northlincs.gov.uk

PRESENT: Councillor Kirk in the chair.

Councillors L Foster, Davison and Swift.

The committee met at Pittwood House, Scunthorpe.

1. DECLARATIONS OF PERSONAL OR PERSONAL AND PREJUDICIAL INTERESTS – There were no declarations of personal or personal and prejudicial interests.

2. SUBSTITUTES – The chair asked for confirmation that the normal council substitute arrangements applied to this committee. This was confirmed.

3. EXCLUSION OF THE PUBLIC – Resolved – That the public be excluded from the meeting for consideration of the following item (minute 4 refers) on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1 and 2 of part 1 of schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

4. (1) THE FUTURE MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE OF THE COUNCIL – The Chief Executive submitted a report which considered the key challenges the council faced and possible changes to its senior management structure to most effectively meet these.

The current executive management structure of the council had been initially approved in October 2002 and had been amended slightly to reflect changed circumstances in June 2009. At that time the structure was reduced to a Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive with two Service Director posts being merged into the new Director of Children’s Services post. The broad structure had therefore been in place for over seven years and whilst successful in achieving the council’s aims, the direction of the council had to change due to both national and local demands/aspirations and predicted resource constraints.

The council now had a new direction with more emphasis on a “one council” approach – set out in its strategic plan “Going Forward Together”, and the shared sustainable community strategy. The council also faced major challenges with the comprehensive spending review this autumn and the agenda of the coalition government on the review criteria of public finance.

The report set out details as to why the council needed to change, a number of changed principles which were set out in paragraph 3.2, the need to address nine key questions as published by the government as part of its review criteria for public services and finance and a number of options, models and key assumptions which underpinned the proposals contained within the report. These were detailed in paragraph 4.1 and analysed in paragraph 5.1. Attached to the report were various appendices setting out the proposed broad structure of the future management of the council.

Resolved – (a) That the principles and analysis in the report and the comments on the direction and proposed future structure of the council be approved; (b) that the Chief Executive carry out further work as identified in the report and submit a further report to this committee as soon as possible, and (c) that the proposed interim arrangements in the “infrastructure” area to ensure that Service Director coverage is built on in the future be approved and adopted.