Agenda item

The Committee noted that, following consideration of opportunities for greater partnership working with Waverley Borough Council, the Council at its extraordinary meeting on 6 July 2021, had resolved:

(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accordance with the table showing the anticipated stages in the process and approximate timelines referred to in the “Not for Publication” Appendix to the Order Paper circulated to councillors prior to the meeting.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. 

The Committee considered a report which provided an opportunity to comment specifically on the proposed job description/role profile in respect of the appointment of a Joint Chief Executive, a copy of which was appended to the report.  By way of background information, the report from South East Employers (SEE) providing human resources advice to both Councils was also attached.  The report had also contained the proposed terms of reference and composition of the Joint Appointments Committee that would oversee the appointment process on behalf of both councils. 

In order to consider the proposed job description, the Committee

RESOLVED: That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting to enable the Committee to consider Appendices 1 and 2 to the report on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the 1972 Act, which is information relating to any consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority and employees of, or office holders under, the authority.

Jennifer McNeil from SEE who had authored both the draft role profile and the human resources advice attended the meeting to answer questions from the Committee.

During the debate, it was made clear that no decision had been made to combine the statutory roles of Head of Paid Service and Section 151/Chief Finance Officer and that it was therefore intended that they would be kept separate under the single management team model envisaged by the collaboration arrangement.

After resuming the meeting in open session and having noted the draft terms of reference for the Joint Appointments Committee, the Committee

RESOLVED: To commend the proposed job description/role profile in respect of the appointment of a Joint Chief Executive and the proposed terms of reference and composition of the Joint Appointments Committee for approval to the full Council at its meeting on 28 July 2021.