North Yorkshire County Council
Chief Officers Appointments and Disciplinary Committee
Minutes of the meeting held at Meeting Room 3, Brierley Building, County Hall, Northallerton commencing on Monday 6 June 2022 at 2.00 pm.
County Councillors: Derek Bastiman (substitute for Cllr Mark Crane), David Chance (substitute for Cllr Michael Harrison), Gareth Dadd, Bryn Griffiths, Carl Les, Stuart Parsons, Janet Sanderson, John Weighell OBE, Steve Shaw-Wright.
Apologies: County Councillors Mark Crane, Kevin Foster and Michael Harrison.
Officers present: Justine Brooksbank – Assistant Chief Executive (Business Support), Sarah France-Gorton, Head of Resourcing Solutions, Daniel Harry – Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager, Barry Khan – Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services)
|
Copies of all documents considered are in the Minute Book
|
|
1 |
Election of a Chairman
Daniel Harry, Democratic Services and Scrutiny Manager, welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Nominations for Chairman were invited and the appointment was made by consensus.
Resolved –
That County Councillor Carl Les be appointed Chairman.
|
|
2 |
Minutes of the previous meeting
Resolved –
That the public minutes of the meeting held on 24 September 2019 having been printed and circulated, were taken as read, confirmed and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.
|
|
3 |
Declarations of Interest
There were no declarations of interest.
|
|
4 |
Public Questions and Statements
There were no public questions or statements.
|
|
5 |
To commence the recruitment process to the position of Chief Executive Officer for North Yorkshire Council - Report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Business Support)
Considered –
The report of Justine Brooksbank, Assistant Chief Executive (Business Support), regarding the proposed recruitment and selection process to the position of Chief Executive Officer for North Yorkshire Council and the determination of the salary for the post to be approved by Full Council.
Justine Brooksbank introduced the report and highlighted key issues as summarised below:
· The appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer for the unitary authority will result in significant savings on Chief Executive salaries across the County, which will be in excess of £1 million a year (see Appendix 3 to the report) · The full Committee appoints the Chief Executive Officer and the process involves shortlisting, interviews and a recommendation to Full Council. It is Full Council which approves in advance any formal offer of appointment to Chief Executive Officer · It is proposed that a national recruitment campaign is launched this week with shortlisting and interviews in July. The detailed process is in Appendix 1 of the report · The Job Description is detailed at Appendix 2 of the report · This is a new role and so the salary needs to be considered by the committee and then recommended to full Council for approval, likely at the same time as any appointment that is being recommended (July/August 2022) · The new Council will have a workforce of over 10,000, a revenue spend of £1.4 billion and an ongoing capital programme of £350 million · Salaries of comparable Chief Executive roles have been considered and are detailed in Appendix 3 of the report. The sample pay data shows the pay for unitary councils of a similar size to North Yorkshire are in a salary range of £188,000 - £216,000 pa. · The salary progression based on performance, a salary range from £180,000 to £197,000, with 4 incremental progression points, (£180,000 to £185,670 to £191,340 to £197,010) is proposed.
Justine Brooksbank said that there were three decisions that the committee will need to make concerning:
· The remuneration for the position of Chief Executive Officer · The job description for the position of Chief Executive Officer · The recruitment process to appoint the new Chief Executive Officer.
There followed a discussion, the key points of which are as summarised below:
· The proposed length of time for the recruitment process was discussed, particularly the pros and cons associated with extending the length of time to a full 3 weeks. The conclusion was that the proposed time should be sufficient as the campaign was anticipated, it is a high profile post, there is already a anticipated interest and there is enough time for someone to complete an application. · That a shortlisting of qualified applicants is undertaken and then those applicants are invited to interview, as opposed to inviting all qualified applicants to an interview · The interview process will involve all the political groups and so be cross-party · There was a discussion about whether an external ‘Executive Search’ should be used. The benefit of this would be that it would help further raise awareness of the role but the costs would be both financial and in terms of an extended timeframe. The conclusion was that it was unnecessary and instead to use the Council’s own executive search process and not to go externally · The proposed job description was seen as being detailed and comprehensive. An amendment was requested for the first line to make it clear that the role of the Chief Executive Officer was to lead on the delivery of services and the day to day operation of the Council and not to ‘lead the new Council’ as this is the role of elected members. Justine Brooksbank agreed to amend the wording to reflect the comments made · A query was raised about the quoted population for Sheffield City Council. Justine Brooksbank agreed to check the data and get back to committee members · The proposed pay scale was agreed as being pitched at the right level, being high enough to be attractive but not so high that the focus was solely upon the money and not the opportunities and challenges of implementing and developing a new unitary authority for North Yorkshire · There was a view that there needed to be some flexibility with the remuneration package, if it meant that the right person for the job could be secured · In addition to the remuneration package, annual payments would be made to the Chief Executive Officer in their role as the County Returning Officer · Should an existing Chief Executive Officer in North Yorkshire be appointed, then they would not be paid any redundancy relating to their existing role as they would have continuous service in local government.
Resolved –
1. That the remuneration package for the position of Chief Executive Officer be agreed as outlined in the report (£180,000 to £197,000, with 4 incremental progression points), albeit with some flexibility to revisit during the recruitment process as needed 2. That the job description for the position of Chief Executive Officer be agreed as outlined in the report, subject to amendment as indicated in the minutes of the meeting 3. That the recruitment process and timelines to appoint the new Chief Executive be agreed as outlined in the report, with a shortlisting exercise undertaken.
|
|
6 |
Any other business which the Chairman agrees should be considered as a matter of urgency because of special circumstances
There was no other business.
|
The meeting concluded at 2.40 pm.