A special meeting of the Appointments Remuneration Committee will be held on the above date at 2.00pm at County Hall, Exeter to consider the following matters.
P NORREY
Chief Executive
A G E N D A
PART I OPEN COMMITTEE
1. Apologies for Absence
2. Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 23 January 2014, previously circulated.
3. Items Requiring Urgent Attention
Items which in the opinion of the Chairman should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.
4. Pay Policy Statement 2014/15
Joint Report of the County Solicitor and Head of Human Resources (HR/14/100) on changes to the Pay Policy Statement for 2014/15 for ratification by the County Council, attached.
PART II ITEMS WHICH MAY BE TAKEN IN THE ABSENCE OF PRESS AND PUBLIC ON THE GROUNDS THAT EXEMPT INFORMATION MAY BE DISCLOSED
Nil
| Members are reminded that Part II Reports contain confidential information and should therefore be treated accordingly. They should not be disclosed or passed on to any other person(s).
Members are also reminded of the need to dispose of such reports carefully and are therefore invited to return them to the Committee Secretary at the conclusion of the meeting for disposal |
MEMBERS ARE REQUESTED TO SIGN THE ATTENDANCE REGISTER
| Membership |
| Councillors Hart (Chairman), Clatworthy, Connett, McInnes and Westlake |
| Declaration of Interests |
| Members are reminded that they must declare any interest they may have in any item to be considered at this meeting, prior to any discussion taking place on that item. |
| Access to Information |
| Any person wishing to inspect any minutes, reports or lists of background papers relating to any item on this agenda should contact Mr Hooper on the telephone number shown at the top of this agenda. |
HR/14/100
Appointments Remuneration Committee
11th July 2014
CHANGES IMPACTING UPON THE PAY POLICY STATEMENT 2014/15
Report of County Solicitor and Head of Human Resources
Recommendations:
(a) that the Committee endorse:
(i) the engagement of Fiona Fitzpatrick as Head of Children s Social Work and Child Protection via a consultancy arrangement for a defined period; and
(ii) the change in the manner in which the discharge of the Council s functions is co-ordinated within the children s social work/child protection and adult social care service areas
and commend them to the Council.
(b) that the Committee note the salary increase for the Director of Public Health, in line with her terms and conditions of employment.
1. Introduction
1.1 The Constitution of Devon County Council contains a number of sections which impact upon the appointment, organisation and reimbursement of people in senior positions within the Council[1]. In addition, the Council has to publish certain data about certain senior payments as part of its Statement of Accounts and the Open Data Initiative.
1.2 Over recent months the Council has engaged consultants/interim managers to undertake senior positions. Recent legal advice provided to other councils suggests that even if an individual is not an employee the Council still needs to comply with the above requirements and failure to do so could lead to a complaint to the Secretary of State or Local Government Ombudsman or, in the event that a statutory obligation is contravened, a judicial review claim. Information on the arrangements currently in place is provided in this report.
1.3 Since publication of the 2014/15 Pay Policy Statement, the salary for the Director of Public Health is due to increase in June 2014, in line with her terms and conditions of employment. Information on this is provided in this report.
2. Head of Children s Social Work and Child Protection Role
2.1 Following the departure of Rory McCullum as Head of Child and Adult Protection and the OFSTED Inspection outcome it was necessary to make decisions about how to fill the Head of Service position. It is a very high risk service area and to recruit to a new Head of Service would be likely to take at least 4 months (probably closer to 6 months). At such a critical time it was felt that it was unacceptable for the Council, having just failed an inspection, to be without a Head of Children s Safeguarding for that period of time and there was no-one internally who could cover the post.
2.2 The Strategic Director, through her contacts with the Association of Directors of Children s Services, sought recommendations for potential contractors who had successfully delivered Ofsted service improvement plans in other authorities. She subsequently interviewed candidates and Fiona Fitzpatrick, via Veredus Consultancy, a recruitment company on the Council s framework of providers, was engaged. Fiona has a background in children s safeguarding services in both an operational management capacity and in delivery improvement plans following poor Ofsted reports and her current assignment was due to end, making her available within a very short timeframe.
2.3 Fiona took up the role of Head of Children s Social Work and Child Protection, via Veredus Consultancy, from 6th November 2013, initially for a period until autumn 2014.
2.4 The Chief Executive and Strategic Director People, have recommended that Fiona s contract is extended until 31st March 2015 on the basis that it would be unhelpful and could create instability if the leadership of the Children s Social Work Service was to be changed in the autumn when her contract is due to expire and potentially before any re-inspection from Ofsted. This is a view supported by the Independent Chair of the Safeguarding Improvement Board and the Chair of the Devon Safeguarding Board.
2.5 The Strategic Director reports that Fiona has brought challenge, direction and a different style of leadership to this service area. A revised structure for the delivery of Children s Social Work services has been put in place and a programme of practice improvements has been designed and is being implemented. The SIB (Safeguarding Improvement Board) has noted that it is beginning to see improvements in the practice areas needed. The service needs to have stability of leadership and the opportunity to consolidate and manage the changes needed. The support of the Independent Chairs of the SIB and the DSCB (Devon Safeguarding Children s Board) would indicate that they have confidence in the direction and leadership Fiona is providing. Experience nationally is that a post of this nature is likely to be difficult to fill and it is likely to take 6 months to recruit a new Head of Service, which the service can not sustain at this critical time.
3. Changes to the Child and Adult Protection, Children s Social Work and Adult Social Care Functions
3.1 In January 2014 Malcolm Vede s fixed term contract, as interim Head of Service for Social Care Provision, ended and the Strategic Director took the opportunity to make a reduction in the number of Head of Service posts and move the various areas of Social Care provision to other Heads of Service within the People portfolio.
3.2 Adoption, fostering and the professional social work lead for these services was moved to come within the remit of the Head of Children s Social Work Services and Child Protection (undertaken by Fiona Fitzpatrick, via a consultancy arrangement).
3.3 Sally Slade s head of service job title has changed to Head of Adult Social Care with responsibility for adult safeguarding and adult in-house service provision as well as adult care management. Jan Ingram, reporting to Sally, took responsibility for residential, day and enabling provision for older people and adults with disabilities.
4. Director of Public Health
4.1 Devon County Council assumed public health responsibilities (in line with the Health and Social Care Act 2012) from April 2013 and employs a Director of Public Health, who is defined as a Chief Officer. The Director of Public Health and a number of other Devon Public Health employees transferred from the NHS to Devon County Council in accordance with the principles of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) with effect from 1st April 2013. In practice this means that the existing terms and conditions of employment of transferring employees are protected at the point of transfer and they currently continue to be paid on NHS pay rates and not NJC or JNC terms.
4.2 The Director of Public Health s salary is currently 95,860 per annum (threshold 7), plus allowances consisting of a Clinical Excellence Award (Level 9 - 35,484), Director of Public Health Supplement (Band B - 10,474) and an on-call allowance of 8% of basic salary. In line with her terms and conditions of employment as a Medical Consultant, the Director is employed on an 8 point incremental scale, based on service.
4.3 The Director of Public Health will reach her 19th year of service anniversary in June 2014 and will move to threshold 8, with 19 years completed as a consultant. This means that her salary will increase to 101,451 (plus allowances as described above) with effect from 1st June 2014.
5. Financial and Other Implications
5.1 The financial consequences for the Council are set out above. This Report and the accompanying Statements have no specific equality, sustainability, legal, financial or public health implications that are not already covered by or subsumed within the detailed policies or requirements referred to therein.
6. Conclusion
6.1 It is recommended that the Appointments and Remuneration Committee endorse the proposed variation for submission to the County Council for ratification on 24th July 2014.
Jan Shadbolt, County Solicitor
Paul Jones, Head of HR
Electoral Divisions: All
Contact for enquiries: Andrew Yendole and Sue Edwards
Telephone: 01392 383000
Email: andrew.yendole@devon.gov.uk or sue.edwards@devon.gov.uk
[1] The Pay Policy Statement, Chief Officer Employment Procedure Rules and Appointments Committee Terms of Reference