Agenda and minutes

None.

Councillor Paul Follows disclosed, for transparency purposes, that, in relation to Agenda Item 5 – Senior Staff Investigation, his parents were tenants of Guildford Borough Council. 

Councillor Julia McShane disclosed, for transparency purposes, that, in relation to Agenda Item 5, she was the portfolio holder for the housing function at Guildford, and having taken advice from the Monitoring Officer, considered that she was not conflicted in respect of that item.

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of the Guildford and Waverley Joint Appointments Committee held on 15 January 2024.

The Committee approved, as a correct record, the minutes of the last meeting of the former Joint Appointments Committee held on 15 January 2024.

The Joint Chief Executive withdrew from the meeting during consideration of this matter.

The Joint Senior Staff Committee (JSSC) noted that at their extraordinary full Council meetings on 19 December 2023, Guildford and Waverley Borough Councils had approved the recommendation of the former Joint Appointments Committee of 14 December 2023 to appoint Pedro Wrobel as their Chief Executive and to designate him as their Head of Paid Service, subject to human resources processes, including arranging a commencement date.

At their extraordinary full Council meetings held respectively on 23 and 24 January, Guildford and Waverley Borough Councils had also approved the recommendation of the former Joint Appointments Committee of 15 January 2024 to appoint the Strategic Director for Community Wellbeing, as interim Joint Chief Executive/Head of Paid Service for the period between the former Chief Executive’s departure and the arrival of the incoming Chief Executive/Head of Paid Service, Pedro Wrobel. 

The Councils had been fortunate in being able to secure the services of Pedro Wrobel earlier than expected and he had commenced his role as both Councils' Joint Chief Executive /Head of Paid Service on 19 February 2024, initially under a secondment agreement from Westminster City Council. The interim arrangements that had been made for the expected period between the departure of the former Chief Executive and the arrival of the incoming Chief Executive were therefore no longer required and the Strategic Director, Community Wellbeing had reverted to her substantive post on 19 February 2024.

On 16 February 2024, the Leaders of both Councils had reached an agreement with both the Strategic Director, Community Wellbeing and the Strategic Director, Transformation and Governance, that they would step back from their duties to allow an investigation to be carried out and that the next steps would need to be considered by the JSSC.      

The stepping back from their duties by two Strategic Directors meant there was an urgent requirement to secure additional senior level support for both Councils on an interim basis. The Councils had been able to secure the services of Michael Coughlin from Surrey County Council on a part time and interim basis, by way of secondment, for a short period, from 19 February 2024 to 8 March 2024, to act as Director for the Housing and Environmental Services. Consultation had been undertaken with both councils’ Executives regarding this short-term interim appointment and no member of either Executive had raised any objections. The JSSC was asked to note the exceptional circumstances surrounding this appointment and the reasons why it had not been possible to convene a timely meeting of the JSSC to formally approve this short-term interim appointment, and the reasons for the councils’ deviation from their usual procedures. The JSSC was asked to approve retrospectively the appointment from 19 February 2024.

The Head of Paid Service had made additional interim arrangements in respect of responsibilities for particular service areas: Organisational Development, Legal and Democratic Services and Finance were currently the responsibility of the Chief Executive; Housing and Environmental Services  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Joint Senior Staff Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolution:

“(1)  That pursuant to Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of agenda item 5 on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the item, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information (as defined by Section 100I of the Act) of the description specified in Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act namely:

Para (1): Information relating to any individual.

Para (2): information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual

Para (3): information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Para (5):  information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

(2) That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.”

The Joint Senior Staff Committee

RESOLVED:

(1)    That pursuant to Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the item, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information (as defined by Section 100I of the Act) of the description specified in Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the revised Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act namely:

Para (1): Information relating to any individual.

Para (2): information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual

Para (3): information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

Para (5): information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

(2)    That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Joint Senior Staff Committee

RESOLVED:

(1)         To approve the recommendations set out in the exempt report submitted to the Joint Senior Staff Committee.

(2)         To convene a further meeting of the Joint Senior Staff Committee to consider an update on progress in respect of the investigation no later than two months from the date of this meeting.

Reasons:

·        The power to authorise an investigation and to take disciplinary action in relation to Joint Strategic Directors is delegated to theJoint Senior Staff Committee.