Venue: Town Hall, The Crofts, Moorgate Street, Rotherham. S60 2TH
Contact: Debbie Pons, Governance Adviser
No. | Item |
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Minutes of the meeting held on 16 December 2024
To consider the minutes of the previous meeting of the Staffing Committee held on 16 December 2024 and approve them as a true and correct record of the proceedings and to be signed by the Chair.
Minutes:
Resolved:- That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 16th December, 2024 be approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings. |
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Declarations of Interest
To receive declarations of interest from Members in respect of items listed on the agenda.
Minutes: There were no declarations of interest to report. |
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Exclusion of the Press and Public
To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.
Minutes: There were no items of business on the agenda that would require the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting. |
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Recruitment of Director of Public Health
To consider the report which sets out proposals to appoint to the Director of Public Health.
Minutes: Consideration was given to the report presented by the Strategic Director for Adult Care, Housing and Public Health, which set out proposals to appoint to the Director of Public Health following the current post holder’s resignation.
Approval was, therefore, being sought to recruit to this post, which was a statutory function under the Health and Social Care Act. The postholder would continue to lead the public health team and sit under the Adult Care, Housing and Public Health Directorate.
The statutory nature of the process of appointing a Director of Public Health meant this must be done jointly with the Secretary of State and the appointments panel should also include an external professional assessor appointed after consultation with the Faculty of Public Health and agreed by Public Health England.
Due to the nature of the post an acting up arrangement to the Director of Public Health would need to be established until the permanent post holder had commenced in post.
The salary, based on an Assistant Director salary, was £99,174 inclusive of the 2024/25 Chief Officer pay award.
Council previously agreed that in order to compete for suitably qualified candidates, where applicable, a market supplement of between £9,000 to £20,000 was included. On this basis and in accordance with revised market rates it was suggested that the range of the market supplement be considered to be between £6,000 and £22,000 in order to compete for the recruitment and retention of a suitable candidate. This would provide for a current package for the Director of Public Health post of £119,174.
The Committee were mindful that, should there be a requirement to uplift the market supplement, this would lead to a delay in the recruitment process having to wait for Council for approval.
The Committee, therefore, believed the salary for the post of Director of Public Health to be competitive and comparable with similar sized Local Authorities and suggested it be marketed for recruitment accordingly.
In the event that a suitably qualified applicant could not be secured consideration could then be given to applying the market supplement.
Resolved:- (1) That the request to fill the post of the Director of Public Health and refer the process to the Senior Appointments Panel to undertake the recruitment process, with appointment subject to Council approval, be approved.
(2) That in the event that a suitably qualified applicant could not be secured consideration could then be given to applying the market supplement. |
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Recruitment of Chief Executive
To consider the report which sets out proposals to appoint to the Chief Executive.
Minutes: Consideration was given to the report presented by the Assistant Director for Human Resources which set out in detail the request for formal arrangements for the recruitment to the Chief Executive role after the resignation of the incumbent Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service) after nine years of exemplary service.
The salary for the post of Chief Executive was £188,061 (inclusive of the 2024/25 pay award), to be advertised at the current rate and was benchmarked appropriately. As there was no proposal to change the existing salary, it was proposed to refer the process to the Senior Officer Appointments Panel. In accordance with the Localism Act (2011) the appointment would be subject to Council approval.
The Chief Executive was a budgeted post with the current and future costs of the post factored into the Council’s financial planning. The role would require external recruitment support and advertising costs, estimated to be around £20k-£25k which could be contained within the wider underspend position within Assistant Chief Executive’s Directorate. The engagement of a recruitment agency to assist with the search and selection process would, therefore, be required in accordance with the Council’s Financial and Procurement Procedure Rules.
Based on current plans the post would be advertised at the end of January, with the assessment process and final interview panels completed by March, 2025.
Dependent on the interview dates and any resignation periods for candidates it was highly likely that an interim or acting up arrangement would need to be considered for a limited time given the current Chief Executive’s agreement to support the Council in the recruitment activity.
The Committee were satisfied that the appointment was in line with other Local Authorities, but received clarification on the anticipated costs associated with the engagement of an agency to assist with recruitment.
The Committee, therefore, welcomed the recruitment process and appointing the right candidate to this attractive position.
Resolved:- That the request to fill the post of Chief Executive be approved and this be referred to the Senior Appointments Panel to undertake the recruitment process, with appointment subject to Council approval. |
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Urgent Business
To determine any item which the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.
Minutes: The Chair reported that there were no urgent items of business requiring the Committee’s consideration. |