Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Holdich, Swift and Sandford. Councillors Scott and Okonkowski were in attendance as substitutes.

At this point Members must declare whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest, or other interest, in any of the items on the agenda, unless it is already entered in the register of members’ interests or is a “pending notification “ that has been disclosed to the Solicitor to the Council.

There were no declarations of interest.  

In accordance with StandingOrders, Membersare asked to determine whether,

i)              item 4 Senior Management Restructuring – Service Director: City Services & Communications Determination Of Salary And Appointment To Post,whichcontainsexemptinformationrelating to contemplated consultations or negotiations in connection with a labour relations matter arising between the authority and employees or office holders of the authorityasdefinedby Paragraph4ofSchedule12AofPart1 oftheLocal Government Act1972, and

ii)             item 5 Interviews for the positions of ‘Corporate Director: People and Communities’,‘Service Director: Adult’s Services and Communities’,‘ServiceDirector: Children’s Services’ and ‘Assistant Director: Digital Peterborough’, whichallcontainexemptinformationrelatingtoindividualsas definedby Paragraphs1,2 and3 ofSchedule12AofPart1 oftheLocal Government Act1972,

should be exemptand thepress andpublic excluded fromthe meetingwhen they are discussed, orwhether thepublic interestin disclosing thisinformation outweighsthe publicinterest inmaintaining the exemption.

       In accordance with Standing Orders, the Committee was asked to determine whether:

i)          agenda item 4, Senior Management Restructuring – Service Director: City Services & Communications Determination of Salary and Appointment to Post, and agenda item 6, Director of Public Health – Update, which all contained exempt information relating to individuals as defined by Paragraph 4 of Schedule 12A of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972, and

ii)         agenda item 5, interviews for the positions of ‘Corporate Director: People and Communities’,‘Service Director: Adult’s Services and Communities’,‘ServiceDirector: Children’s Services’ and ‘Assistant Director: Digital Peterborough’, which all contained exempt information relating to individuals as defined by Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Schedule 12A of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1972,

            should be exempt and the press and public excluded from the meeting when the items were discussed, or whether the public interest in disclosing the information outweighed the public interest in maintaining the exemption.

            The Committee unanimously agreed to the exclusion of the press and public for agenda item 4, 5 and 6.

            As agreed at agenda item 3, the meeting moved into exempt session. The Director of Governance announced that as the Chief Executive was a personal friend of Ms Annette Joyce, she would not be present during the consideration of this item.

            The Director of Governance presented a report to the Committee which requested the appointment of Ms Annette Joyce to the post of Service Director: City Services and Communications and asked the Committee to determine the appropriate level of remuneration for the post.

Previous reports had been presented to the Committee at its meetings held on 22 and 27 January 2015, where the restructure proposals for the senior management group had been noted. The recruitment process was not required for the role of Service Director: City Services and Communications as a significant proportion of the post holder’s existing responsibilities transferred to the new post. As such, an existing member of staff was ‘slotted’ to the new post.

The role of Service Director: City Services and Communications was created by combing the roles of Assistant Director: Commercial Operations with the vacant role of Assistant Director: Communications.

The Committee were advised that since the publication of the report, senior managers had received a pay increase of 2%. As such, an updated senior management pay scale was circulated to the Committee.

The Committee discussed the level of remuneration for the new post and agreed a salary they believed to be appropriate for the responsibilities of the position.

            RESOLVED   that Employment Committee:

i)          Appointed Ms Annette Joyce to the post of Service Director: City Services and Communications; and

ii)         Determined the appropriate remuneration for the post

            Reasons for the decision:

            The proposed slotting was in accordance with Peterborough City Council’s policy to support the redeployment of staff.

          The Chief Executive joined the meeting and the Director of Governance left the room.

          One candidate was interviewed for the position of Corporate Director: People and Communities.

          RESOLVED: to appoint Ms Wendi Ogle-Welbourn, who was currently employed as Director for Communities at Peterborough City Council.

          The Director for Communities joined the meeting and the Chief Executive left the room.

          One candidate was interviewed for the position of Service Director: Adult’s Services and Communities.

          RESOLVED: to appoint Mr Adrian Chapman, who was currently employed as Assistant Director for Communities and Targeted Services at Peterborough City Council.

          One candidate was interviewed for the position of Service Director: Children’s Services.

          RESOLVED: to appoint Mr Lou Williams, who was currently employed as Assistant Director for Commissioning at Peterborough City Council.

          One candidate was interviewed for the position of Assistant Director: Digital Peterborough.

          RESOLVED: to appoint Mr Richard Godfrey, who was currently employed as ICT Strategy, Infrastructure and Programmes Manager at Peterborough City Council.

Supplementary information to follow.

          Rashmi Shukla, Regional Director, Public Health England, and Teresa Colman, Principal Officer, joined the meeting and were introduced by the Chief Executive.

          The Chief Executive presented a report to the Committee which outlined current position of the role of Director of Public Health. It was requested that the Committee interview a candidate and, if appropriate, appoint to the post. This appointment would be subject to the agreement of the Secretary of State for Health.

              RESOLVED that Employment Committee:

i)          Noted the position regarding the Director of Public Health; and

ii)         Interview the candidate and, if appropriate, appoint to the post of Director of Public Health on the terms as set out in the report.

          Reasons for the decision:

          It was a statutory requirement that the Council had in place a Director of Public Health (as per section 30 of the Health & Social care Act 2012).

          One candidate was interviewed for the position of Director of Public Health.

          RESOLVED: to appoint Dr Liz Robin, who was currently employed as Director of Public Health at Cambridgeshire County Council as a joint appointment to this role.