Tag Archives: Cllr Ann McLachlan

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Employment and Appointments Committee (Wirral Council) 15th November 2012: Compromise Contracts and Grievance Policy Changes


Last Thursday’s Employment and Appointments Committee had the usual regular report on attendance. However it was the new Employee Relations Performance Report that received some press coverage in the Wirral News about the large percentage of employees that have had dealings with Human Resources in the Department of Adult Social Services (which according to the quote in the article from the Director mainly involve “absence management”). An extension to the current Occupational Health contract with Capita Health and Well being was also agreed.

Changes to the Grievance Policy were also agreed with the aims of the changes to speed up the process and give more of a role to line managers.

Outside of the more high-profile compromise contracts reported in the media, compromise contracts totalling nearly £100,000 covering three employees had been agreed by officers.

The agenda and reports for this meeting can be read on Wirral Council’s website.

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Employment and Appointments Subcommittee 13th November 2012


Present
Cllr Tom Harney (Lib Dem)
Cllr Simon Mountney (Conservative)
Cllr Leslie Rennie (Conservative)
Cllr Phil Davies, Chair (Labour)
Cllr Adrian Jones (Labour)
Cllr George Davies (Labour)
Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour)

Officers
Graham Burgess (Chief Executive)
Chris Hyams (Head of HR and OD)
Andrew Mossop (Committee Services Officer)
Unknown female officer

Press/public
Johnathan Swain of  Penna PLC
John and Leonora Brace

Well the Employment and Appointments Subcommittee, part of the final process to select a strategic director (Families and Wellbeing) following the officer interviews today, was predictably short (well the public bit anyway). Jonathan Swain of recruitment consultants Penna PLC once again stayed for the exempt part of the meeting, even though as far as I know being a private sector employee working in the private sector would be classed as part of the “public” (unless they’ve temporarily made him an officer).

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Local Government Association/ Wirral Council Improvement Board 19th October 2012


Present:
LGA (Local Government Association)

Joyce Redfearn (Chair of Improvement Board, LGA)
Cllr Stephen Houghton CBE (Labour Peer, Barnsley Council, LGA)
Paul Rowen (Liberal Democrat Peer, LGA)
Gillian Connolly, LGA Team
Pat (Commissioning)
Dr. Gill Taylor, Principal Adviser, North West (LGA)

Wirral Council

Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour, Wirral Council),
Cllr Phil Davies (Labour, Wirral Council),
Cllr Tom Harney (Liberal Democrat, Wirral Council)
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative, Wirral Council)
Graham Burgess, Interim Chief Executive (Wirral Council)
Fiona Johnstone, Joint Director of Public Health (Wirral Council/NHS)
Steve Rowley, Adult Social Services (Wirral Council)
Chris Hyams, Human Resources and Organisational Development (Wirral Council)
Kevin Adderley, Regeneration, Housing & Planning (Wirral Council)
Emma Degg, Communications and Engagement (Wirral Council)
Christopher Dowly? Unknown (Technical Services) (Wirral Council)
Surjit Tour, Acting Director of Law, HR and Asset Management (Wirral Council)
Julia Hassall, Acting Director of Children’s Services (Wirral Council)
Mike Thomas (District Auditor, auditor for Wirral Council appointed by Audit Commission)
Three other unknown Wirral Council officers

Press/Public
Various members of the press and public

Agenda Item 1 Welcome and Introductions to the Improvement Board 00:01 to 02:18

Joyce Redfearn: We’ve got absolutely everybody in the room. Really delighted to see you here, but particularly to members of the public who take the time and effort to come and join us, and I think who are recording the proceedings as we are speaking as well. A warm welcome to you to the public part of the meeting, would it help if members of the Board and the Management Team just introduced themselves, so you know who’s present in the room?
John Brace: Sorry, could you use the microphone please so we can hear you at the back?
Joyce Redfearn: That’s working well, I’m requested to use the microphone so people can hear. Is that better for you?
John Brace: Yes.
Joyce Redfearn: Good. OK, introductions. I’m Joyce Redfearn and I’m the Independent Chair of the Improvement Board.
Graham Burgess: I’m Graham Burgess and I’m the Chief the Executive of Wirral Borough Council.
Gillian Connolly: I’m Gill Connolly and I’m a part of the LGA Team.
Pat: I’m Pat Ho???, Commissioning.
Stephen Houghton: I’m Stephen and I’m an LGA Peer.
*door squeaks as Julia Hassall arrives late*
Gill Taylor: Gill Taylor, I’m the Principal Adviser for the North West for the LGA.
*Julia Hassall arrives and walks in front of camera*
Fiona Johnstone: I’m Fiona Johnstone, Director of Public Health and the *indecipherable*.
Steve Rowley: I’m Steve Rowley, I’m here for the Director of Adult Social Services, Graham Hodkinson.
Chris Hyams: Errm, I’m Chris Hyams, Head of HR and OD.
Kevin Adderley: I’m Kevin Adderley, Director of Regeneration, Housing and Planning.
Emma Degg: I’m Emma Degg, *microphone feedback* Head of Communications and Engagement.
Christopher Dowly?: Interim Executive Director of Law.
??? ???: Technical Services
Surjit Tour: Acting Director of Law, HR and Asset Management.
Julia Hassall: I’m Julia Hassall, I’m Acting, sorry, Director of Children’s Services.
Cllr Ann McLachlan: I’m Cllr Ann McLachlan, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Improvement and Governance.
Cllr Phil Davies: Errm, hi, I’m Phil Davies, Leader of the Council.
Paul Rowen: Err Paul Rowen, I’m Chair of the *indecipherable*.
Cllr Tom Harney: Tom Harney, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group. ???? ???: I’m Dennis ????, LGA Peer.
Cllr Jeff Green: Jeff Green, Leader of the Conservative Group.
Joyce Redfearn: OK, thank you very much everybody for introducing and even bringing in a piece of teamwork, as we worked out how to share mikes. *indecipherable* I’m very glad. Errm, the format has changed,

Agenda Item 2 Improvement Board Progress to Date 02:18 to 14:10

Improvement Board Progress to Date Report

The Chair, Joyce Redfearn spoke about the report.

Agenda Item 3 Questions from the Public 14:10 to 15:12

There were a number of questions from myself, John Brace which were answered by the Chair, Joyce Redfearn.

Agenda Item 4 Unknown

Agenda Item 5 Unknown

Agenda Item 6 Unknown

Agenda Item 7 Unknown

Agenda Item 8 Unknown

Agenda Item 9 Unknown

Agenda Item 10 Unknown

Agenda Item 11 Unknown

Agenda Item 12 Unknown

Agenda Item 13 Unknown

Agenda Item 14 Unknown

Other agenda items unknown

Letter Before Claim to Wirral Council.

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Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (21st September 2012) (Wirral Council)


Investigation and Disciplinary Committee
Date: 21st September 2012
Time: 9.30pm

Committee Room 3

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (6/7 present)

Cllr Ann McLachlan, (Chair), Labour
Cllr Adrian Jones, Labour
Cllr Ann McArdle, Labour
Cllr Leslie Rennie, Conservative
Cllr Mike Hornby, Conservative
Cllr Dave Mitchell, Liberal Democrat

Wirral Council Officers
Surjit Tour, Acting Head of Law, HR and Asset Management
Shirley Hudspeth, Committee Services Officer
Chris Hyams, Head of HR & Organisational Development
Tony Williams, Acting Employee Relations Manager
David Armstrong, Deputy Chief Executive?
Unknown officer (male)

In attendance
Cllr Paul Doughty, Labour, Chair of Employment and Appointments Committee
Two members of the public (John Brace, Leonora Brace) (items 1 to 3)

The Chair, Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour) apologised for starting the meeting late.

1. Declarations of Interest

The Chair, Cllr Ann McLachlan Labour asked for any declarations of interest. None of the six councillors (including the Chair, Cllr McLachlan Labour) made any declarations of interest.

2. Minutes of the meeting held on the 20th August 2012

The minutes of the Investigation & Disciplinary Committee on the 20th August 2012 had been published on Wirral Council’s website.

The Chair, Cllr Ann McLachlan asked if the minutes were agreed?

Cllr Leslie Rennie disputed the minutes and stated they were missing that she had said at the last meeting that she wanted it minuted that she wanted Richard Penn to be invited to the meeting.

"Richard

She pointed out that this was missing from the minutes.

The Chair, Cllr Ann McLachlan said it was fine as Mr. Penn was “in the building” [see above photo of Richard Penn waiting in lobby, Ground Floor, during agenda item 4 (not the room the meeting was being held in)]. She thanked Cllr Leslie Rennie for pointing this out. There were no more comments on the minutes of the meeting held on the 20th August 2012, so the Chair moved the meeting onto agenda item 3.

3. Exclusion of the Press and Public

The Chair expressed her opinion that the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for agenda item 4. She expected the two members of the public to leave, however a member of the public waited for the Committee to agree with this opinion. The reason she gave was that it related to “staff”.

The two members of the public left.

4.  Statutory Officers Preliminary Investigation – Preliminary Report/Report from the Independent Investigator

The Committee received the reports from Chris Hyams (Proper Officer), Tony Williams (Acting Employee Relations Manager) and Richard Penn (Independent Investigator).

Only Chris Hyams and Tony Williams were present at the start of this item.

The reports were about the suspensions of Bill Norman, Ian Coleman and David Taylor-Smith, following the decision made at the Investigation and Disciplinary Committee meeting of the 20th August 2012 (agenda item 4).

Decision:

David Green (Director of Technical Services): Unknown outcome
David Taylor-Smith (Deputy Director of Finance): Unknown outcome

Ian Coleman (Acting Chief Executive):
Outcome: request made to Employment and Appointments Committee (3/10/2012) for Early Voluntary Retirement (£82,528.50) effective from 5th October 2012.

Bill Norman (Director of Law, HR and Asset Management): “no case to answer”
Outcome:  ”no case to answer” “no further advice appropriate”
Compromise Contract (£155,416) (agreed by Employment and Appointments Subcommittee (Compromise Contracts) of 20th September 2012. Made redundant as of 30th September 2012. 

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Cabinet (Special) (Wirral Council) 18th September 2012 5pm Senior Management Restructure


The agenda and reports for this meeting are on Wirral Council’s website.

Present:
Cabinet (8/10)

Cllr Phil Davies (Labour, Chair, Finance, Leader)
Cllr Adrian Jones (Labour, Corporate Resources)
Cllr Harry Smith (Labour, Streetscene & Transport)
Cllr Pat Hackett (Labour, Regeneration and Planning Strategy)
Cllr Tony Smith (Labour, Children’s Services & Lifelong Learning)
Cllr Chris Meaden (Labour, Culture, Tourism & Leisure)
Cllr George Davies (Labour, Housing & Community Safety, Deputy Leader)
Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour, Improvement and Governance, Deputy Leader)

Officers
Shirley Hudspeth (Committee Services)
Surjit Tour (Acting Head, Law, HR and Asset Management)
Graham Burgess (Interim Chief Executive)

In attendance
Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair, Employment and Appointments Committee)
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative, Spokesperson, Employment and Appointments Committee)
Cllr Leslie Rennie (Conservative, Employment and Appointments Committee)
Cllr Tom Harney (Liberal Democrat, Leader)

The meeting started with Chris Hyams (Head of HR & Organisational Development), Kevin Adderley and Fiona Johnstone leaving the room as they would be affected by the proposals.

Cllr Phil Davies (Labour, Chair) welcomed people to the meeting. He asked councillors if they had any declarations of interest to make? None were given. He moved the meeting onto agenda item 2 (Senior Management Restructure) and indicated to the Interim Chief Executive Graham Burgess to speak about this item.

Graham Burgess referred to the Improvement Board, the Improvement Plan, the support of all three party leaders and proposals to address concerns. He said it was the first stage of a wider management reshaping. Mr. Burgess said the proposals would create three posts, which were key roles.

Cllr Anne McArdle (Labour, Adult Social Care and Health) arrived at 5.06pm.

The Interim Chief Executive continued to talk about “key corporate priorities”, his desire to “break down silos” and “challenge across departments”. He said that 5.4 [of the report] gave more detail and said it was his intention to make a further report. He referred to a Director’s meeting on Thursday and that there would be numbers of posts they would be losing and it was likely to look at and need to ask senior officers to leave.

Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour, Improvement and Governance) spoke. Cllr Phil Davies (Labour, Finance and Best Value) said he wanted to address the corporate governance issues. He said he would support the recommendations and referred to the Employment and Appointments Committee later. Cllr Davies (Labour, Finance and Best Value)  referred to “radical changes”. He announced there was no “Any Other Business” and the meeting closed at 5.17pm.

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Investigation and Disciplinary Committee | 20th August 2012 | Item 1 – Appointment of Chair | Item 2 – Declarations of Interest | Item 3 – Exempt Information – Exclusion of the Press and Public | Agenda Item 4 – Update in Relation to the Suspension of Council Officers


Investigation and Disciplinary Committee
Date: 20th August 2012
Time: 4.00pm

Committee Room 2

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee minutes (20th August 2012) (approved 21st September 2012)
Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (20/8/2012) Agenda

Present

Councillors (7/7)
Cllr Dave Mitchell Liberal Democrat
Cllr Adrian Jones Labour
Cllr Lesley Rennie Conservative
Cllr Mike Hornby Conservative
Cllr Ann McLachlan Labour
Cllr Brian Kenny Labour
Cllr Anne McArdle Labour

Wirral Council Officers
Shirley Hudspeth (Committee Services Officer)
Chris Hyams, Human Resources (Head)
Tony Williams, Human Resources (Acting Employee Relations Manager)
Surjit Tour, Acting Head of Law, Human Resources and Asset Management
David Armstrong
Unknown female
Unknown male

Also
Items 1-3 Two members of the press/public

The agenda for this meeting can be found here.

Agenda Item 1 – Appointment of Chair

Cllr Brian Kenny and Cllr Adrian Jones proposed Cllr Ann McLachlan as Chair.
There were no other nominations so Cllr McLachlan was made Chair.

Cllr Dave Mitchell proposed Cllr Adrian Jones as Vice-Chair, however it wasn’t seconded. There was a second valid nomination as Vice-Chair so Cllr Brian Kenny was made Vice-Chair.

Agenda Item 2 – Members’ Code of Conduct – Declarations of Interest
Councillors present made no declarations of interest.

Agenda Item 3 – Exempt Information – Exclusion of the Press and Public

The Chair suggested that the public and press were excluded from the rest of the meeting for agenda item 4 (Update in Relation to the Suspension of Council Officers) (reason given – Information relating to any individual and agenda item 5 (Any Other Urgent Business Approved by the Chair) (although there was no AOB).

Agenda Item 4 – Update in Relation to the Suspension of Council Officers

The Investigation and Disciplinary Committee received an update in a 16-page preliminary investigation report about the matters that led to the suspensions of Bill Norman, Ian Coleman and David Taylor-Smith (but also relate in part to the earlier suspension of David Green).

It related in part to:-

1) This public interest report published by the Audit Commission on 8th June 2012 entitled Highways and engineering services contract award and management.

2) The Council’s policies on senior officers declaring interests and whether these had been followed.

3) Various other matters relating to the above four suspended individuals.

The following resolution was then agreed,

“(1) the progress being made in respect of the preliminary investigation be noted; and

(2) the way forward in relation to the three Statutory Officers, as outlined in paragraph 5.6 of the report, be agreed.”

Agenda Item 5 Any Other Business 
It has been confirmed by Wirral Council that there were no items of Any Other Business agreed by the Chair tabled at the meeting.

Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (Wirral Council) Photo 1

Left (L to R): Unknown officer (male), Shirley Hudspeth (officer)

Right (Left to Right)
Cllr Dave Mitchell (Lab)
Cllr Adrian Jones (Lab)
Cllr Brian Kenny (Lab)
Cllr Ann McLachlan (Lab)
Cllr Mike Hornby (Con)
Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (Wirral Council) Photo 2

Left: Shirley Hudspeth

Right Foreground
L to R Cllr Mike Hornby (Con), Cllr Lesley Rennie (Con)

Right Background
Cllr Dave Mitchell (Lib Dem), Cllr Adrian Jones (Labour)
Investigation and Disciplinary Committee (Wirral Council) Photo 3

Background: Shirley Hudspeth

Foreground: Left to Right
Tony Williams (Officer), HR
Unknown Officer? (female)
Chris Hyams (Officer), HR
Unknown Officer? (male)

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Cabinet (Wirral Council) 24/11/2011 Part 7 Budget Projections 2012-2015, Insurance Fund Budget (2012-2013), Annual Children’s Services Assessment 2011


Motion on Item 3 Projected Budget

Proposed Cllr Steve Foulkes
Seconded Cllr Phil Davies

Cabinet recognises that, although the projected budget gap is diminishing, considerable work is still required to set a balanced budget in March.

In order to avoid any undue delays as proposals are explored, Cabinet authorises the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council, to undertake any appropriate consultation, in addition to the broader consultation already carried out, as required in order to allow the Council to meet the budgetary challenges it is facing.

The motion was agreed by all councillors on the Cabinet.

Cllr Foulkes then moved the meeting to agenda item 4 (Insurance Fund Budget 2012/2013).

Ian Coleman said for 2012/2013 there was a small impact on costs and savings. The report was agreed.

Cllr Foulkes then moved to agenda item 5 (Annual Children’s Services Assessment 2011) which he described as welcome news. A two-page letter was handed out in relation to this agenda item.

An officer said that David Armstrong sends his apologies as he was with headteachers in Anglesey. The officer said Wirral’s children’s services had performed excellently and were graded four out of a possible four. The report detailed how the assessment had been made as well as their strengths in educational standards and safeguarding. The officer referred to “Howard [Cooper]‘s strong steer” and David’s role as acting director and the activity that was underway referred to in the report.

Cllr Ann McLachlan said it was excellent news, “fantastic” and referred to the letters sent to all staff in the Children and Young People’s Department.

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Corporate Governance Committee (Wirral Council) 26th October 2011 5.00pm (Committee Room 1) Part 8


Cllr Foulkes said the report raised two issues. The first would help feed into the corporate governance work program, the other issue was to do with the work stream which would have to bid into the Budget.

Cllr Anne McArdle raised the issue of external customers, schools, what schools needs and school employment.

Bill Norman said his department provides human resources and a significant level of employment related advice to schools as well as legal and committee services. More work on the latter would limit their capacity to give advice to schools and deal with admission appeals.

Cllr Ann McLachlan said that 4.9 was a useful starting point. Bill Norman replied that David Smith had made a helpful point, Cabinet has bulky three-week agendas and it was a matter of deciding the best way of using time.

Cllr Foulkes raised the issue of Anna’s seminar to all councillors. He asked that they do their level best. Cllr Phil Davies said Bill had made a good start on the challenges, but asked what the options were of addressing the challenges? He asked if other councils had looked at the same challenges and how Wirral Council would go about addressing them?

Cllr Green said the wanted to highlight the requirement of making it clear how the review of services would be laid out and answering the question “What sort of Council do we want?”. He had a strong opinion but he wanted to avoid producing unnecessary reports which would be avoided by a clear and agreed set of requirements.

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Corporate Governance Committee (Wirral Council) 26th October 2011 5.00pm (Committee Room 1) Part 7


Cllr Ann McLachlan said they should not be diverted from their primary purpose or stretching too thin. She said they needed focus. Cllr Foulkes said to tell him what they wanted but it would have a direct effect on resource implications (which he said was not unique to Wirral Counci). Cllr Phil Davies said Jim Wilkie would bring a report back to the next meeting about the turnaround team. Cllr Foulkes said there was an issue of resources and backfilling people if they were diverted from their job. Jim Wilkie said they would use whatever resources were necessary.

Anna Klonowski said they had to make sure they had the right people with the right experience. Cllr McArdle said [to Anna] that she “may be surprised at the talent”.

David Smith introduced the Internal Audit report and said it was important to mention Internal Audit and there were a couple of things in paragraph 4.2 that might justify diverting attention and it would be worthwhile to seek external views. Ian Coleman would be reporting back at the beginning of December which was a challenging timescale. Cllr Foulkes asked if people were happy, so the report was agreed.

Bill Norman talked about the review of Legal and Committee services. He said they had started the process of reviewing one of the key support areas and that Anna’s corporate governance report was a spear in terms of going forward. It did create additional areas of pressure, but the approach in 4.14 should help councillors take decisions and for them to be implemented.

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Wirral Council Cabinet 13/10/2011 Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan – Progress Report Part 3


Cllr Ann McLachlan said [the Child Poverty Strategy Action Plan] was an “important piece of work” whose “natural home is the Children’s Trust Board”. She said she wanted to move a motion.

Cllr George Davies mentioned Cllr Sheila Clarke and Cllr Mark Johnston. He said that they “owe it to the people of Wirral” and the “statistics are frightening”. He talked about a Tranmere Community Project which had welcomed people from the United States of America to share views. He said certain parts of the Wirral had not altered in the areas of unemployment, housing and deprivation. He said, “Talking has to stop, action has to start.”

Cllr Steve Foulkes referred to the conference and the will to tackle the issue as well as recent press coverage. He also talked about the governance priorities, trends going forward into the future and the last paragraph in which it was declared to be a Budget priority. He said in light of the consultation exercise, he would prefer to call it a “key priority” as it was premature to fit it in the Budget. He said the last paragraph reflected that they would make it a key priority for 2012/13.

Cllr Ann McLachlan said she recognises the issues and welcomed the Action Plan. She emphasised the extreme urgency and referred to an Institute for Fiscal Studies study and referred to 600,000 in child poverty by 2012/13 which would mean the 2010 targets would be missed. She asked Cabinet to agree the recommendations. She thanked people and wanted to make tacking child poverty a key priority. Cllr Steve Foulkes seconded the motion which was agreed.