Meeting documents

Chief Officers Appointments Committee
Tuesday, 8th December, 2009 8.30 am

DONCASTER METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

 

DONCASTER METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

 

CHIEF OFFICERS’ APPOINTMENTS AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE COMMITTEE

 

8TH DECEMBER 2009

 

 

A MEETING of the CHIEF OFFICERS’ APPOINTMENTS

AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE COMMITTEE was held at the

MANSION HOUSE, DONCASTER on TUESDAY 8TH DECEMBER 2009 at 8.30 a.m.

 

PRESENT:

Chair - Councillor Yvonne Woodcock   

 

Councillors Patricia Bartlett (Substitute for Councillor Bob Ford), Tony Brown, Stuart Exelby (Substitute for Councillor Carol Williams), Mick Jameson (Substitute for Councillor Stuart Hardy), Chris Mills,  Ray Mullis (Substitute for Councillor Margaret Pinkney), and Tony Sockett

 

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE:

 

Peter Davies, Mayor of Doncaster

Councillor Andrea Milner, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Equalities and Cohesion

Paul Hart, Chief Executive

Helen McMullen, Government Office

Loren Price and Luke Judd (Gatenby Sanderson)

 

APOLOGIES:

           

Apologies were received from the Vice Chair Councillor Joe Blackham and from Councillors Bob Ford, Stuart Hardy, Pat Porritt, Margaret Pinkney, Carol Williams and Patrick Wilson.

 

16.

DECLARATIONS OF PERSONAL OR PREJUDICIAL INTEREST,

IF ANY

 

No declarations were made at the meeting.

 

 

17.

EXCLUSION OF PUBLIC AND PRESS

 

RESOLVED that the public and press be excluded from the remaining proceedings of the meeting in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended, on the grounds that exempt information as defined in paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act, is likely to be disclosed.

 

 

18.

FINAL INTERVIEWS FOR THE POST OF DIRECTOR OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICES (EXCLUSION PARAGRAPH 1)

 

 

 

Following the interviews of the 3 short-listed candidates, Luke Judd, Gatenby Sanderson, Consultants, summarised each candidate in turn to the Committee including feedback from Partner panels.

 

Helen McMullen, Government Office, agreed that all of the candidates were excellent and that the Committee should be able to appoint.

 

The majority of Members favoured Chris Pratt, although some put forward the case for other candidates.

 

The Mayor asked for additional time to consider the candidates prior to making an appointment, but the Chief Executive confirmed that as all parties had been present throughout the process, that the Committee could listen to and consider carefully the views of the Mayor and proceed to make an appointment.

 

The Mayor’s concerns over making an appointment were listened to and discussed by the Committee and his wish to have his concerns recorded in the minutes agreed.  Following a brief adjournment where the Committee met on their own to discuss the Mayor’s concerns, the decision was taken to appoint Chris Pratt as Director of Children and Young People’s Service.

 

Further to the Committee meeting on 27th November, it was agreed that the post of Assistant Director of Children and Families should now be discussed with the new Director (Chris Pratt), as the post is fundamental to taking forward service improvement for the Council. It was agreed that he would input to the requirements of the post ahead of further recruitment, which should then be implemented and candidates put forward for consideration by this Committee early in the New Year.

 

The Committee agreed the recruitment process prior to final interviews for the Assistant Director posts on 14th & 15th December:

  • Panel interviews in each case;
  • Seek references;
  • All concerned will feed into the Committee decision (inc. the new Director);
  • Agreed AD candidate’s presentation and questions;
  • Questions, criteria and scoring/notes template agreed to give a clear audit on each decision stage.

 

 

 

RESOLVED that

 

(1)       Chris Pratt be appointed to the post of Director of Children and Young People’s Services; and

 

(2)       the new Director of Children and Young People’s Services will input to the requirements of the post of Assistant Director of Children and Families ahead of further recruitment, which should then be implemented and candidates put forward for consideration by the Committee early in the New Year.