Agenda and minutes

Minutes of the Chief Officer Employment Committee held on 3 July 2017.

(a)       Minutes of Meeting held on 3 July 2017

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Chief Officer Employment Committee held on 3 July 2017 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Members may make any declarations of interest at this point but may also make them at any time during the course of the meeting.

All Members present declared a non-pecuniary personal interest in that they knew the staff members concerned.

To resolve that under Section 100 (A) (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 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(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 paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Senior Democratic and Civic Officer distributed the report to Members and Officers in attendance.  The meeting took a short adjournment to allow Members time to consider the information before them.

The meeting re-convened at 10.23 am.

The Committee when it had last met had agreed interim arrangements, for a period of six months, for the Senior Management of the Council.

Members were therefore asked to give consideration to a report which reviewed the progress achieved over the last 6 months, and asked to determine the Council’s Senior Management arrangements going forward; agree remuneration levels; and make recommendations to Full Council regarding appointments to the Statutory Posts of Head of Paid Service and Returning Officer.

Debate ensued and a Member of the Committee sought indication as to whether the proposed salary increase was inclusive of any national pay award pending, and was of the view that it should be.

Officers briefly outlined how the national pay awards scheme operated.

It was proposed and seconded that recommendation (d) should have the words “inclusive of any national pay award pending” included.

In response to questions with regard to the post of Director of Economic and Commercial Growth and the earliest termination date referred to in the report, the Leader shared with the Committee his thoughts regarding this post, and how the role and Council’s need for the role could change significantly in the future, as a number of high level negotiations would be concluded after this date.  The post holder had been consulted with and shared the Leaders view regarding the role’s future and the need for it to remain flexible.

Officers outlined the remuneration terms on which the post holder had been appointed and which had been agreed by Committee in December 2016 and the reasons for them. The revised remuneration proposal for this post readdressed this whilst retaining flexibility in the posts future.

The Committee were in agreement that the commercial needs of the Council and therefore the role could likely change going forward

The Leader again reaffirmed that the post holder had been fully consulted and was in agreement.

The Leader further expanded on the information contained in Section 3 of the report which was his personal assessment of the interim period.  Information as to how the review had been undertaken was provided and the support offered by Jaki Salisbury and the role she had played in the process was outlined.

The Committee heard of the 1-2-1 sessions which had been held with the Directors and of the meetings that had been held with Senior Managers and staff to gather feedback.  Examples of the comments received and the statements made during this process were also shared with the Committee.

In response to Members’ questions, the Leader confirmed that 1-2-1s were taking place across the organisation and that all service areas were showing signs of improvement.  No negative comments had been received.

At the request of a Committee Member, the Leader outlined how his relationship with the Senior Management Team  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.