Agenda and minutes

None.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

None.

To be confirmed, and signed by the chair.

Resolved:  That the Minutes of the meeting held on 9 October 2017 be confirmed and signed by the chair.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

None.

The next meetings of the Committee will be held on 20 and 23 October 2017 at County Hall, Preston.  The meetings will commence at 9.00am and will conduct further interviews in relation to the Council's new senior management structure.

It was noted that the next ordinary meeting of the Committee would be held on 13 November 2017 at 2.00 p.m. at County Hall, Preston.

The Committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, as indicated against the heading to the item.

Resolved: That the press and members of the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972. It was considered that in all the circumstances the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

(Not for Publication – Exempt information as defined in Paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.  It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interests in disclosing the information).

(Report and Appendices 'D' and 'G' to follow)

(Exempt information as defined in Paragraphs (1), (2) and (3) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.  It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interests in disclosing the information).

In September 2017 the Cabinet approved a new senior management structure for the County Council, and the Urgency Committee gave responsibility for appointment decisions and any dismissals due to redundancy to the Employment Committee.  However, before an offer of appointment could be made or a notice of dismissal could be served, all members of the Cabinet would need to be notified of the proposed action and invited to submit any objections to the Leader of the Council.  In addition, any proposals to appoint or dismiss the Council's Chief Executive, Monitoring Officer or Chief Finance Officer would need to be agreed by the Full Council.

The Committee subsequently:

·  Approved the implementation arrangements including the process for appointing to the Executive Director and Director posts, as well as interview questions;

·  Approved an application for voluntary redundancy;

·  Approved a further application for voluntary redundancy subject to clarification of matters around the dismissal date; and

·  Conducted interviews and, subject to the clarification of certain matters, agreed to recommend Full Council to confirm the appointment of the successful candidate as the Council's interim Chief Executive and Director of Resources (Head of the Paid Service and s151 Officer).

A further report setting out the information requested by the Committee, in relation to the voluntary redundancy application and the appointment of the interim Chief Executive and Director of Resources, was presented. The report also set out the position with regards to the current Chief Executive and provided information to enable the Committee to conduct ring fenced interviews for the Executive Director posts, and to confirm direct appointments, as well as other matters relating to the implementation of the Council's new senior management structure.

The Committee conducted interviews for the three Executive Director posts at its meeting on 19 October 2017 and interviews for the five Director posts were held on 20 and 23 October 2017.  All other matters, as set out in the report, were determined by the Committee at its meeting on 19 October 2017.

Following the interviews for the five Director posts, the appointment of a candidate to each of the posts was proposed. The following amendment in relation to one of the posts was moved and seconded:

"That no appointment be made to the post due to the highest scoring candidate failing to achieve the interview benchmark score"

Upon being put to the vote the amendment was lost.

The Committee at its meeting on 19 October 2017Resolved:

(i)  That, subject to no objection being made to the Leader by any member of the Cabinet, the Full Council be recommended to approve the dismissal of the Director of Governance, Finance and Public Services, Ian Young, on the basis of voluntary redundancy with three months' notice,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.