General Overview of the Act Part 2 – Social Partnership and Sustainable Development.Introduction Section 16 – Social partnership duty
51.Section 16(1) imposes the social partnership duty on each specified public body. That duty is, in so far as is reasonable, to ‘seek consensus or compromise’ with its recognised trade unions (or where there is none such with other representatives of its staff) when taking specified actions.
52.The duty applies when a public body is setting its well-being objectives under section 3(2)(a) of the 2015 Act and when it is taking decisions of a strategic nature about the reasonable steps it needs to take to meet those objectives in accordance with section 3(2)(b) of the 2015 Act. It does not apply to the day- to-day decisions of a public body.
53.Section 16(2) sets out a number of specific procedural requirements relating to the social partnership duty, which a public body must comply with when ‘seeking consensus or compromise’. The procedural requirements set out are intended to ensure that trade unions or other representatives of the staff of public bodies are fully and properly involved in setting objectives or making other strategic decisions relating to sustainable development. The duty to share and consult on sufficient information at a formative stage of the process and to allow sufficient time for proposals to be considered by trade unions or other staff representatives is the minimum expected of a process of genuine engagement. These requirements will promote a more consistent and collaborative approach to strategic decision-making by public bodies, in turn ensuring that objectives set and key decisions made by public bodies properly takes account of the views, knowledge and experiences of that body’s workforce.