Agenda item

To consider the recommendations of Cabinet

Consideration was given to the recommendation from Cabinet setting out proposals for significant changes in the current roles and responsibilities of managers at all levels within the organisation, as a key element of establishing a new operating model for the Council.

The Cabinet report provided details of how the Council would need to change the way in which it operated, and was structured, in order to become a strategic commissioning body; identifying and prioritising local needs, and meeting those needs in a cost-effective way by stimulating and managing a diverse local market of high quality local providers.  Costs would be brought down by doing things differently and using innovative and new approaches to the way in which services were delivered that achieved the desired outcomes for local people.

The new “Strategic Council” would be one that was able to capture, leverage and disperse all available local funds and resources in line with its strategic ambitions and goals for its local communities, as part of its “place shaping” role.

There would be a strengthening of the role of elected Members, beginning and ending with councillors’ democratic relationship with local residents, who should have a stronger voice and input into commissioning decisions in the future.

Changes to existing management roles and responsibilities would need to be undertaken in three phases, entailing a process of top-down displacement of current postholders.

The Cabinet report detailed the proposed arrangements around selection to new roles, training and development, and support.

New programmes of training and development would be provided to assist those involved to take on new or expanded roles and responsibilities with confidence.  Where individuals were displaced by the process, support would be provided to redeploy them into suitable alternative employment.

A dedicated HR team would be set up to oversee and coordinate the process, assisted by a limited, cost effective input from external experts to ensure objectivity and fairness in the assessment and selection process, to support the managers involved in the review, and to avoid the risk of challenge or appeals from the staff involved.

The Cabinet report set out the process and timetable for implementing the required management changes over the following six months and sought Council’s approval for the authority to proceed immediately with the Management Review, on the basis set out in the Cabinet report, so that its benefits could start to be realised as quickly as possible.

RESOLVED

1.      That the Interim Chief Executive, in consultation with the Leader of the Council and his Cabinet Portfolio Holders, be authorised to start, with immediate effect, the proposed Management Review and the phased process of selection for appointment to new management posts in the Council’s revised organisational structure, on the basis and timetable set out in the report.

2.      That the need for planned complementary action on the wider implications of the introduction of the new operating model for the Council, in terms of collaborative working with other local commissioners and providers of public services, as well as the development of the Council’s Localism initiative be noted

3.      That further reports on these initiatives be brought forward for Members’ consideration in due course.