Issue - meetings

To receive a presentation from the HR Strategic Lead, Shaping Dorset Council.

Nicola Houwayek (HR Strategic Lead, Shaping Dorset Council) attended the meeting to provide a presentation with regard to the process for the appointment of a permanent Chief Executive for the Dorset Council.  The presentation included background to the process, including the recruitment process timeline and detail of the membership of the Senior Appointments Committee.

In response to questions raised with regard to the composition of the Senior Appointments Committee it was noted that the members were acting in their role as Shadow Councillors and that it was a politically balanced committee.  There were 8 members appointed to the committee which had been agreed by Full Council at its first meeting and it was noted that the Chairman would have a casting vote in the case of an equality of votes.  A concern was noted that there should be an odd number of members on the committee.

Clarification was sought in respect of the members of the Senior Appointments Committee and which councils they were also members of.  A concern was expressed in respect of the public perception of this.  The Chairman confirmed the councillors’ council membership as follows:

Councillor Anthony Alford – West Dorset District Council

Councillor Andy Canning – West Dorset District Council and Dorset County Council

Councillor Graham Carr-Jones – North Dorset District Council and Dorset County Council

Councillor Jeff Cant – Weymouth and Portland Borough Council

Councillor Spencer Flower – East Dorset District Council and Dorset County Council

Councillor Colin Huckle – Weymouth and Portland Borough Council

Councillor Rebecca Knox – Dorset County Council

Councillor Gary Suttle – Purbeck District Council

In response to a question, it was confirmed that the process for appointing tier 2 officers would be similar but with a lower level of stakeholder engagement.  Further information on the tier 2 appointment process and timescale would be considered at the next meeting of the Shadow Executive Committee.  It was agreed that a further presentation would be provided to the next meeting of the Shadow Overview and Scrutiny Committee with regard to this process.

Members considered the issues arising from the presentation and during discussion the following points were raised:

·                The stakeholder involvement could include representatives of public sector partners that the council worked with including, health partners, housing associations, youth panel and the Local Enterprise Partnership as well as businesses.  The stakeholder feedback to the panel would be important and properly considered

·                In respect of the psychometric testing, members were informed that an occupational psychologist would attend to talk through the results with the panel.  It was noted that psychometric testing was used widely for senior appointments

·                In response to a question, organisational costs in respect of redundancies were noted which would be met by each council

·                It was noted that the final approach to the Chief Executive salary had not been agreed and would depend on the successful candidate offered the appointment.  A salary range had been agreed

·                Terms and conditions such as amount of annual leave were standard terms offered to Chief  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22