There were no apologies for absence.

To receive details of any member nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the panel.

There were no named substitutes.

To receive declarations of interests in respect of Schedule 1, Schedule 2 or Other Interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 13 January 2021.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 January 2021 were approved unanimously.

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Details of the scheme and related guidance are available here:

https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/info/200148/your_council/61/get_involved

Please submit questions to councillorservices@herefordshire.gov.uk

The deadline for the receipt of questions is Thursday 6 May at 5.00 pm.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public.

To receive any written questions from councillors.

Please submit questions to councillorservices@herefordshire.gov.uk

The deadline for the receipt of questions is Thursday 6 May at 5.00 pm.

Accepted questions will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting.

There were no questions from councillors.

To agree the appointment arrangements for an acting or interim director, adults and communities.

The current director for adults and communities leaves the council at the start of July

This is a statutory post which we intend to fill on a permanent basis once the chief executive has had the opportunity to look at the management structure overall.

In the meantime we are proposing to make a temporary appointment, for approximately 6 months.

There are two options to fill the post on a temporary basis:

-         Internally -  we could ask a member of staff to act up

-         Externally – we could appoint an interim

Our proposal is that we run an open selection process internally inviting someone to act up and then only if we fail to recruit through that process, would we go to the interim market.

There is a quirk in the council’s constitution which means that an appointment for an internal member of staff to this post is delegated to employment panel and an appointment from the interim market is delegated to the chief executive.

We are proposing that for consistency, employment panel delegates the internal selection process to the chief executive.

If delegated, the chief executive will run an open and transparent internal process and will work with the cabinet member at all stages.

In discussion of the item, the following were discussed:

·        The proper officer process will be followed and cabinet members will have the opportunity to object to any appointment but not employment panel members.

·        Internal candidates will be encouraged to apply and the interim appointment will run in tandem with the review of the senior management structure.

·        If an internal candidate was appointed on an interim basis, there would still be a competitive external recruitment process for any permanent post.

·        Approval of any permanent / substantive appointee would go through the normal Employment Panel processes.

·        Assurance was provided that for positions below director where internal interims had been appointed, there would be a competitive recruitment process undertaken.

·        If there was no suitable internal candidate, then an external candidate would be appointed on an interim basis.

·        The chief executive would work with the portfolio holder to make any decisions.

·        If an external candidate was appointed, then this would cost more than an internal appointment.  The panel requested in future that the financial costings for external interims also be included in any report, even though the appointment of external interims is delegated to the chief executive.

·        If an internal interim candidate was appointed, then there would be development opportunities to support any application for the permanent role.

It was requested that consideration be given the following items:

Details of non-disclosure agreements.

Appraisal details, i.e. what 365 appraisals take place.

Living wage - which would need to fit into the budget cycle and a correct governance route identified.

The process for setting the chief executive’s objectives were outlined and it was anticipated that these would be set within the next few months.

The panel expressed their thanks to the solicitor to the council and the chief finance officer  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.