Agenda item

(a)  Approved the change from a six directorate model to a seven directorate model with changes to the areas of service delivery under each directorate;

(b)  Noted the report to Employment and Appeals Committee with a recommendation to full council to change the chief officer and deputy chief officer roles and delegate authority to the chief executive to consult and make changes to the structure in response to the consultation.

The Leader of the Council introduced a report regarding proposed changes to how the Council’s main functions were coordinated and appropriately managed.

It was noted that various governance reviews have highlighted issues with the implementation of the Our Futures restructure, which has led to significant capacity issues in service delivery.  The DLUHC commissioned governance review recommended a focus on bottom up service reform, the need to prioritise permanent and longer term recruitment for key roles and the need to significantly reduce reliance on external consultancy support to deliver “internal” services.

The proposed new structure included the following posts directly reporting to the Chief Executive:

·  Chief Operating Officer;

·  Executive Director, Strategy (organizational development);

·  Executive Director, Finance & Commercial;

·  Executive Director, Housing & Property;

·  Executive Director, Place & Communities;

·  Executive Director, People (Adults); and

·  Executive Director, People (Children).

The Cabinet noted that the new structure was designed to provide the organisation with additional capacity in the senior management tiers to deliver the Corporate Plan and wider recovery and improvement priorities.  The additional costs of the new structure could be fully funded from within the capitalisation direction, which was available until March 2024, by which point the Council would need to review the requirement for the positions and take decisions on future funding through the budget setting process.

The Employment & Appeals Committee had met on 12^th July 2022 and agreed to recommend to full Council on 21^st July 2022 the new chief officer structure and posts as required by the Constitution.

After due consideration the Cabinet approved the revised management structure.

Resolved –

(a)  That the change from a six directorate model to a seven directorate model with changes to the areas of service delivery under each directorate be approved;

(b)  That the report to Employment and Appeals Committee with a recommendation to full council to change the chief officer and deputy chief officer roles and delegate authority to the chief executive to consult and make changes to the structure in response to the consultation be noted.