Agenda item

Report by the Director of Law and Governance

The purpose of the proposals for amendment to the Employment Procedure Rules Part 8.4 is to update the rules in the Council’s constitution relating to the appointment and dismissal of its statutory and non statutory chief officers.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to recommend to Council to approve the proposals for amendment to the Employment Procedure Rules Part 8.4 in the Councils Constitution.

Members of the Committee received a report asking them to recommend to Council to approve proposals for amendment to the Employment Procedure Rules Part 8.4 in the Councils Constitution.  Ms Charlton clarified that this specific part of the Constitution dealt with the appointment, disciplinary action and dismissal of chief officers.  The chief officers are the head of paid service, a statutory chief officer, a non-statutory chief officer and a deputy chief officer.  They were all defined in legislation which sets out how a council should deal with the appointment, disciplinary action and dismissal of chief officers.

Ms Charlton explained that the amendment to the Constitution was required because this section of the Employment Procedure Rules did not comply sufficiently with the current legislation which had changed in 2015.  She added that the Chief Executive / Head of Paid Service in the Council’s Scheme of Delegations had the delegated authority to appoint or dismiss any chief officer which was contrary to the legislation.  The revised Employment Procedure Rules were designed to follow not just the legislation but also best practice of other local authorities. 

The Committee was advised that the broad delegations that the Chief Executive had for appointment and dismissal had been deleted and these had been replaced with very specific delegations.  An example that was given of the specific delegations that were drafted and in keeping with the legislation was paragraph 4.2 of the Officer Employment Procedure Rules.  This dealt with the appointment of deputy chief officers.  The Head of Paid Service was able to appoint a deputy chief officer without having to go before a member panel providing the appointment followed the necessary steps that were set out and which were in keeping with the statutory process.

The Committee also noted that the Chief Executive as the Head of Paid Service had now been given the delegation to appoint to interim posts for chief officers.  This would ensure that the statutory functions of the Council were adequately filled in the event a chief officer left and whilst a recruitment process was taking place.  The Council were required to appoint the Chief Executive / Head of Paid Service.

In response to questions from the Committee, Ms Charlton clarified that in the event that the Head of Paid Service was required to make an appointment of an officer, including a chief officer, to an interim post and this was required between the Council elections and the Annual General Meeting and it was not possible to consult with both the Chair and Deputy Chair of the Remuneration Panel, emergency powers could be used.  This could include consulting Members who had been in post previously.  She also clarified that the law was in place for dismissing a head of paid service but it had not previously been prescribed in the Council’s rules.  There had been cases of lawful challenges regarding the dismissal and disciplinary action of chief executives and statutory chief officers because councils had not complied with the 2015 legislation.

RESOLVED: That the Committee recommend to Council to approve the proposals for amendment to the Employment Procedure Rules Part 8.4 in the Councils Constitution.