Report of the Director of Human Resources, Organisational Development and Transformation

This report provides information on the progress being made towards embedding a culture of sustainable staff travel within the council (as part of the Staff Travel policy).

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Human Resources, Organisational Development and Transformation that provided information on the progress being made towards embedding a culture of sustainable staff travel within the council, as part of the Staff Travel policy.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background;

·         Noting that the Staff Travel Policy was presented to the Personnel Committee in December 2021 with a subsequent launch of the policy in 2022;

·         The relationship to the Our Manchester Strategy;

·         Providing a progress update across a range of key initiatives; and

·         Case studies.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·         Welcoming the inclusion of case studies, commenting that these needed to be communicated widely with staff to promote behaviour change;

·         Noting that staff working from home had reduced the number of commutes undertaken by staff;

·         Welcoming the significant reduction in air miles reported;

·         Was there enough appropriate bike storage space available to support staff travelling by bike across all sites;

·         Noting that there was currently no reporting system in place that captured staff that walked during business hours as the data was expenses led, but welcomed that consideration to alternative methods of capturing this mode of active travel were under consideration;

·         Welcoming that Beryl Bike hire was included in the expenses claim scheme; and

·         Could the Cycle to Work Scheme allowance be used to purchase wet weather clothing.

The Director of HROD & Transformation acknowledged the comment regarding the impact staff working from home had on the number of commutes undertaken. He commented that this arrangement was specific to service need, however the use of technology, such as the use of Teams to conduct meetings had contributed to reducing the number of business journeys undertaken.  

The Zero Carbon: Workforce Development Manager informed the Committee that an audit of bike storage facilities would be undertaken across the estate to ensure capacity was there to support staff travelling by bike. She acknowledged the comments regarding the need to capture staff walking data and stated that they were working with the Performance, Research and Intelligence Team to progress this. She added that data in relation to tram and bus travel would be included in any future update report to the Committee.

The Zero Carbon: Workforce Development Manager welcomed the positive feedback from the Members in relation to the case studies provided, adding that it was the intention to produce these in a video format that could be cascaded to staff through targeted communications, in addition to the written format. The Executive Member for Environment and Transport welcomed this approach and stated that this could be used to articulate good practice with partners across the city and support the stated ambitions described in ‘Workstream 5 - Catalysing Change and Behaviour Change’ that was considered under the previous agenda item. 

The Zero Carbon: Workforce Development Manager responded to specific questions by advising that services and managers would be supported to set out how they would embed Zero Carbon into service delivery as part of their Service Plans and this included consideration of staff travel. She commented that these plans would be reviewed. The Director of HROD & Transformation stated that sustainable Staff Business Travel that was considered as part of Service Plans would need to then inform future work planning and workloads, acknowledging the comment from a Member regarding expectations placed upon staff if they were travelling to different locations for business but not using a car. It was further confirmed that the car leasing scheme for Ultra Low Emission Vehicles was available to all staff.

The Project Officer (Sustainable Business Travel) informed the Committee that the Cycle to Work Scheme was flexible and could be used to purchase wet weather clothing and other cycling related products such as locks, parts for repairs etc. He further confirmed that this scheme could also be used to purchase electric bikes.

The Chair when welcoming the reduction in reported business travel commented that it was important to also understand this in the context of reduced staffing levels across the Council that was a result of budget reductions experienced over the years.

Decision

To note the report.