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 J. Baker to be appointed as the Chair for the meeting.

The nomination was proposed by Councillor K. May and seconded by Councillor B. Hartnett.

Members were advised that an apology for absence had been received from Councillor S. Harvey.

RESOLVED that

Councillor J. Baker be appointed to Chair the meeting of the Joint Appointments Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Human Resources and Organisational Development Manager presented a report detailing proposed arrangements for the Joint Appointments Sub-Committee.

Members were advised that the report invited Members to identify Councillors from both authorities who should be appointed to the Joint Appointments Sub-Committee.  A total of three nominations from each Council were required to serve on the Sub-Committee, which had to include the Leaders of both Councils.

In considering the appointments, Members were asked to note that there would be a requirement for the Members of the Sub-Committee to be available to attend interviews during the day.  Case law had been identified which indicated that Members of the Sub-Committee needed to be present at all of the Sub-Committee meetings in order to take part in making decisions at those meetings.  Substitutes would not be permitted for meetings of the Joint Appointments Sub-Committee and Members of the Sub-Committee would need to participate in appropriate training, due to take place on 19^th November 2024.

Following the presentation of the report, Members made reference to the training that was due to be delivered and questioned the length of this session.  Officers clarified that it was likely that this training would take one hour to deliver, subject to the number of queries that were raised during the session.

Members subsequently considered the key dates for the recruitment of the Councils’ Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service and the Deputy Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer respectively.  Questions were raised about the one-to-one chats that would take place on 9^th December 2024 with candidates for both positions and which Councillors should attend these meetings.  It was noted that the suggestion had been made that both the Leaders of the Councils and the relevant lead Portfolio Holders for Finance should attend these meetings with the candidates, although the Portfolio Holder for Finance from Bromsgrove District Council was unavailable on the proposed date so it had been suggested that a substitute should attend in his absence.  Concerns were raised about the extent to which it was appropriate for a Portfolio Holder to nominate a substitute to attend this meeting on their behalf.  On the one hand, it was suggested that the previous Bromsgrove Portfolio Holder for Finance could attend in his absence, on the basis that he had a lot of knowledge about the finance portfolio.  On the other hand, the suggestion was made that it might be more appropriate for political group leaders to attend these sessions instead.

After a brief five-minute adjournment, the Committee was advised that the recruitment key dates list, at Appendix 1 to the report, was being presented for Members to note at this stage.  Officers undertook to explore the comments that had been raised in respect of the one-to-one meetings and to report back to members of the Committee after the meeting.

The Committee also then discussed reference to “PHs” in the recruitment key dates and questioned what this acronym related to, as it was noted that this could refer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

There was no urgent business for consideration on this occasion.