Agenda and minutes

To receive Apologies for Absence from Committee members. 

Apologies for Absence were received from Councillors Dawn Percival and Peter Topping.

None.

The Committee agreed that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following agenda item in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 on the grounds that, if present, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Chief Executive presented this report on the proposed restructure of the senior management team at South Cambridgeshire District Council, by reporting on the background, the drivers for changes, the proposed structure and the process for the next steps.

Background

The Committee noted that the consultant Castlerigg had reported its findings in the summer, but it had been agreed to wait until the new Chief Executive had been appointed before deciding how to implement its recommendations. The Chief Executive apologised for the short notice with regards to the meeting, which was to ensure that there was no further delay in the process and to end the uncertainty affecting the Council.

Proposed Structure

The Committee noted that under the new structure there would be seven Heads of Service. The Chief Executive explained that the Head of Services would be solely responsible for their service area.

Chief Operating Officer

The Chief Executive explained that the Chief Operating Officer would have oversight of all the internal workings of the Council, which would allow the Chief Executive to focus on the external challenges facing the authority. The Chief Operating Officer would also be responsible for working with some of the Council’s partners. The Chief Executive and Chief Operation Officer would mentor the seven Heads of Service in a split that was to be agreed.

Timetable

The Chief Executive explained that if Cabinet agreed these proposals at their meeting on Monday 18 November, there would be a 30 day consultation period with the affected staff and the unions. If there were no substantive changes the seven posts would be advertised internally in January and then, if necessary, externally advertised in February. The Committee noted that if the consultation process resulted in a substantial change to the proposals in the report, these would have to come back to the Committee before being reconsidered by Cabinet.

Responsibilities of the Heads of Service posts and remuneration

The Chief Executive explained that seven Heads of Service would be a team of equals. She recognised that some of the posts could be seen to have more responsibilities than others. All posts would be subjected to a nationally agreed review process, which would determine their pay grade. It was possible that the posts would be evaluated on different pay grades, which was a normal arrangement.

Savings

The Chief Executive explained that the estimated savings detailed in paragraph 23 of the report assumed that all seven posts would be evaluated at Grade 10. Obviously this was subject to change, depending on the evaluation process.

The Chief Executive explained that delivering the savings detailed in the Medium Term Financial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.