Agenda Item No: 4

Date:   23 Sept 2009

 

 

 

 

 

To the Chair and Members of the:

 

CHIEF OFFICERS APPOINTMENTS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE COMMITTEE

 

THE RECRUITMENT & SELECTION PROCESS FOR THE DIRECTOR AND THREE ASSISTANT DIRECTORS OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICES.

 

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

1.         This report is to inform the Chief Officer Appointments and Conditions of Service Committee of the proposal to recruit to the posts of Director and Assistant Director of Children and Young People’s Services and to agree the process to be undertaken.

      

EXEMPT REPORT

 

2.     N/A

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

 

3.         It is recommended that the Committee agree to proceed with recruitment to these posts and the recruitment and selection proposals as outlined within this report.

    

BACKGROUND

 

4.         The current senior management arrangements within Children and Young People’s services comprise of an Improvement Board, put in place by the Government in April 2009. Among other things this Improvement Board have been tasked with establishing and populating a modern, efficient and responsive organisation for the future for CYPS.

 

5.         In response to this requirement a new structure for the Children and Young People’s Service is now out to consultation. The structure is based on three divisions, each led by an Assistant Director who will report directly to the Director of Children and Young Peoples Service, as follows:

 

·        Assistant Director Commissioning & Performance

·        Assistant Director Learning & Schools

·        Assistant Director Children and Families

 

6.         An effective structure for future delivery is now  a priority to establish stability and permanence within the service by recruiting to all key management positions as soon as is practicable.

 

7.         It is recognised that timely and effective decisions regarding future recruitment are crucial and will ultimately protect the Council from ineffective expenditure. Last year the Council tried unsuccessfully to recruit to two chief officer positions within CYPS, i.e. the post of Director of Children’s Services and the post of Assistant Director for Safeguarding, on both occasions a decision was made not to appoint. 

 

8.         Market testing has recently been carried out to test out levels of interest for forthcoming recruitment to these posts. The market testing was carried out between July and September 2009 and resulted in very pleasing levels of interest. Therefore a decision  to progress recruitment for the Director and three Assistant Director positions is imperative.

 

RECRUITMENT AND SEARCH process

 

9.         It is proposed that these posts are all advertised externally and that the recruitment and selection process is managed by a specialised recruitment consultant. This is considered necessary for a number of reasons:

 

·        Priority consideration has to be the critical needs of the service.

·        The posts are clearly highly specialised.

·        There is a national shortage of expertise in this field.

·        The specific needs of Children’s  services at this time require that every effort is made to select the very best possible candidates for these key roles.

 

10.       A recruitment agency, Gatenby-Sanderson will be appointed to assist the Council with recruitment and selection to these posts, including the carrying out of specialist search services and candidate technical assessments, prior to final interview.

 

11.       Gatenby–Sanderson lead within the field of Children’s Services recruitment. The enhanced reputation that is associated with being linked with Gatenby-Sanderson is considered to be a primary consideration in the procurement decision.  This will positively influence candidates to apply. Procurement arrangements have been put in place accordingly through the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation procurement framework, for advertising and recruitment.

 

THE SELECTION PROCESS

 

12.       It is proposed that once advertising has commenced and applications are received the process will be as follows;

 

·        A long list will be drawn up for agreement with the Chair/ Vice Chair of the Committee.

·        Technical interviews will be carried out via Gatenby-Sanderson for all long listed candidates and a recommendation for short listing will be drawn up.

·        The Committee will meet to agree the short -list. At that meeting further final selection processes for the short listed candidates will also be agreed.

·        Final selection processes will be carried out, as agreed by Committee.

·        The Committee will interview all candidates and agree any appointments

 

It is proposed that Government Office will be involved in all recruitment from the outset and will contribute at each stage of the process. Also it is likely that there will be involvement from The Mayor and/or Portfolio Holder, The Chief Executive and the Council’s key partners.

 

OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDED OPTION

 

  13.  It is essential the CYPS move towards being a modern, efficient and responsive service with a stable workforce and an accountable and permanent management team as soon as possible. Market testing suggests that this is the right time to progress this recruitment.

 

14.       External recruitment is a greater investment initially. However the Council needs very high quality management within CYPS and this must be the primary focus of the recruitment process. A full search and objective recruitment process is more likely to provide a strong base line for selection to these crucial posts that will give the Council and the Government confidence for the future provision of the service. This is therefore the recommended option.

 

IMPACT ON THE COUNCIL’S KEY OBJECTIVES

 

15.      Although this recruitment process in itself has no direct impact on the Council’s key objectives, the successful appointments will have a significant impact, as follows: 

 

Doncaster Priorities	Implications of this initiative
A Prosperous Place
Skills & Lifelong Learning	The appointments have a lead role in future educational attainment and opportunity for growth.
Healthy & Caring	All four posts are primarily about leading to create and maintain a safe and healthy environment for the children and young people of Doncaster.
Safer, Cleaner & Greener
Equality of Opportunity (Cross-Cutting)
Improving Neighbourhoods Together (Cross-cutting)
Protecting The Environment (Cross-cutting)
Achieving Excellence	These posts have the potential to have a direct and major impact on the quality of Leadership and service delivery across the Council, reputation with the public and media and also to improve communications within and outside the Council, supporting clear and effective leadership.

 

 

RISKS AND ASSUMPTIONS

 

 16.      There is a greater risk to the Council from not progressing to recruit permanently to these essential positions. The recruitment process must be undertaken with confidence that there will be a high chance of a successful appointment.

 

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

 

 17.    S112 of the Local Government Act 1972 allows a local Authority to appoint such officers as are necessary for the proper discharge of its functions, on such reasonable terms and conditions as it thinks fit. It must be considered if this remuneration is reasonable. Under s7 of Local Government and Housing Act 1989 all appointments to a Local Authority are to be made on merit.

 

18.       The appointment of Chief Officers should be compliant with the  Council’s Employment Procedure Rules and the Recruitment and Selection Policy.

 

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

 

 19.      It is estimated that the cost of the proposed recruitment process will be approximately £80K ( ie. £20K per post)

 

CONSULTATION

 

20.       Consultation has taken place with Government office, The Mayor, relevant Chief Officers to agree a reasonable selection process that is appropriate to the circumstances.     

 

21.       This report has significant implications in terms of the following:

 

Procurement		Crime & Disorder
Human Resources	X	Human Rights & Equalities
Buildings, Land and Occupiers		Environment & Sustainability
ICT		Capital Programme

 

           The Human Resource implications are as detailed throughout this report.

 

 

 

 

BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

22.       There are no background papers

 

 

 

 

REPORT AUTHOR & CONTRIBUTORS

 

Cath Winfield, Head Organisational Development

Tel.  01302 737030  cath.winfield@doncaster.gov.uk

 

 

 

Kay Leigh

Director of People and Performance Improvement