Agenda item

These proposals have been agreed by the General Purposes Committee, subject to consultation with staff, and approval is now required by Cabinet to delete, create or amend the posts. As staff consultation does not end until 5 December, 2014, any proposed changes relating to the recommendations in this report will be reported orally at the meeting. Job descriptions and person specifications for the relevant post will follow later.

i) that following staff consultation, the senior officer posts listed below  be deleted:

- Strategic Director, Environment and Neighbourhoods

- Operational Director, Neighbourhoods (Vacant)

- Operational Director, Environment and Protection

- Assistant Chief Executive

- Director of Legal and Procurement

- Operational Director, Finance

- Operational Director, ICT

- Operational Director, Brent Customer Services

ii) that following staff consultation, the posts listed below be created:

- Chief Operating Officer (at Strategic Director level)

- Operational Director, Strategic Commissioning

- Operational Director, Community Services

- Chief Legal Officer (and Monitoring Officer)

iii) that the post of Chief Operating Officer be appointed on a one year fixed term basis, in the first instance;

iv) that the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council,  be authorised to make such other changes as may be needed to give effect to the proposals detailed in the report.

The Cabinet considered a report from the Chief Executive detailing proposals for the restructure of the council’s senior management team. The report emphasised the challenging financial conditions for local government which were set to become increasingly more severe over the next four years. The proposed restructure reflected the need to refocus the council’s senior management and corporate centre to meet the challenges of this funding environment and would deliver savings of approximately £1.4m. The report sought authorisation for the deletion of several posts at Strategic Director, Director and Operational Director level and the creation of the following posts: Chief Operating Officer, Operational Director Strategic Commissioning, Operational Director Community Services and Chief Legal Officer. The proposed restructure aimed to strengthen the council’s strategic commissioning and community focus, to enable the council to develop and deliver the comprehensive change programme that was necessary over the next few years.

The proposals before the Cabinet had been agreed by the General Purposes Committee at its meeting on 5 November 2014 subject to staff consultation. Christine Gilbert (Chief Executive) summarised the responses received during the consultation period, which had closed on 5 December 2014. The meeting was advised that there was general support for the model of the Chief Operating Officer position and department and there would be a need to focus on culture change within the organisation to reflect the changing trajectory of council provision. There had been an acceptance amongst responders that Environment and Neighbourhoods was not sustainable as a department. However, there had also been recognition that it would be important to maintain continuity between the old and new structures. It had been determined therefore that the Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods should remain with the council until May 2015 to assist the transition between senior management structures and to counter the loss of organisational memory.

At the invitation of the Chair, Councillor Filson expressed the view that Human Resources, Legal and possibly Communications should be represented on the Senior Management Team and questioned the rationale of the Chief Operating Officer position. Councillor Warren queried why the proposed recruitment process for this position varied from the other appointments. Mr Lorber queried the rationale for appointing the position on a one year fixed term basis and sought details of the anticipated costs of redundancies arising from the restructure.

Christine Gilbert explained that the Chief Operating post would be permanent but the intention was to appoint to the position for one year on a fixed term basis in order to allow the new Chief Executive to be involved in the appointment of the permanent member of staff. As a result of the post being fixed term, the position would be advertised both internally and externally at the same time. It was recognised that as the remaining positions were being appointed to on a permanent basis, it was appropriate that they be advertised internally first to help avoid redundancies. Conrad Hall (Chief Finance Officer) confirmed that the savings of £1.4m would be ongoing, year on year, and the initial costs of redundancy were as yet unknown.

RESOLVED:

    (i)        that following staff consultation, the senior officer posts listed below  be deleted:

- Strategic Director, Environment and Neighbourhoods

- Operational Director, Neighbourhoods (Vacant)

- Operational Director, Environment and Protection

- Assistant Chief Executive

- Director of Legal and Procurement

- Operational Director, Finance

- Operational Director, ICT

- Operational Director, Brent Customer Services

   (ii)        that following staff consultation, the posts listed below be created:

- Chief Operating Officer (at Strategic Director level)

- Operational Director, Strategic Commissioning

- Operational Director, Community Services

- Chief Legal Officer (and Monitoring Officer)

  (iii)        that the post of Chief Operating Officer be appointed on a one year fixed term basis, in the first instance;

 (iv)        that the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council,  be authorised to make such other changes as may be needed to give effect to the proposals detailed in the report.