Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Philip Brooker, for whom Councillor Bilal Akhtar substituted.

There were no disclosures of interest.

At the request of the chair, the Monitoring Officer gave advice to the Joint Senior Staff Committee (JSSC) on the restrictions associated with any publicity issued following this meeting bearing in mind the pre-election period had commenced. 

In response to a further request for advice regarding the sharing of the exempt papers with other councillors, the Monitoring Officer advised that such papers should not be shared with anyone outside of this JSSC.  If a councillor who is not a member of the JSSC wished to have access to the exempt papers, they would need to make a formal request to the Monitoring Officer, and they would need to demonstrate a “need to know”.  It was generally accepted that where such papers related to sensitive staffing issues it would be unlikely that the need-to-know test would be passed in respect of councillors who were not members of the JSSC.

The JSSC approved, as a correct record, the minutes of its last meeting held on 29 February 2024.

The JSSC considered an update report on senior staffing appointments which followed agreement by the JSSC at its last meeting to authorise the Joint Chief Executive/Head of Paid Service to approve any interim appointments of up to 6 months, usually in the remit of the JSSC, subject to consultation with the Leaders of both Councils and to details of any such interim appointments being reported to the JSSC for transparency purposes.

The JSSC noted that the Joint Chief Executive had secured the secured the services of Julian Higson to be Interim Strategic Director for Housing and Environment for a three-month period from 6 March 2024 to 6 June 2024 on the basis of a five-day working week at a daily rate of £986 plus VAT, inclusive of expenses.  Other interim arrangements made by the Joint Chief Executive at the time the two strategic directors had stepped back remained in place. 

Further interim management arrangements below JMT level would be put in place whilst the recruitment processes for an Executive Head of Environmental Services and Executive Head of Housing had been undertaken. 

The JSSC also noted that new role of Head of Business Improvement at Guildford had been advertised. This role would be a Guildford role initially,and funded wholly by Guildford, focusing on the delivery of an improvement plan in response to the Guildford SOLACE report.  Because this new post would report directly to the Chief Executive, it was defined in law as a ‘Non-Statutory Chief Officer’.  Under paragraph 3.6 of the Officer Employment Procedure Rules, the appointment of such officers fell within the remit of the JSSC.  However, the JSSC was able to delegate its responsibility in that respect to the Head of Paid Service.

The chair enquired as to the long-term role of the Head of Business Improvement at Guildford, and whether it was proposed to expand its remit into a joint role in the future. The Joint Chief Executive,noting that Waverley had expressed a wish for SOLACE to conduct a governance review similar to the Guildford review, indicated that it was possible that the outcome of such review might include business improvement recommendations. 

The JSSC noted the financial implications of the proposals in the report and Councillor Martin reiterated his concern over the ongoing costs being incurred by both councils.

Having considered the report, the JSSC

RESOLVED:

(1)            To note the appointment, under delegated authority by the Head of Paid Service, of Julian Higson to the role of Interim Strategic Director of Housing & Environmental Services for a 3-month period from 6 March to 6 June 2024.

(2)      To note the offer of the permanent role of Executive Head of Environmental Services to Marcus Harvey with a start date of Monday 17 June 2024.

(3)      To note the offer of the permanent role of Executive Head of Housing (subject to the completion of the normal Executive consultation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

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 items 6 and 7 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 items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information (as defined by Section 100I of the Act) of the description specified as appropriate 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 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 JSSC

RESOLVED:

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

(2)          To note that a further meeting of the Joint Senior Staff Committee would be convened to interview for the post of S151 officer on a date to be determined. 

Reasons:

·      To ensure the JSSC is aware of the approach taken to recruiting a permanent S151 Officer. 

·      To update the JSSC on the response to the Councils’ S151 post being advertised. 

·      To seek the JSSC’s endorsement on the approach taken. 

·      To advise the Committee on next steps.

Report to follow.

The JSSC

RESOLVED:

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