Issue - meetings

This report proposes new arrangements for dealing with disciplinary action against the Council’s Statutory Officers in order to comply with statutory requirements.

Discussion:

This report provided details of proposals for new arrangements for dealing with disciplinary action against the Council’s Statutory Officers (Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer) in order to comply with statutory requirements, in accordance with the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) England) (Amendment) Regulations 2015.

The procedures set out in the report had been developed to meet the requirements of legislation which now stipulated that the Council could only take a decision to dismiss these officers after the views of an Independent Persons Panel had been considered. In addition, the report also provided details of the roles for the Employment Matters Committee, Disciplinary Appeals Committee and the Independent Persons Panel in the process.

The Employment Matters Committee considered the report on 5 September 2018 and its comments were set out in section 8 of the report.

Councillor Kemp, supported by the Portfolio Holder for Business Management, Councillor Turpin, proposed the recommendations set out in the report subject to the following corrections and additions:

·         a typing error in paragraph 14.1 (e) which should cross refer to paragraph 9.3.3 in the report rather than 9.3.4;

·         paragraph 14.1 (h) should refer to a subsequent addition to the Employment Rules as well as to the scheme of delegation.

·         the appointment of Councillor Mrs Diane Chambers, Councillor Kemp and Councillor Shaw to the new Disciplinary Appeals Committee;

·         inclusion of consultation with the Opposition Group Spokesperson on the Employment Matters Committee in the delegation to the Chief Executive set out in paragraph 9.3.3 so the first sentence of the delegation will now read as follows:

 “In cases of urgency the Head of the Paid Service may suspend the Chief Finance Officer or the Monitoring Officer, following consultation with the Chairman of the Employment Matters Committee and the Opposition Spokesperson, where practicable whilst an investigation take place into alleged misconduct.”

·         with reference to the advice in paragraph 9.3.4 of the report an additional recommendation that the Council agrees that if there was an urgent need to suspend the Head of the Paid Service, a meeting of the Employment Matters Committee should be convened as soon as practically possible for that purpose.

Decision:

a)    The Council agreed to extend the terms of reference of the Employment Matters Committee, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

b)    The Council agreed to appoint a Disciplinary Appeals Committee and agreed its terms of reference, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, and agreed the Committee should comprise three Members of the Council appointed on a politically proportionate basis (Cons 2: Lab 1 – Councillors Mrs Diane Chambers, Kemp and Shaw).

c)    The Council agreed to appoint an Independent Persons Panel, agreed its terms of reference, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report, and agreed that it should comprise three Independent Persons.

d)    The Councilagreed to pay a fee to Independent Persons appointed to the Independent Persons Panel equal to the agreed rate paid in respect of their role in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 435

This report proposes new arrangements for dealing with disciplinary action against the Council’s Statutory Officers in order to comply with statutory requirements.

Discussion:

Members considered a report which proposed new arrangements for dealing with disciplinary action against the Council’s Statutory Officers in order to comply with statutory requirements.

The following issues were discussed:

·         Independent Persons

It was clarified that the Independent Persons who would comprise the Independent Persons Panel had to be the same Independent Persons appointed by the Council for the purpose of advising on councillor conduct issues. They were appointed by full Council after applying for the position in response to a public advertisement.

·         Appeals

Members were advised that the Statutory Officers could appeal any decision to take disciplinary action against them short of dismissal. As Council had to approve any proposal to dismiss then no appeal against a decision to dismiss was possible. However, as Council was effectively reviewing the process before a final decision was taken then effectively a form of appeal would take place at Council.

The procedures only applied in the case of dismissal on disciplinary grounds. Officers undertook to clarify where the decision would be taken to dismiss a Statutory Officer on the grounds of redundancy and whether an appeal against such a decision existed.

·         Decision making in cases of a need to urgently suspend

The proposal in the report was that a decision to suspend one of the Statutory Officers would be a matter for the Employment Matters Committee. The report stated such a decision could not be delegated to the Chairman of the Committee. In the light of that and given it would seem inappropriate for a subordinate officer to take such a decision, a Member queried how an urgent decision could be made to suspend one of the officers in circumstances where the seriousness of the situation meant it was not feasible to wait for a meeting of the Committee to take place given that five days’ public notice had to first be given. Officers confirmed that it would not be legally possible to delegate such a decision to the Chairman of the Committee or to the Leader. A formal meeting of the Committee would be needed (it could not take place virtually) but provided the meeting was quorate then a decision could be taken. The Access to Information rules contained an implicit power to convene meetings in cases where less than 5 days’ notice had been given.  

Although the proposal was that, for consistency, the power to suspend all three officers would rest with the Employment Matters Committee it would be possible to include provision for the Head of the Paid Service to suspend either the Chief Finance Officer or the Monitoring Officer in cases of urgency.  Officers were asked to clarify what urgency powers existed to suspend the Chief Executive in cases of urgency.     

Officers also advised that suspension was a neutral act and the authority could require one of the officers not to attend for work pending a formal decision to suspend.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to:

a)           ask officers to clarify the process for taking urgent decisions in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 344