Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Suite - County Hall

Contact: Karen Strahan 01392 382264  Email: karen.strahan@devon.gov.uk

Note: Meeting to start at 11.30am or on the rising of the Procedures Committee, whichever is the later. 

Items
Note No. Item

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53.

Minutes

Minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2019, previously circulated.

Minutes:

It was MOVED by Councillor McInnes, SECONDED by Councillor Hannaford, and

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 15 February 2019 be signed as a correct record.

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54.

Items Requiring Urgent Attention

Items which in the opinion of the Chair should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

Minutes:

There was no item raised as a matter of urgency.

55.

Pay Policy Statement 2020/2021 pdf icon PDF 136 KB

Joint Report of the County Solicitor, Chief Officer for Legal, Human Resources and Communications and the Head of Human Resources outlining the proposed and revised pay Policy Statement for 2020/2021, attached.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Joint Report of the County Solicitor, Chief Officer for Legal, Human Resources and Communications and the Head of Human Resources outlining the

proposed and revised pay Policy Statement for 2020/2021, and consequential amendments to the Chief Officer Employment Procedure Rules and Disciplinary Policy, for ratification by the County Council.

 

The Committee were reminded that the Localism Act 2011 required Councils to prepare and approve, annually, a Pay Policy Statement setting out its policy for each financial year relating to remuneration of Chief Officers and other employees and the relationship between the pay of Chief Officers and the lowest paid employee. It also specified that salaries for those on leadership grades were fixed for the duration of the Policy.

 

The draft Pay Policy Statement was attached at Appendix 1 to the Report and continued to reflect the Government’s proposal to implement various pieces of legislation to restrict exit payments for public sector workers.  The implementation date was still to be confirmed, but the proposals included:

 

·                     a £95,000 Exit Payments Cap, covering all types of exit payment;

·                     the Public-Sector Exit Payment Recovery Regulations, which proposed the recovery of public sector exit payments where high earners (over £80,000 per annum) returned to any part of the public sector within 12 months of receiving such a payment and;

·                     the further reforms to Public Sector Exit Payments, which proposed changes to limit the amount of redundancy compensation payments and employer funded top-ups for early retirement across the various public sector compensation schemes.

 

The draft Pay Policy Statement continued to reflect a potential future review of terms and conditions and the Authority’s wider reward strategy, bearing in mind the pay and grading implications of the National Living Wage, and other issues such as recruitment and retention and the changing nature of work and roles within the Authority.

 

The Trade Unions had submitted a pay claim for 2020/21 to the national employers and further development was awaited.

 

Appendix 2 of the Report set out the current senior management roles and salary levels and no changes were proposed to salary levels.  

 

Members discussed and asked questions on the range of other public sector pay awards, the cost to the Authority of wage rises and that the Council were part of the national pay bargaining process.

 

It was MOVED by Councillor Croad, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and

 

RESOLVED

 

(a) that the proposed amendments to the Pay Policy Statement be endorsed and the revised Statement for 2020/21 be commended to the Council; and

 

(b) that it be noted that the leadership roles and salary rates, are unchanged, but may be impacted by any national pay award.

56.

Proposal for Appointment of a New Director of Public Health and Temporary Changes to the County Council's Leadership Arrangements pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Report of the Chief Executive outlining the proposed process for the appointment of a new Director of Public Health and temporary changes to the County Council's Leadership Arrangements, attached.

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Report of the Chief Executive outlining the proposed process for the appointment of a new Director of Public Health and temporary changes to the County Council's Leadership Arrangements.

 

The Committee noted that the current Director of Public Health was due to retire in September 2020 and the role was currently encompassed within the role of Chief Officer for Communities, Public Health, Environment and Prosperity. It also highlighted the statutory requirements when making an appointment to the role of Director of Public Health including that it was a joint appointment between the Secretary of State and the Local Authority.

 

The proposal was that a permanent appointment be made for the Director of Public Health.  The Director would be accountable to the Chief Executive and continue to be a member of Leadership Group.

 

With the County Council Elections taking place in May 2021, the Chief Executive proposed that interim leadership arrangements, to be shared with the Committee in due course, would be put in place for the wider portfolio of services that currently fell under Virginia Pearson’s Chief Officer role, following the appointment of a new Director of Public Health to take effect from September 2020.

 

In relation to the appointment process for a Director of Public Health, the Faculty Guidance suggested that the appointment panel was chaired by a lay member such as an Elected Member, but the Panel was also required to consist of the Chief Executive (or their representative), Public Health England regional director (or other senior professionally qualified member of PHE acting on their behalf),    Faculty of Public Health Assessor and Senior NHS representation.

 

The recruitment process must provide assurance of the technical expertise, knowledge and skills required by the Faculty of Public Health and also to demonstrate the leadership behaviours identified by the County Council.

 

The Committee finally noted that strong candidates for Director of Public Health roles were in short supply across the country, with many employers advertising multiple times and using market supplements to match NHS salaries.  It was imperative that the Council attracted strong candidates therefore offered a competitive reward package such as a salary in line with an NHS salary for the role plus similar terms and conditions, including pension provision.

 

It was suggested a population supplement of £10,000 was added to recognise the size of Devon’s population, giving a salary of £99,537 - £113,860 and that if the successful candidate was currently on NHS terms and conditions these would be matched where appropriate, including maintenance of any NHS pension membership.

 

The Committee noted that the proposals would not result in additional costs for the Director of Public Health. 

 

Members commented on the importance of ‘communities’ work, the continued decrease in the Public Health grant and that the full complement of Members on the Appointments, Remuneration and Chief Officer Conduct Committee be part of the recruitment process when this takes place.

           

It was MOVED by Councillor Croad, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and

 

RESOLVED

 

(a) that the resultant changes for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56.