Agenda and minutes

Members are asked to note that under the terms of reference for the Joint Appointments Committee, the Leaders of Bromsgrove District Council and Redditch Borough Council should take it in turns to Chair meetings of the Joint Appointments Committee.

A nomination was received for Councillor K. May to Chair the meeting.  The nomination was proposed by Councillor P. Whittaker and seconded by Councillor M. Dormer.

RESOLVED that

Councillor K. May be appointed to Chair the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence.

Members were informed that prior to the meeting, the following changes had been made to the membership of the Joint Appointments Committee:

·             Councillor J. Barker Smith had replaced Councillor S. Harvey.

·             Councillor H. Warren-Clarke had replaced Councillor P. McDonald.

·             Councillor S. Robinson had replaced Councillor R. Hunter.

The relevant political group leaders would provide an update on these membership changes at the following ordinary meetings of Council at the respective authorities.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint Appointments Committee held on 17^th March 2026 were submitted.

RESOLVED that

the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Appointments Committee held on 17^th March 2026 be approved as a true and correct record.

The Chief Executive presented a report which proposed that the post of Executive Director of Governance and Assurance should be introduced at the Councils.  At the same time, the current post of Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services would be deleted.  It was proposed that the Executive Director post should be confirmed as the role of the authorities’ Monitoring Officer, which was a statutory post currently held by the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services.

Members were informed that the proposed position had been job evaluated by West Midlands Employers.  The role and duties of the postholder had also been reviewed by external legal consultants, who had advised on the content of the report to the Joint Appointments Committee and the proposals detailed in the report.

In considering the proposals, Members were asked to note that the report focused on the role, rather than on the existing postholder as an individual.  The aim of the change would be to strengthen the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) arrangements at the Councils.  The introduction of the Executive Director of Governance and Assurance post for the Monitoring Officer would also enable the authorities to comply with national best practice, whereby the three Statutory Officers (the Head of Paid Service, the Section 151 Officer and the Monitoring Officer) were able to come together as part of the “golden triangle” of key local government officers, with recognised authority in order to strengthen strategic leadership capacity, corporate governance, organisational resilience and executive-level assurance during a period of significant organisational change.

Prior to the meeting, the Councils had been undertaking a trial by which the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services had been attending meetings of SLT and operating at a more strategic level.  This trial had enabled the authorities to test arrangements and it had become apparent that it had had a positive impact, enhancing governance arrangements at the authorities.

West Midlands Employers, in job evaluating the role, had determined that the duties of the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services were appropriate to grade at an Executive Director level.  Subject to Members’ agreement of the proposals detailed in the report, the current postholder would therefore be eligible to assume the role of Executive Director.

The Chief Executive already had delegated authority to recruit to various senior officer roles.  The report was being presented for Members’ consideration at the Joint Appointments Committee meeting because of the implications for the Monitoring Officer role: the appointment of the Monitoring Officer, as a statutory Officer position, was a Council function to determine.  However, there was no proposal to change the Councils’ Monitoring Officer but instead to redesignate the post that would operate as Monitoring Officer at both authorities from the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services to the Executive Director of Governance and Assurance. 

The position of Executive Director of Governance and Assurance would be eligible to receive higher remuneration than the position of Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

There was no urgent business for consideration on this occasion.