Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

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.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Employment Committee held on 25 April 2017.

The Committee approved the minutes of the meeting held on 25 April 2017. The chairman signed the minutes.

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 paragraph 1 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 paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

The Committee noted that the Council had appointed its first Deputy Managing Director in September 2015 for an initial period of 12 months.  Thereafter, the Council had agreed in October 2016 to appoint a Deputy Managing Director on an interim basis pending the appointment of a new Managing Director/Head of Paid Services. 

That (Deputy) appointment had terminated on 31 May 2017, when James Whiteman formally took up the Managing Director/Head of Paid Service posts.

The process for the appointment of a new Deputy Managing Director once again involved candidates making a 10-minute presentation to the Committee on a relevant, topical matter, followed by a formal interview.  This time, the candidates were asked to make a presentation on the following:

“The Council has a number of challenges over the next few years.  The budgetary pressures will require consideration of new ways of working and redesigning our services.

Please outline, using relevant examples specific to you, how you have managed and led on change throughout your career. 

Please highlight how the examples you use resulted in savings, efficiencies and service improvements. 

Please do focus on your specific role and highlight how you managed out any barriers and resistance to this change”.  

The Managing Director, in consultation with the Leader of the Council, had agreed that candidates for appointment as Deputy Managing Director should be limited to current Directors with at least one year’s experience as a Director at the Council. The Committee considered two applications.

An appointment to the post of Deputy Managing Director must be made in compliance with the Council’s Officer Employment Procedure Rules, approved HR Policies, and Pay Policy Statement.  The appointment of Deputy Managing Director was determined by full Council on the recommendation of the Employment Committee, provided that there were no well-founded objections to such appointment by the Leader on behalf of the Executive. 

It was noted that responsibility for discharging the function of appointment of an officer as Deputy Managing Director could be delegated to a committee of the Council, provided that at least one member of the Executive was a member of any such committee. 

Accordingly, it was proposed to ask full Council to delegate to the Employment Committee responsibility for making such appointments in the future.

Following the interviews, the Committee

RECOMMEND:

(1)     That, subject to no well-founded objection being made by the Leader on behalf of the Executive, Steve White, Director of Resources, be appointed as Deputy Managing Director for a fixed term of two years with effect from 26 July 2017.

(2)     That the Employment Committee be authorised to appoint to the post of Deputy Managing Director in the future and that the Committee’s terms of reference and Officer Employment Procedure Rules be amended accordingly.

Reasons for Recommendation:

·        To appoint a Deputy Managing Director

·        To ensure that recruitment to the post of Deputy Managing Director is undertaken as expeditiously as possible in future