Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was submitted on behalf of Councillor Caroline Reeves.  Councillor Pauline Searle attended as substitute for Councillor Reeves.

In accordance with the revised 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.

There were no disclosures of interest.

The Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolution:-

"That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraphs 1 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act indicated below".

The Committee

RESOLVED: That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the 1972 Act.

The Committee considered the Managing Director’s report on the proposed restructuring of the Council’s Corporate Management Team (CMT) in order to ensure that the Council was well placed to deliver on its current priorities to the community, but also to meet future challenges.

The Committee was reminded that, on 10 October 2013, the Council had agreed the current senior management structure, comprising a Managing Director and six Executive Heads of Service (EHoS).  These arrangements had been established on an interim basis for a period of two years.  The Council agreed that a review should take place by November 2015 to test how the structure was working and to consider what, if any, changes would need to be made.

The Managing Director had reviewed the structure in consultation with Executive councillors and group leaders (prior to the May elections) along with EHoS and Heads of Service. 

It was clear from feedback from both councillors and officers that the current structure was much better than that which had been in place previously.  The general opinion was that CMT, as a team, had worked well and some constructive challenge was in place.  Councillors had also felt more engaged and that the strong Leader model was working well.  There was however, a desire to confirm a more permanent structure and, once this had happened, to embed changes to the structure below, at third tier management.

The conclusion drawn from all feedback was that, to ensure effective delivery of the Council’s Corporate Plan and strategic priorities, some rebalancing of responsibilities was required.  There was cause for concern of the greater demands placed on the outward facing services, particularly in the area of ‘Development’, with town centre regeneration and the Local Plan being major objectives for the Council to achieve.  In the current CMT structure, there was also a difference in the span of responsibility and influence of the respective Executive Heads of Service, which needed to be re-balanced.

The Committee noted the various drivers for change listed in the report which had been considered in developing a new structure.

The report included details of the formal consultations that had taken place with those officers directly affected by the proposal and Unison.

The Managing Director had considered all responses received, which had led to some changes to the initial proposals. 

A chart outlining the proposed changes to the CMT structure was appended to the report. The new structure proposes fewer members on CMT, a consequence of which would be a realignment of responsibilities across senior management posts and a reduction of one post at EHoS level. 

The changes proposed would rationalise designation of chief officer posts through five Directorates, with EHoS job titles changing to Director.  The restructure would provide three public facing directorates supported by two predominately internal facing as follows:

·        Environment Directorate

·        Community Directorate

·        Development Directorate

·        Resources Directorate (Financial services and Business Systems)

·        Corporate Directorate (HR, Legal and Corporate services)

Having considered the substantive posts, span of control and responsibilities of  ...  view the full minutes text for item EM7