106
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
HPTLCO 885/2
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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4. The Constitution of the Office Committee for the Oversea Settlement Office* was approved, and the Secretaries were requested to approach the Secretary to the Committee with a view to the communication to the Council of the draft minutes of meetings of the Committee as soon as possible after the date of such meetings.
5. On the motion of the Vice-Chairman, seconded by Mr. Fiddian, the Council agreed to the substitution of the expression "proceedings" for the words "decisions arrived at" in the Standing Order.
6. The resolution "That a copy of the minutes which are issued from time to time by the Treasury affecting the Staff of the Colonial Office should be circulated to Heads of Branches for communication to the respective staffs," proposed by Miss Atkins and seconded by Mr. Kennedy, was withdrawn, on the understanding that the General Department and the Accounts Branch should confer with a view to the adoption of measures to ensure that the contents of such minutes should be brought promptly to the notice of the members of the staff concerned.
7. On the motion of the Vice-Chairman, seconded by Mr. Fiddian, it was decided that the official scheme for the organization and staffing of the Colonial Office should in the first instance be discussed by a committee of the Council. The following were nominated to be members of the Committee:-
Mr. Grindle (Chairman),
MR FIDDIAN,
MR. EGGETT,
MR. SCOFFHAM,
representing the Official side.
MR. WESTBROOK, representing the Staff side.
MR. KENNEDY,
H. T. ALLEN,
J. H. EMMENS,
Secretaries.
The meeting of the Council was thereupon adjourned to a date to be fixed by the Chairman in consultation with the Vice-Chairman.
44944
No. 15.
OFFICE COMMITTEE FOR THE OVERSEA SETTLEMENT OFFICE.
CONSTITUTION.
A-Objects and Functions.
1. The objects of the Committee shall be to secure, by means of discussion, between official representatives nominated by the appropriate authority as deter- mined by the Secretary of State for the Colonies and representatives of Staff Associations or groups of Staff Associations having members employed on the staff of the Oversea Settlement Committee, the greatest measure of co-operation in all matters affecting the efficiency of the Oversea Settlement Office and the well-being of those employed therein; to provide machinery for dealing with grievances; and generally to bring together the experience and different points of view of the various members of the staff of the Oversea Settlement Office.
2. The scope of the Committee shall comprise all domestic matters affecting
the conditions of service of the staff employed in the office.
Among its more specific functions shall be the following:-
(a) Provision of the best means for utilizing the ability, initiative and
experience of the staff.
(b) Means for securing for the staff a greater share in and responsibility for the observance of the conditions under which their duties are carried out. (c) Improvement of office machinery and organization, and provision of opportunities for the consideration of suggestions by the staff on this subject.
3. It shall be within the competence of the Committee to discuss any question of hours, promotion or discipline, in regard to which it is represented by the staff side that a principle accepted by or with the sanction of the National Council has heen violated.
* No. 15.
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B.-Membership and Officers,
4. The members on the official side shall number not more than eight and shall be appointed by the appropriate authority aforesaid, and the members on the staff side shall number not more than eight and shall be appointed by the Staff Associations or groups of Staff Associations in the Oversea Settlement Office. It shall be open to the latter to choose as representative any member of a Staff Asso- ciation who is employed in the office, or, if not a person so employed, is a full time official of the Staff Association.
Members shall be appointed annually in October provided always that casual vacancies may be filled, for the remainder of the current term of the Committee, in the same manner as the original appointments, and that where a representative cannot attend a meeting of the Committee an accredited deputy may be appointed by the authority concerned.
The Office Committee shall appoint from amongst its members a Secretary. The Chairman at every meeting shall be a member of the official side.
C.-Machinery for Meeting and Transaction of Business.
5. The Committee shall lay down such standing orders for the transaction of its business as it may consider desirable.
Meetings shall be held from time to time as may be necessary, and shall be summoned by the Secretary either by the direction of the Chairman or at the request of a majority of the staff side.
Minutes of each meeting shall be kept, copies of which shall be forwarded to the Secretaries of the Departmental Whitley Council of the Colonial Office within two days of the meeting at which the minutes are confirmed. Copies of the agenda of meetings shall be forwarded to the Secretaries of the Departmental Whitley Council of the Colonial Office not less than twenty-four hours before the date fixed for each meeting.
D.-Decisions.
6. Decisions shall be by agreement, shall be reported to the appropriate authority, and shall be operative forthwith.
E. Quorum.
7. The quorum shall be a majority of the members on each side of the Committee.
F.-Amendment of Constitution.
8. This constitution of the Committee may only be amended at an annual meeting. Notice of amendment of the constitution must be given and circulated to the members of the Committee at least seven days before the meeting.
71970
No. 16.
COLONIAL OFFICE DEPARTMENTAL COUNCIL.
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, 14TH DECEMBER, 1920, ADJOURNED FROM THE 29TH OF OCTOBER, 1920. Present:
MR. G. E. A. GRINDLE (Chairman),
MR. A. FIDDIAN,
MR. C. W. DIXON,
MB. W. H. EGGETT,
MR. R. A. JOHNSON
MR. A. WATSON
}(Treasury),
representing the Official side.
MR. W. H. SCOFFHAM (Vice-Chairman), representing the Association of
Clerks of the Second Division.
MR. R. A. WISEMAN, representing the First Division Civil Servants. MR. W. F. WESTBROOK, representing the Society of Civil Servants. MR. F. H. HARPER, representing the Civil Service Union. MR. F. KENNEDY, representing the Assistant Clerks' Association.