North Yorkshire County Council
Chief Officer Appointment and Disciplinary Committee
Minutes of the Meeting held at County Hall, Northallerton on 24 September 2019 commencing at 11am in the Grand Committee Room, No1 Racecourse Lane.
Present:-
County Councillors Philip Broadbank, David Chance (substitute for Gareth Dadd), Michael Harrison, Andrew Lee (substitute for John Weighell OBE), Carl Les, Don Mackenzie (substitute for Janet Sanderson), and Tony Randerson.
Officers: Richard Flinton – Chief Executive, Justine Brooksbank – Assistant Chief Executive (Business Support) and Daniel Harry – Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager.
Apologies:-
County Councillors Gareth Dadd, Janet Jefferson, Janet Sanderson and John Weighell OBE.
Copies of all documents considered are in the Minute Book
1. Appointment of Chairman
Nominations were invited and the appointment made by consensus.
Resolved –
That County Councillor Carl Les be appointed Chairman.
2. Exclusion of the public
That the public are excluded from the meeting during consideration of item 6 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 Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.
3. Public Minutes of the Meeting held on 21 November 2018
Resolved –
That the public minutes of the meeting held on 21 November 2018 having been printed and circulated, were taken as read, confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.
4. Declarations of interest
There were no declarations of interest.
5. Public Questions or Statements
There were no public questions or statements.
6. Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Business Support) – Not for Publication
Considered –
The report of Justine Brooksbank, Assistant Chief Executive (Business Support), regarding the proposed recruitment and selection process for the post of Corporate Director of Business and Environmental Services, as a result of the current post holder retiring in August 2020.
The Chief Executive, Richard Flinton, introduced the report and said that David Bowe had been the Director of Business and Environmental Services for the past 9 years. David Bowe had given a substantial notice period, which will help considerably with the recruitment process.
Richard Flinton said that the current post had been reviewed to see whether any changes were needed to ensure that it continued to meet local requirements. He confirmed that the role was still needed and relevant. As such, there was a need to establish a sub-committee of the Chief Officer Appointment and Disciplinary Committee to take part in the recruitment process.
Justine Brooksbank summarised the key points in the report, as follows:
· The aim is to attract applicants of the highest calibre
· The Job Profile had been checked to ensure that it would not exclude people who did not have experience of working in a local authority
· It was proposed that the remuneration be unaltered
· Once appointed, the sub-committee will need to meet twice. Once on 13 November 2019 to undertake shortlisting of applicants for invitation to the assessment event and once on 10 December 2019 to take part in the interview process
· The sub-committee will decide upon the candidate for appointment and then make a recommendation to County Council on 19 February 2020.
Justine Brooksbank also asked members to consider whether they would be happy for the Chief Executive, Chairman and Assistant Chief Executive (Business Support) to have delegated authority to determine the longlist ahead of the meeting of the sub-committee with outline information on number of candidates and reasons for inclusion or exclusion from longlist will be provided to the sub-committee, and to complete any necessary shortlisting after the day one process to provide a manageable and credible shortlist for the sub-committee to consider on day two.
County Councillor Carl Les thanked Richard Flinton and Justine Brooksbank for the overview of the report and opened up the discussion.
County Councillor Don Mackenzie said that he agreed with the recruitment and selection process, as had been outlined in the report. He asked that his thanks to David Bowe be noted for all of the good work that he had done over the years in such a high profile, customer facing role at the Council. These comments were echoed by all those present.
County Councillor Tony Randerson said that he would be supportive of the proposed delegation of powers as long as the sub-committee was not presented with a final short list and still had a role to play in a shortlisting exercise.
In response, Justine Brooksbank said that the intention was to produce a long list of candidates that was manageable and which had removed applications that were obviously not suitable as they did not meet the criteria in the Job Profile.
County Councillor Carl Les summed up the discussions and asked that the committee consider the recommendations at paragraph 5.0 in the report.
The recommendations were proposed, seconded and on a show of hands unanimously supported.
The membership of the Chief Officer Appointment and Disciplinary sub-committee was agreed as County Councillors: Philip Broadbank; Tony Randerson; Janet Jefferson; Carl Les; Don Mackenzie; Andrew Lee; John Weighell OBE; and Gareth Dadd.
Resolved –
1. To appoint a Sub-Committee to undertake and decide upon this appointment in accordance with the Staff Employment Procedure Rules, including the undertaking of shortlisting and interviewing.
2. To delegate authority to the Chief Executive in consultation with the Chairman, and Assistant Chief Executive (Business Support), review the applications to determine a manageable long list and complete further shortlisting after Day One to remove applicants not appointable prior to the final interview.
3. Consider and agree the proposed recruitment process in terms of timescale and selection arrangements.
7. Any other business which the Chair agrees should be considered as a matter of urgency because of special circumstances
There was none.
Meeting concluded at 11.35am
DH