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Employment and Appointments Sub-Committee (Compromise Contracts) (Wirral Council) 20th September 2012

Employment and Appointments Sub-Committee (Compromise Contracts) Date: 20/9/2012 Time: 5.15pm Committee Room 4 Employment and Appointments Subcommittee (Compromise Contracts) Cllr Chris Meaden, Labour Cllr Andrew Hodson, Conservative Cllr Mark Johnston, Liberal Democrat Officers Andrew Mossop, Committee Services Officer Surjit Tour, Acting Director of Law, HR and Asset Management Chris Hyams Head of HR and Organisational Development Tony Williams, Employee … Continue reading “Employment and Appointments Sub-Committee (Compromise Contracts) (Wirral Council) 20th September 2012”

Employment and Appointments Sub-Committee (Compromise Contracts)
Date: 20/9/2012
Time: 5.15pm

Committee Room 4

Employment and Appointments Subcommittee (Compromise Contracts)
Cllr Chris Meaden, Labour
Cllr Andrew Hodson, Conservative
Cllr Mark Johnston, Liberal Democrat

Officers
Andrew Mossop, Committee Services Officer
Surjit Tour, Acting Director of Law, HR and Asset Management
Chris Hyams Head of HR and Organisational Development
Tony Williams, Employee Relations

In attendance
Cllr Jeff Green, Conservative
Cllr Adrian Jones, Labour, Cabinet Member (Corporate Services)
Two members of public

1 Appointment of Chair
Cllr Andrew Hodson proposed Cllr Chris Meaden as Chair.
Cllr Mark Johnston seconded Cllr Chris Meaden as Chair.
There were no other nominations for Chair.
Cllr Chris Meaden was appointed as Chair.
Cllr Chris Meaden took the Chair.

2 Declarations of Interest
The Chair, Cllr Chris Meaden, asked if anybody had any declarations of interest to make. None were made by Cllrs Meaden, Hodson or Johnson.

3. Exclusion of press/public
The Chair asked if the Sub-Committee agreed to exclude members of the press and public for agenda item 4 by a resolution moved using s.100(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 c. 70 (information relating to any individual). The other members of the Subcommittee, Cllr Mark Johnston and Cllr Andrew Hodson agreed with her.

The two members of the public left the meeting.

4. Compromise Contract
A four page report of Chris Hyams, Head of HR and Organisational Development (in conjunction with Legal) was considered by the Sub-Committee of Cllrs Meaden, Johnston and Hodson regarding a recommendation about a proposed compromise contract of over £30,000 to terminate the employment of a Wirral Council employee’s contract (who wasn’t a member of school staff).

Employment and Appointments Committee (Special) Wirral Council 18th September 2012 Part 1

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

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The meeting started at 5.30pm.

Employment and Appointments Committee

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair)
Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour)
Cllr Adrian Jones (Labour)
Cllr George Davies (Labour)
Cllr Phil Davies (Labour)
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative, spokesperson)
Cllr Lesley Rennie (Conservative)
Cllr Mark Johnston (Liberal Democrat, spokesperson)

In attendance
Cllr Tom Harney (Liberal Democrat, Leader)
Three members of the public.

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair) opened the meeting.

Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative, spokesperson) said that Cllr Peter Kearney (Conservative) had just qualified as a solicitor. A joke was made.

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair) welcomed people and asked for declarations of interest. No declarations of interest were made.

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair) asked Chris Hyams, Head of HR & Organisational Development to talk about item 2 (Senior Management Restructure.

Instead of Chris Hyams, Interim Chief Executive Graham Burgess spoke about the Improvement Plan, a “coordinated management approach”, a meeting on Thursday morning to significantly reduce tiers, a future Cabinet report in a “month or two” and a future Council meeting. He said the Strategic Directors would be at Deputy Chief Executive level and changes to the pay policy would have to be agreed by Council, he also talked about the acting appointments, suspensions and how they needed to extend and confirm a number of people in various posts. The Interim Chief Executive referred to Surjit Tour, Peter Timmins, Tom Sault, David Armstrong, Julia Hassall and Chris McCarthy.

Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative, spokesperson) asked a question, which was answered by Chris Hyams. She said they had had further representations and following advice, in September they would be setting up a subcommittee for the recruitment process. She referred to the outcome of the Chief Officers’ suspensions and an amended resolution, a consultation with Chief Officers and how it would be inappropriate to make permanent appointments.

Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour, Chair) asked if everyone had a copy?

At 5.43 pm, Cllr Peter Kearney (Conservative) arrived.

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

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

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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 Lesley 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.

Interim Chief Executive (Wirral Council) Graham Burgess (johnbrace.com)

Employment and Appointments Committee (Special) Wirral Council 18th September 2012

Employment and Appointments Committee
18 September 2012

ITEM 2

ADDITIONAL RESOLUTION 18.9

That the Chief Executive undertakes all requisite employment actions and steps arising from the above recommendations including all necessary and appropriate consultation with Chief Officers (as part of the next stage of this restructure process) in line with the Council’s relevant policies, which shall include placing all affected Council officers ‘at risk’ of redundancy.