Category: Employment and Appointments

Cllr Davies said it was “important to have consensus”. He was not specifically seeking to creation division. He agreed over the shared Chief Executive issue. This happened to a couple of London Boroughs. Given the geography and the fact we were the 9th largest Metropolitan Borough in the country and 3rd largest in the NW and given the amount of change we needed a dedicated Chief Exec. He said it would be interesting to see how London, especially works. Regarding the type of contract he had no strong views either way. There was a downside to a permanent contract, what happens if it went spectacularly wrong? A fixed term contract gave more opportunity to remove someone.

There were good quality candidates if it was just for a finite period of time. If a permanent contract was suggested his thoughts were if it does go wrong where do that leave us? Reflecting on the salary, a good salary would attract good quality candidates. In the current climate the public wouldn’t understand or support a large salary, he suggested £130,000.

Cllr Green said circa £130,000. Cllr Davies replied by saying there would be room for manuever. He asked about the contract issue.

Cllr Green continued by saying that “where we are, sharing is not the right thing to do”. He had always been fond of sharing a Chief Executive with the PCTs/hospitals. However the health service had its own set of issues. The PCT would collapse but we will work it all through. Wirral was the 9th largest Metropolitan Borough in the country and 3rd largest in the North West. It had a budget of ~£900 million. It had thousands of employees and was big and complicated. It was important it had its own Chief Executive. In terms of fixed term contracts this didn’t work. The management training courses he had been on said bonuses were a ropy concept, which is why they took bonuses out of the system. It was a difficult decision. However it was best that Chief Executives did what was in the public interest rather than for a bonus.

He said the scale of the Chief Exec’s salary was developed at a different time. It had led to the bizarre cycle of inflation of Chief Executive’s pay. It should be £120,000 to £135,000. He said “our staff expect the organisation to tighten its belt”. He suggested £130,000 as ten times the multiplier of the lower paid. He was going for circa £130,000 and advertising a permanent appointment of Wirral’s own Chief Executive.

The officer said that the report was around the appointment of a Chief Executive. Cllr Green said he had asked for it. There were options and issues in three key areas. The committee’s views were sought.

Cllr Green said a selection committee of eight was too big. It had to come back and be ratified or delegated to Chris which was “a bit unfair”. Cllr green suggested convening a subcommittee in the proportion 2:2:1. This would decide on a job description, person specification and the process. This would make a recommendation to the full Council.

Cllr Bridson said she agreed it should be the three Group Leaders. Cllr Green said he thought it should be. Cllr Davies said this was essential.

The officer referred to page 3 and the type of contract options, she also referred to the detail on salary, sharing and asked if they would like to leave the subcommittee to make the decision on contract and salary. Cllr Green said he did ask it to be reviewed. Whether Wirral Council shared a chief executive or had our own. He said we were “entering a time of real change, fast change and organisational issues.” Every authority was doing that. A chief executive in a shared role how would they react if an authority was in real trouble? They would be drawn to the one in trouble which means the other would suffer.

The officer noted the lower absence rate but said they would keep an eye on it. People having flu in this quarter would affect it.

Cllr Green said it was a lot of people.

Cllr McLaughlin said he should use flu-like as it was seasonal and swine flu.
th fine.
Cllr Mitchell said his youngest daughter had recently recovered from swine flu, where she worked at the Bank of America there had been hundreds off work.

The officer Chris said they would support people to be healthy in work and ensure their well-being. There was progress in embracing the principles in 4.1 of the report. They were drawing conclusions on the attendance management policy which they would bring to the next E&A committee or to a special meeting.

Cllr Davies said something which Cllr Bridson said was considered in the report. He replied with fine and joked that he’d “stay behind for lines afterwards”. Cllr McLaughlin declared an interest in item 10 as she had been on a panel dealing with allegations against employees.

The committee agreed the recommendations and moved onto item 7 – Appointment of a Chief Executive.