To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2019

Decision

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2019 as a correct record.

The report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer is enclosed.

The Committee considered the annual update of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer on the organisations Pay Policy Statement for 2019/20 prior to its submission to full Council.  The Head of Workforce Strategy advised the Committee that the statement was broadly in line with previous years and included a statement on pay and grading structure as well as information on the Council’s ‘Gender Pay Gap’.

There was a discussion about the gender pay gap – a member asked how the Authority compared with other public sector organisations.  It was explained that not all organisations had published their information but based on last year’s data the authority was broadly in line with other NHS organisations.

There was also a discussion about the role of third party contractors.  The Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer explained that whilst the requirements that govern the production of pay policy statements do not apply to third party contractors, the Authority’s commitment to high standards of ethical trade practices, across commissioning and procurement activities, as well as salaries that are commensurate with a ‘real living wage’, were assured through the organisations ethical procurement policy.

No Trade Union comments were submitted for consideration for this item.  The Committee endorsed the recommendations.

Decisions

1.    To note the content of the draft Pay Policy Statement and commend it for approval by the Council.

2.    To note the organisation’s Pay and Grading Structure for the financial year 2019/20 appended to the Pay Policy Statement and commend it for approval by the Council.

The report of the Deputy Chief Executive and  City Treasurer is enclosed.

The Committee considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer which discussed recruitment arrangements in light of the recent resignation of the current Director of ICT.

Comments from the Trade Union UNISON were submitted for consideration – these essentially centred around the recognition of the strong leadership and management qualities of the current postholder.  Some concern about the potential financial impact of recruiting interims and / or consultants was raised as well as the potential for destabilisation of services that are currently working well.

The Committee recognised the significant progress achieved in relation to infrastructure, transformation of technology, the workforce and delivery of the Capital Programme and was asked to recommend to Council that the post of Director of ICT be recruited to at Grade SS4 (£94,072 - £103,863 increasing to £95,953 - £105,940 from 1 April 2019) with an additional market rate supplement of up to £30,000, subject to the stipulated review processes after 18 months.

The Committee subsequently put on record its thanks to the current post holder and endorsed the proposal to recruit a new Director of ICT with the appropriate level of experience, knowledge and understanding of the Council’s ICT functions that will ensure continuity, stability whilst maintaining a focus on service improvements.

Decisions

1.         To note the resignation of the Director of ICT with effect from 8 February 2019;

2.         To thank Bob Brown for his leadership and transformation of the ICT service

since joining the Authority in 2015

3.         To recommend that Council approves the post of Director of ICT be recruited to at Grade SS4 (£94,072 - £103,863) increasing to £95,953 - £105,940 from 1 April 2019 with an additional market rate supplement of up to £30,000, subject to the stipulated review processes after 18 months.