A MOTION on the number of people that Monmouthshire County Council employs on zero-hour contracts led to a lengthy debate between councillors.

Cllr Frances Taylor put forward the motion after receiving a report that showed that 318 people are employed by the council with no contracted hours.

The Magor councillor wanted all of the council to receive a full evaluation of the report for the next council meeting to discuss the subject.

The motion stated that the evaluation should detail the “scale and scope of the practice within this authority and its impact on service provision and staff well-being and morale”.

Responding to the motion, cabinet member for resources Cllr Phil Murphy denounced the use of the term “zero-hour contracts”.

He said: “It does refer to the non-defined hours contract as I prefer to call them because there’s a lot of bad press about a definition of what are referred to in the press as zero-hour contracts, and these are certainly not them.”

Cllr Murphy went on to divulge that 67 exam invigilators, 35 supply teachers and 24 casual leisure assistance staff were employed on such terms.

He added: “There is certainly not a sustained effort to introduce these forms of contracts.“Every department always looks at the terms and conditions with which they engage people to make sure that these types of contracts are appropriate.”

Cllr Tony Easson also suggested to check that employees for contractors employed by the council are also not on zero-hour contracts.

The Labour group of the council then proposed to add an amendment onto the motion to ban any such contracts if they are found to be exploitative.

Cllr Kevin Williams said: “These contracts are generally a boil in the backside of the world. They’re very insecure for those on zero hours.”

Conservative and Independent councillors, including Cllr Taylor, proposed that the original motion be passed without amendment to ensure that all councillors had the sufficient information.

Leader of the Labour group Dmitri Batroini, who seconded the amendment, said that he could not understand why they had to wait for the next council meeting to review the proposal.

He said: “Why can’t we just all agree now that if the evidence exists, that we use them or not, we’re just explicitly stating now that we won’t countenance any use of them whatsoever.

“It’s surprising that the Tories and the Independents don’t believe the same thing.”