Agenda and draft minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors Ian Harrison and Gareth Morgan.

To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the meetings held during 2024 as correct records.

The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the meetings held  on 9 January 2024, 22 January 2024, 12 April 2024, 24 April 2024, 26 April 2024, 8 May 2024, 9 May 2024, 10 May 2024, 5 June 2024, 20 June 2024, 2 October 2024, 17 October 2024 and 24 October 2024 as correct records.

To receive any declarations of interest.

None.

For discussion.

The Committee reviewed the recruitment and interview process for the appointment of the Chief Executive, Directors and Heads of Service. The Head of People Services thanked members of the Committee for the amount of time they had given. He advised that the format of Head of Service interviews had changed with technical and formal interviews combined.

While restructuring of the corporate and senior leadership teams would happen very infrequently, a learning point was to build enough time into the process. There had been a lot of reading to be done in preparation for the shortlisting and interviews. Members had found the summaries provided very helpful.

The Committee discussed whether the same members should be involved in shortlisting and interviewing and whilst there were pros and cons for having the same and different members, the key issue was to follow a fair process.

There was consensus that hybrid interviews were less satisfactory than either in person or all online, with in person interviews preferred.

To review the Committee’s terms of reference. Extracts from the Constitution attached.

The Head of People Services explained that the role of the committee in respect of officer disciplinary and grievance procedures had changed a couple of years previously. Most appeals were now heard by Directors on a monthly rota and the number of appeals as intended had reduced following the introduction of the informal resolution process. The Council’s Constitution needed to be updated to reflect those changes.

Members of the Committee who had sat on Appeals Panel in the past felt that the Panels had performed a useful role. The Head of People advised that he would report the Committee’s comments back to the CLT.

The Head of People agreed to bring a report on general HR issues such as recruitment statistics and figures for compliance on statutory training to future meetings.