Agenda and decisions

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor James Steel, Lead Councillor for Environment.

Councillors Chris Blow, Angela Gunning, Diana Jones, Ramsey Nagaty, Deborah Seabrook, Paul Spooner and Catherine Young were in attendance.

In accordance with the local Code of Conduct, a councillor is required to disclose at the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI) that they may have in respect of any matter for consideration on this agenda.  Any councillor with a DPI must notparticipate in any discussion or vote regarding that matter and they must also withdraw from the meeting immediately before consideration of the matter.

If that DPI has not been registered, the councillor must notify the Monitoring Officer of the details of the DPI within 28 days of the date of the meeting.

Councillors are further invited to disclose any non-pecuniary interest which may be relevant to any matter on this agenda, in the interests of transparency, and to confirm that it will not affect their objectivity in relation to that matter.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Leader of the Council made no announcements.

Decision of the Leader:

To recommend to Full Council:

1.     That Full Council agrees to pursue the option of creating a single management team with Waverley Borough Council, comprised of statutory officers (Head of Paid Service; Chief Finance Officer; Monitoring Officer), directors and heads of service as the most appropriate means for bringing forward business cases for future collaboration.

2.     That Full Council authorises the Council’s Lead Specialist - HR to take the necessary action, in consultation with Waverley Borough Council and with the support and advice from South East Employers and as set out within the addendum to Appendix 3 of the report, to begin making arrangements for a recruitment and selection of a single joint Chief Executive (acting as Head of Paid Service for both Guildford and Waverley Borough Councils) in accordance with the table showing the anticipated stages in the process and approximate timelines referred to in the “Not for Publication” Appendix to the Supplementary Information Sheet circulated to councillors prior to the meeting.

3.     That a report be submitted to the Council at its next meeting on 28 July 2021 on the following matters:

(a)  heads of terms for the proposed inter-authority agreement to establish governance arrangements for joint working;

(b)  the proposed job description and terms and conditions in respect of the appointment of a Joint Chief Executive; and

(c)  the establishment of a joint appointments committee, including its composition and terms of reference.

Reason:

To seek direction on the next steps for collaboration with Waverley Borough Council.

Other options considered and rejected by the Leader:

Option A: To do nothing further

Option B: Commission further research with a defined scope

Option C: A shared services approach on a specific set of shared services and procurements

Option F: Single staffing team serving two democratic councils

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader and any dispensation granted:

None.