Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Bawn, Bridgett, Carr, Daley, Dickinson, Ferguson, Gallacher, Jackson, Kennedy, Morphet, Murphy, Oliver, Ploszaj, Reid, Sanderson, A. Watson and J. Watson.

Unless already entered in the Council’s Register of Members’ interests, members are required where a matter arises at a meeting;

a.         Which directly relates to Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (‘DPI’) as set out in Appendix B, Table 1 of the Code of Conduct, to disclose the interest, not participate in any discussion or vote and not to remain in room. Where members have a DPI or if the matter concerns an executive function and is being considered by a Cabinet Member with a DPI they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with the matter.

b.         Which directly relates to the financial interest or well being of a Other Registrable Interest as set out in Appendix B, Table 2 of the Code of Conduct to disclose the interest and only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak at the meeting but otherwise must not take part in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not remain the room.

c.         Which directly relates to their financial interest or well-being (and is not DPI) or the financial well being of a relative or close associate, to declare the interest and members may only speak on the matter if members of the public are also allowed to speak. Otherwise, the member must not take part in discussion or vote on the matter and must leave the room.

d.         Which affects the financial well-being of the member, a relative or close associate or a body included under the Other Registrable Interests column in Table 2, to disclose the interest and apply the test set out at paragraph 9 of Appendix B before deciding whether they may remain in the meeting.

e.         Where Members have or a Cabinet Member has an Other Registerable Interest or Non Registerable Interest in a matter being considered in exercise of their executive function, they must notify the Monitoring Officer and arrange for somebody else to deal with it.

NB Any member needing clarification must contact monitoringofficer@northumberland.gov.uk. Members are referred to the Code of Conduct which contains the matters above in full. Please refer to the guidance on disclosures at the rear of this agenda letter.

Councillor Dunn sought assurance that as a member of the Employment Appeals Committee she could take part in item 5 on the agenda. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that this was in order as it was the terms of the settlement agreement which were to be discussed, not the reasons for them.

To receive report from the Council’s Staff and Appointments Committee concerning ongoing litigation, including options for mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Report to follow.

The Business Chair invited the Monitoring Officer to provide members with some advice regarding dealing with this matter in public.

The Monitoring Officer advised that there always had to be a presumption in favour of openness and transparency unless there was a good reason to make a report exempt. When the report had been prepared it had been expected that some matters would be exempt as they related to an individual. This had to be weighed against the public interest in dealing with matters in public, and in this case, there was an overwhelming desire to hear this matter in public. This was because there had been enquiries about holding proceedings in the open, and following the S114 report and the Caller review, there was a strong and legitimate public interest for members and residents to know why this was being proposed, and why it demonstrated best value. Her advice was therefore that this was dealt with in public, though the needs of the individual still had to be balanced. She had taken counsel’s advice and his view was that it was legitimate to have these proceedings in public. However, members would not be able to talk about sensitive personal details and she asked members not to stray into this area. As members would all be aware of who this was about, she asked them to be respectful in their comments.

Councillor Towns asked if this proceeded in public, would members be able to refer to any relevant matters to be considered by the Employment Appeals Committee (EAC) due to take place after Council, and if so, in what level of detail.

The Monitoring Officer advised that she would guide the Chair if members strayed into matters which she felt may pre-determine any other course of action. If members decided not to accept the recommendation from the Staff and Appointments Committee regarding the settlement agreement, then the course of action would be through the EAC.

The Business Chair then proposed that agenda item 5 be dealt with in public due to the matter relating to the most senior member of staff and involving a significant cost to the public purse. He believed it was in the public interest to do this. This was seconded by Councillor Hill, and members agreed this approach. He then advised if members that if they did stray into sensitive personal matters, then he would turn the microphones off in the Chamber.

He asked all members to check that they had the appendices to the main report which had been emailed to them this morning. Copies had been circulated in the Chamber and Councillor Wearmouth proposed a 30 minute adjournment to allow members sufficient time to read the documents, which was seconded by Councillor Simpson. The Business Chair adjourned the meeting at 3.10 pm, and it reconvened at 3.45 pm.

The report was then presented by Councillor Wearmouth as vice chair of the Staff and Appointments Committee. He detailed the background to the current position and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To receive a report and consider the interim arrangements for the role of the Head of Paid Service. Report to follow

Council was asked to receive and consider the report and the recommendations of the Staff and Appointments Committee in respect of the appointment of an Interim Head of Paid Service and Chief Executive.

The Staff and Appointments Committee had met that morning and Councillor Wearmouth confirmed the Committee’s resolution and recommendation that Council appoint Rick O’Farrell as the Interim Head of Paid Service and Chief Executive on a temporary basis effective from 1st August 2022. The Leader had confirmed that there were no objections to the proposal from Cabinet.

Mrs Furnell confirmed that the Staff and Appointments Committee had been satisfied that Mr O’Farrell met the requirements of the role and the salary had been recommended as £195,000 following consideration of benchmarking information.

Councillor Wearmouth moved the report’s recommendations, with the salary set at £195,000. The Staff and Appointments Committee would consider a job description, salary, and conditions for the permanent appointment in due course. This was seconded by Councillor Stewart.

Councillor Swinburn asked whether the new staff structure review would be carried out by the Interim Chief Executive or the substantive appointment. He also asked how long the interim would be in post for, would the substantive post be externally advertised and recruited to via a fair procedure, and who did the interim Chief Executive report to as their line manager?

Councillor Cartie asked for an approximate timeframe for a permanent appointment and hoped the post would be advertised externally.

Councillor Ball asked whether the proposed salary included any bonuses or enhancements and was concerned that the Executive Team would be assembled and then have to be changed at a later date.

Councillor Wearmouth responded that matters would be progressed as swiftly as practical and would be brought to Council, probably in September. The Chief Executive would report to Staff and Appointments Committee and members would determine the structure and appoint to the Executive Team ultimately. Staff within the organisation would be able to apply for the new roles and there would be the opportunity for external appointments as well.

Mrs Furnell confirmed that the process would be external for all of the senior appointments which were currently vacant. There were no additional bonuses for the temporary chief executive appointment and Mr O’Farrell would have the same terms and conditions as all other NCC staff.

Councillor Horncastle hoped that if Council approved this, it would be the start of getting things right and getting permanent appointments made. He felt it must be very difficult for officers to not be in a permanent role when they had put so much effort into the work of the Council.

Councillor Mather felt there was a need to look at the entire Council staffing structure as there were problems with recruitment across the board because of pay levels. £195,000 was a significant salary and staff at the lower end of the pay scale needed to remunerated properly for the valuable work they did.

Councillor Cartie commented that this needed to be a member  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Council is invited to consider passing the following resolution:

(a)      That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items on the Agenda as they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the 1972 Act, and

(b)      That the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure for the following reasons:-

Agenda Item – 5

Paragraphs of Part I of Schedule 12A – 1,2,3,4 and 5

Information relating to any individual, Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual, information relating to any consultations or negotiations, or contemplated consultations or negotiations, in connection with any labour relations matter arising between the authority or a Minister of the Crown and employees of, or office holders under, the authority. Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings

AND   The public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the interest in disclosure because disclosure would adversely affect the Authority’s interests.