Minutes:
By Minute 16 (3 December 2021), the Panel had agreed a range of interim senior leadership arrangements in response to the then Chief Executive, Chris Naylor, leaving the Council on 15 December 2021. Those arrangements included the Managing Director (and Deputy Chief Executive) becoming the Interim Chief Executive and the Council’s statutory Head of Paid Service and the Strategic Director, Law and Governance, becoming Interim Deputy Chief Executive. Subsequent to that meeting, the Interim Chief Executive, Claire Symonds, was successful with an application to become Chief Executive at the London Borough of Redbridge and would leave the Council’s service on 22 May 2022, although her last working day would be 14 April due to outstanding annual leave.
The Panel therefore considered a report on new interim senior leadership arrangements which would take the Council through to the point when a new, permanent Chief Executive would be in post, which was expected to be late 2022.
The report set out the rationale for the current Interim Deputy Chief Executive, Fiona Taylor, acting up into the role of Interim Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service with effect from 15 April 2022. In order to become the statutory Head of Paid Service, it would be necessary to reallocate the statutory Monitoring Officer responsibilities that Ms Taylor held in her substantive post of Strategic Director, Law and Governance, as legislation prohibited the same individual from holding both statutory roles. Therefore, it was proposed that the current Head of Law (and Deputy Monitoring Officer) be appointed as the Council’s interim Monitoring Officer under the new arrangements.
The report also set out a number of other interim proposals, aimed at improving strategic capacity and resilience during the transitional period and bringing functions more into line. Some of those were linked to the post of Managing Director (Ms Symonds’ substantive post), which would not be filled ahead of the new Chief Executive joining the Council, while others related to Ms Taylor’s substantive post and her role as Interim Chief Exercutive. Those proposals covered:
· The transfer of responsibility for the Council’s Investment and Acquisition Strategy and Investment Panel, the Assurance, Counter Fraud and Information Technology (IT) services and acting as the Council’s designated Senior Information Risk Officer, to the Finance Director and the redesignation of that post to Director, Finance and Investment;
· The transfer of responsibility for the Enforcement, Regulatory and Community Safety services to the Head of Law and the redesignation of that post to Chief Legal Officer and Interim Monitoring Officer;
· The transfer of responsibility for the Events service, including Mayoral support, to the Head of Communications and Campaigns and the redesignation of that post to Chief Communications, Campaigns and Events Officer;
· The creation of a JNC-level Director post to be responsible for the Council’s corporate strategy and performance functions and provide direct support to the Interim Chief Executive.
In respect of the latter, it was proposed that the Interim Chief Executive be authorised to progress the recruitment without delay, although it was noted that should the intention be to create the post as a permanent, Strategic Leadership level role, the matter would be referred to the Assembly for determination in accordance with the Council Constitution.
The Panel also noted the proposed honoraria payments associated with the above arrangements.
The Panel resolved to:
(i) Note the resignation of Claire Symonds, Interim Chief Executive (and Head of Paid Service) and Managing Director, effective from 22 May 2022;
(ii) Agree that Fiona Taylor, Interim Deputy Chief Executive and Strategic Director, Law and Governance, be appointed as the Interim Chief Executive, effective from 15 April 2022, the postholder to be known as Interim Chief Executive and Strategic Director, Law and Governance, and that the postholder receive the equivalent of the Chief Executive’s salary (currently £182,632) from 23 May 2022 for the duration of the arrangement;
(iii) Recommend the Assembly that Fiona Taylor be appointed as the Council’s interim Head of Paid Service, in accordance with Section 4 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;
(iv) Recommend the Assembly that Alison Stuart, Head of Law, be appointed as the Council’s interim Monitoring Officer, in accordance with Section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;
(v) Subject to Assembly approval, note that the Head of Law post shall be redesignated as Chief Legal Officer and Interim Monitoring Officer and the postholder shall receive a temporary honoraria payment equivalent to £10,000 per annum in recognition of the additional responsibilities as MO and the transfer of line management responsibility for the Enforcement, Regulatory and Community Safety services;
(vi) Agree that Philip Gregory, Finance Director, be redesignated as Director, Finance and Investment, and in recognition of the additional responsibilities in respect of the Council’s Investment and Acquisition Strategy, IT, Assurance and Counter Fraud functions, the postholder receive a temporary honoraria payment of £12,825 in a full year, representing the difference between the grades of CO4 (current salary) and CO5;
(vii) Note that the Head of Communications and Campaigns post shall be redesignated as Chief Communications, Campaigns and Events Officer, and the postholder shall receive a temporary honoraria payment equivalent to £10,000 per annum in recognition of the transfer of responsibility for the Events service, including Mayoral support;
(viii) Delegate authority to the Interim Chief Executive to progress arrangements, including determining the job description, person specification, grade (up to CO4), tenure and appointment, of a JNC-level Director post to be responsible for the Council’s corporate strategy and performance functions and provide direct support to the Interim Chief Executive, subject to the provisions of paragraph 2.1(xi)(a), Chapter 4, Part 2 of the Constitution; and
(ix) Agree that the above arrangements take effect from 15 April 2022 unless otherwise stated.