Agenda and draft minutes

To receive from Members, declarations of the existence of any disclosable pecuniary, or non-pecuniary, interests and the nature of those interests in relation to any agenda item. Please see Agenda Notes.

1.1      There were no declarations of interest.

To receive any questions from members of the public provided that a question does not relate to:

·       Matters which are the subject of current or pending legal proceedings, or

·       Matters relating to employees or former employees of the Council or comments in respect of individual Council Officers

To ask a question at this meeting, please submit it to democratic.services@gloucester.gov.uk by Friday 26 November 2022 or telephone 01452 396203 for support.

2.1      There were no public questions.

A period not exceeding three minutes is allowed for the presentation of a petition or deputation provided that no such petition or deputation is in relation to:

·       Matters relating to individual Council Officers, or

·       Matters relating to current or pending legal proceedings.

3.3      There were no petitions or deputations.

To consider the report of the Head of Paid Service concerning the senior management structure of the Council.

4.1          The Committee considered the report of the Head of Paid Service concerning proposed changes to the Senior Management structure of the council following the departure of the two Corporate Directors.

4.2          Councillor Cook introduced the report and explained the proposals for the Managing Director’s post to revert to a full time position with the City Council and designating two of the Heads of Service as Directors, in recognition of the breadth and depth of service responsibility and accountability already carried by these posts, and more formally recognising them as effective deputies for the MD. He noted that the Local Government Association had been asked to advise on the options available to the council.

4.3          Councillor Hilton stated that he would have liked to have been consulted by the Local Government Association when they were preparing their advice to the council, but that the proposals seemed sensible.

4.4          In response to a question from Councillor Hilton regarding the process for future appointment to the new Director roles and the remaining Head of Service roles, Councillor Cook and the Managing Director confirmed that appointments to Director roles are within the remit of the Senior Appointments Committee, but appointments to Heads of Service were not, though it was likely that senior Councillors would be continue to be consulted in relation to those roles.

4.5          Councillor Pullen advised that he supported the proposals and asked for clarification about the appointment process for the posts at the present time.

4.6          The Managing Director advised that, based on HR advice, it was not necessary to go through a selection process because the at risk of redundancy and ringfencing requirements that would follow would result in the same outcome. Therefore, it was only necessary to obtain confirmation of salary grades for the posts.

4.7          In response to a question from Councillor Hilton, in respect of the role of Monitoring Officer, the Managing Director advised that the appointments could come to Senior Appointments Committee or direct to Council.

4.8          In response to a question from Councillor Pullen regarding the proposal for a countywide role focusing on tackling health inequalities, the Managing Director advised that no decision had been made on where the role would be hosted, but that sufficient budget had been set aside to fund the City Council’s contribution.