Agenda item

The Executive RESOLVED to

1.    Ask South East Employers to provide, in time for the publication of the 6th of July Council Agenda Papers, additional data in respect of the potential financial implications of appointing a single joint Chief Executive (acting as Head of Paid Service for both Waverley and Guildford Borough Councils) and advice on cost-sharing arrangements;

And, subject to the receipt of financial and cost-sharing data and advice from South East Employers and any advice issued by the Council’s Chief Finance Officer, or his appointed deputy, relating to the level of approval required, how any costs would be funded and the appropriateness of any cost-sharing agreement, RECOMMEND to full Council that:

2.    Full Council pursues the option of creating a single management team, comprised of statutory officers (Head of Paid Service; Chief Finance Officer; Monitoring Officer), directors and heads of service as the most appropriate means for bringing forward business cases for future collaboration; and

3.    Full Council asks the Council’s HR Manager to take the necessary action, in consultation with Guildford Borough Council and with the support and advice from South East Employers and as set out within the addendum to annexe 3 of this report, to make arrangements for a recruitment and selection of a single joint Chief Executive (acting as Head of Paid Service for both Waverley and Guildford Borough Councils), including making arrangements for a senior officer recruitment panel (to include the Leader of the Principal Opposition Group and the Council Leader), so that a report may be brought to a future meeting of Full Council recommending the appointment of a suitable candidate.

23.1     At 6.54pm, the members of the Senior Management Team left the room and were not present for the duration of this item.

23.2     The Leader of the Council introduced and moved the recommendation and amendment, which was duly seconded by Councillor Clark, to submit a further report to Council setting out draft heads of terms of the joint inter authority agreement, the draft job description for a joint chief executive and the establishment of a joint appointments committee.

23.3     Councillor Mulliner raised a point of order relating to missing information from South East Employers.  It was noted that supplementary papers had been circulated to Members by email the previous Friday and published to the Modern.gov app.  In addition to this, hard copies were circulated by officers in the meeting to those Members who were missing the document.  The Mayor adjourned the meeting at 7.10pm to enable Members to read the supplementary document.

23.4     The Mayor resumed the meeting at 7.23pm.  Councillor Mulliner proposed deferring the item to a future meeting on the grounds that the cost sharing advice from South East Employers was missing, which was duly seconded by Councillor Cosser, and this was debated.  Some Members expressed concern that there had not been sufficient time to consider the material.  Those opposed to the motion to defer felt that Members had received the relevant information with sufficient time to consider and that the amendment proposed by the Leader would address those concerns.  In addition, it was felt that there was a financial imperative to achieving the savings set out in the report and avoiding any further delay.  At the conclusion of the debate, the Mayor called for a vote on the deferral which was lost: votes in favour 15; votes against 22; abstentions 2.

23.5     In response to questions from Members, the Leader clarified the purpose of the recommendation and amendment which was to authorise officers to begin the process to bring further information back to a further meeting of the Council and read it out so that Members could write it down in the absence of facilities to print the recommendations for Members to read.  Councillor Mulliner proposed an amended wording to include arrangements for sharing costs, liabilities and savings and the Leader agreed that this wording be included in his amendment.  The Mayor called for a vote on the amendment which was carried: votes in favour 22; votes against 8; abstentions 8.

23.6     There followed a lengthy debate on the substantive issue and Councillors Beaman, Clark, Cockburn, Cosser, Dickson, Deanus, Jenny Else, Foryszewski, Goodridge, Gray, Hyman, MacLeod, Merryweather, Mulliner, Palmer and Williams made comments.  Some Councillors expressed concern that the proposals were premature and should be looked at as part of the budget process for next year.  There would be significant upfront costs which would cancel out any immediate savings, and the projected savings were not significant enough to justify the upheaval of a major change in the way the Council operates.  There was also concern expressed that the vision for collaboration was not achievable and that there would be an impact on the staff.  Some Councillors spoke in support of pursuing option b set out in the report, that some form of collaboration should be supported and other ways to achieve savings should be looked at, but that it was felt that further information and clarity was needed.  There was a suggestion that it be considered by the Audit Committee in view of the risks involved.

23.7     Some Councillors felt that the financial pressures on the Council due to Government cutbacks required it to identify savings and therefore it was not appropriate to delay the proposals any further.  It was felt that officers had been neutral and professional, setting out the risks for Members to consider but noting that not all risks were likely to happen and all risks could be mitigated by the Inter Authority Agreement, which would come back to Council for approval.  The proposals would increase the resilience of both Councils to face the financial pressures by increased collaborative working.  Some felt that the proposals provided an opportunity to be ahead of the curve and offer advice to neighbours going through a similar process in the future. 

23.8     The Leader summed up the debate by responding to some of the concerns expressed.  The collaboration would be evidence and business case led, but also politically led due to both organisations being political entities.  The recommendations gave an opportunity to take action to make savings and reminded Members that there would be further opportunities to scrutinise each stage of the collaboration.  There was a brief discussion on whether the recommendations could be taken separately and officers advised that due to the interdependency of the recommendations, that they should be voted on together. 

23.9     The Leader requested a recorded vote, in accordance with Procedure Rule 17.4, supported by five Members and it was

RESOLVED that

1.    Full Council pursues the option of creating a single management team, comprised of statutory officers (Head of Paid Service; Chief Finance Officer; Monitoring Officer), directors and heads of service as the most appropriate means for bringing forward business cases for future collaboration;

2.    Full Council asks the Council’s HR Manager to take the necessary action, in consultation with Guildford Borough Council and with the support and advice from South East Employers and as set out within the addendum to annexe 3 of this report, to make arrangements for a recruitment and selection of a single joint Chief Executive (acting as Head of Paid Service for both Waverley and Guildford Borough Councils), including making arrangements for a senior officer recruitment panel (to include the Leader of the Principal Opposition Group and the Council Leader), so that a report may be brought to a future meeting of Full Council recommending the appointment of a suitable candidate; and

3.    A report be submitted to a session of full council on the following matters a) heads of terms for the proposed Inter Authority Agreement to establish governance arrangements for joint working and identify how costs, liabilities and savings will be shared b) the proposed Job Description and Terms and Conditions in respect of the appointment of a joint Chief Executive and c) the establishment of a joint appointments committee including its composition.

For (23)

Councillors Baker, Beaman, Clark, D’Arcy, Davidson, Dickson, Follows, Gale, Heagin, Hunt, MacLeod, Michaela Martin, Merryweather, Mirylees, Neale, Nicholson, Palmer, Paul Rivers, Penny Rivers, Mr Mayor Councillor Robini, Townsend, Mr Deputy Mayor Councillor Ward and Williams.

Against (16)

Councillors Cockburn, Cosser, Deanus, Dear, Ellis, David Else, Jenny Else, Foryszewski, Goodridge, Gray, Isherwood, James, Mulliner, Sadler, Seaborne and Wicks.

Abstentions (1)

Councillor Hyman

At 9.10pm the Mayor adjourned the meeting for a short comfort break and resumed the meeting at 9.15pm at which point the members of the Senior Management Team returned to the meeting.