Agenda and minutes

The Chairman welcomed Members and Officers to the first virtual meeting of the Chief Executive’s Remuneration Committee and she provided a brief summary of how the meeting would be conducted and the protocol that would be followed and how any break in the proceedings due to technical difficulties would be managed.

An Apology for Absence had been received from Councillor Bennett.

Members and Officers are invited to make any declarations of pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interests that they may have in relation to items on the agenda, and are reminded that they should re-declare their interest before consideration of the item or as soon as the interest becomes apparent.

Members and Officers should make their declarations by stating:

a)    The item they have the interest in

b)    Whether it is pecuniary, personal and/or prejudicial interest

c)    The nature of the interest

There were no Declarations of Interest made.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 18 December 2019, as attached.

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 December 2019 were approved by the Committee as a correct record and the Chairman confirmed that she would sign these at her earliest opportunity when normal business resumed.

This paper summarises the information that Members of the CEO Remuneration Committee will need to consider in order to make recommendations on the remuneration of the Chief Executive for 2020-21 to Full Council.

This report will contain Exempt background papers referring to the Chief Executive’s appraisal which will be shared with Members of the Committee only.  The Exempt documents attached can be found at Item 7 [Paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972].

The Committee will need to move into Exempt business to debate these documents.

The Chairman invited the Group Head of Corporate Support to present this item.  The Committee therefore received a report summarising the information that it needed to consider in order to make recommendations on the remuneration of the Chief Executive for 2020/21 to Full Council.

            The report provided information on current remuneration; the pay formula; salary comparisons; and an update on national pay negotiations.

            The Group Head of Corporate Support confirmed that following the Chief Executive’s Appraisal Panel held on 2 November 2020, the Leader of the Council had written to the Chief Executive confirming that the Appraisal Panel had agreed that his performance over the last year had achieved an appraisal score.  This letter along with the performance bands agreed by the Appraisal Panel and the Chief Executive’s targets set for 2019/20 had been provided to the Committee as Exempt items as they were personal to the individual [the Chief Executive] and so confidential to Members of the Committee only.

It was explained to the Committee that a further paper from the Chief Executive outlining some points for the Committee to take into consideration would be shared but that this particular item and the letter from the Leader of the Council confirming the appraisal scores would need to be discussed in Exempt business as both items contained information that was confidential.

The Committee then asked questions about the pay award received by staff in 2020 and proposals for 2021.

            The Committee then agreed that it needed to move into Exempt business so that it could discuss the results of the Chief Executive’s appraisal and scoring so that it could come to a view and agree upon a suitable recommendation for Full Council.

The Committee is asked to consider passing the following resolution:-

            That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and accredited representatives of newspapers be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and the accredited representatives from newspapers be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it may involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 and Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Act by virtue of the paragraph specified against the item.

The Committee

                        RESOLVED

                        That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and accredited representatives of newspapers be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it may involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act by virtue of the paragraph specified against the item.

The following Exempt Papers are attached:

·         Report from the Leader of the Council following the Chief Executive’s Appraisal held on 2 November 2020 by the Appraisal Panel – to be shared with the Committee at the meeting

·         The Chief Executive’s Performance Targets for 2019/2020

·         A submission from the Chief Executive in response to the Appraisal Results ??????????

·         Performance Bands for the Chief Executive Appraisal

The Committee received a further paper from the Chief Executive outlining some points for the Committee to take into consideration and a letter from the Leader of the council confirming that the Appraisal Panel had agreed that the Chief Executive’s performance over the last year had achieved an average appraisal score of 3, this equated to a percentage increase in salary of 2 per cent.

The Committee then turned its attention to the performance bands set by the Appraisal Panel and the outcome of the Chief Executive’s Appraisal so that it could understand what this might mean in terms of setting a percentage pay award for the Chief Executive.

            Following some further discussion, Councillor Clayden stated that based on past deliberations and the outcome of the Appraisal he could see that the Chief Executive had achieved good performance for 2019/20 resulting in him being awarded a scoring of 3 – this equated to a 2% pay award.  Councillor Clayden therefore proposed that this be the level of remuneration set and put forward to Full Council for approval and this was seconded by Councillor Charles.

            The Committee unanimously agreed that the performance related pay should be 2% and that in line with what had been resolved at Full Council on 10 January 2018, this be paid from 3 October 2020.

            The Committee therefore

                        RECOMMEND TO FULL COUNCIL

                        That following the Chief Executive’s Appraisal held on 2 November 2020, the level of performance related pay for 2020/21 be 2%, with this being paid from 3 October 2020.

The Chairman wished everyone present a very Merry Christmas and an easier New Year.