and militating against the flexible and economic deployment of resources  to the detriment of  service delivery;

(3)to endorse that the City Council in requiring a quality service delivery to all members of the community will look to engage employment agencies that can meet the specified quality requirements and when agencies are used that are not signatory members, the Authority will seek the acceptance by these agencies of the principles outlined in the standards;

(4)that it be accepted that in the case of schools, the Authority is limited in the control it has over the actions of individual governing bodies; and

(5)that the Authority consults with the Local Government Association about what they might contribute to the issue of standards in employment agencies nationally.