Agenda item

To consider the report on the Statutory Chief Officer Disciplinary Procedure.

The Ethics Committee considered a report, introduced by the Director  of HR,  in which it was asked  to consider and agree a Statutory Chief Officer Disciplinary Procedure in line with the Joint National Council (JNC) Model Disciplinary Procedure, for use by the Appointments Committee in relation to disciplinary matters relating to Statutory Chief Officers, i.e. staff reporting to the Chief Executive. The Committee was recommended to approve this procedure for use in relation to such matters and for disciplinary matters regarding Non-Statutory Chief Officers referred to the Appointments (Investigating and Disciplinary) Sub-Committee. The Council’s Constitution currently made provision for the Appointments Committee to consider disciplinary matters above a defined threshold relating to the Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer and the Section 151 Officer, collectively known as the Statutory Chief Officers.

The Council had recently undertaken a review of its policies and procedures in order to ensure that they were up to date, and to address significant issues arising from both the current senior management restructure and the independent investigation that was commissioned by the Council in response to the Report in the Public Interest.

At its Annual Meeting on 21 May 2015, Council delegated responsibility to the Ethics Committee to agree those processes and procedures. This review had identified that the Ethics Committee has not previously exercised its delegated responsibility and this would be rectified through agreeing this report.

The JNC Model Procedure recommended establishing an ‘Investigating and Disciplinary Committee’ to undertake and manage a number of elements of the disciplinary process. As the Council’s Constitution places overall responsibility for disciplinary matters for the Statutory Chief Officers with the Appointments Committee, in Croydon this body would be constituted as the Appointments Investigating and Disciplinary Sub-Committee. It was recommended that the Sub-Committees would be politically balanced and comprise three Members, at least one of whom must be a Member of the Cabinet.

The Constitution of the Council had previously not reflected national considerations and decisions, and agreeing this report would bring the Council Constitution up to date and in line with other local authorities.

The Chair thanked officers for the report and said that the flowchart in the Appendix was helpful in clarifying the process.

In response to queries raised by the Committee the following was clarified:

-        that proportional representation on the Appointments Committee currently had a ratio of 4:2, and this would be reflected in the Sub-Committee in the same proportion. However, in meetings of three people, the ratio would be 2:1.

-        that the Council’s Constitution had a rolling programme where different aspects of it were regularly reviewed. In addition, there was an annual review of the Constitution that was undertaken and there was a range of officers in the Council who were responsible for reviewing different parts of the Constitution.

-       approval of the new process and procedure  was delegated to the Ethics committee, and consequently would come into force immediately.

The Committee RESOLVED to:

1) Agree the process and procedure detailed in Appendix One of this report to

apply to any future disciplinary/staffing issues that fall within the functions of the Appointments Committee under paragraphs 2.1(6) and (8) of Part 3 of the

Constitution and as set out in this report.