Agenda item

Councillor Wells asked Councillor Fenner, Cabinet Member for Business, Corporate and Regulatory Services, the following question:

“Could the Cabinet Member for Business, Corporate and Regulatory Services please advise why it was deemed appropriate for the Chief Executive not to report their proposals for restructure of this council to the authority as appears to be required by section 4 of The Local Government and Housing Act 1989?”

Councillor Fenner responded:

“For the information of the Members, Section 4 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 states that:

‘It shall be the duty of the relevant authority's Head of Paid Service, where s/he considers it appropriate to do so in respect of any proposals of her/him with respect to any of the matters specified ...’

which, in effect, are matters to do with restructurinig ..

‘It shall be the duty of the head of a relevant authority's paid service, as soon as practicable after s/he has prepared a report under this section, to arrange for a copy of it to be sent to each member of the authority’.

“So, the recent management restructure was considered for some time and formally consulted upon from 24 October 2013.  The main changes were to reporting lines and the functional changes within each directorate were reported to council on 27 February 2014.  The Chief Executive had to be mindful of the employment laws, which require several phases of staff consultation.  The new restructure emerges fully after full consultation has ended.  As the changes impacted on two of the statutory posts - the S.151 Officer, which moved to a vacant director post, and the Monitoring Officer - it was necessary to gain specific approval for this.  This was the subject of a report considered and approved by council on 27 February, which, as I pointed out earlier, also included a senior officer and service structure chart.  The organisation imposed a recruitment freeze in the summer of 2013, resulting in vacancies remaining vacant so as to minimise job losses resulting from the restructure but agency staff were put in place.  Some key positions have now been taken up by existing staff.  Appointments are in progress to the structure.  It is the intention of the Chief Executive to report the final structure and officers in place once the internal recruitment process has been completed and staff are placed and no longer at risk of redundancy.”

Councillor Wells then put a supplementary question to Councillor Fenner:

“Perhaps the Cabinet Member could advise us all, following her endorsement of the Chief Executive's approach, why she felt it necessary to consult with Rustom Tarta, an employment lawyer, whose website advises a specialism of reputational management for organisations looking to part company with their chief officers.”

Councillor Fenner’s response to that supplementary question was as follows:

“I believe it is for this organisation to seek legal advice wherever it feels that is necessary.  In the context of this restructure, I would also like to point out that a great deal is being made of the council's constitution.”