Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: County Hall, Worcester

Contact: Sheena Jones 

Media

Items
No. Item

437.

Welcome and Introductions

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Democratic Governance and Scrutiny Manager welcomed everyone to the meeting.

438.

Named Substitutes

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cllr Marc Bayliss (Worcestershire County Council) for Cllr Aled Luckman.

439.

Election of Chairman

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Minutes:

Cllr Roger Evans was elected as Chairman.

440.

Apologies and Declarations of Interest

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Minutes:

Apologies were received from Cllrs Aled Luckman, Barry Durkin, Tom Wells, Nigel Lumby, Vivienne Parry, James Stanley and Beth McDowall (Independent Lay Member).

 

There were no declaration of interests.

441.

Public Participation

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case Friday 8 July 2022).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed in this agenda and on the website.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

None.

442.

Confirmation Hearing - Chief Executive of the Police and Crime Commissioner's Office pdf icon PDF 305 KB

Please note that although it will seek to avoid doing so, the Panel may need to move into exempt session when considering part of the report.  If that is the case the following motion will be moved:

 

‘That the press and public be excluded from the meeting as it is likely that exempt information relating to any individual will be disclosed and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure.’

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Panel was asked to consider the Police and Crime Commissioner’s (PCC’s) preferred candidate, Gareth Boulton, for the role of Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer to the Police and Crime Commissioner.

 

In doing so, the Panel was required to satisfy itself that the preferred candidate selected by the PCC had the professional competence to undertake the role and had significant personal independence to be able to act operationally independently of the PCC.

 

The PCC introduced the report which provided an overview of the appointment process that was undertaken between May and June 2022 by the PCC to select the preferred candidate.

 

The PCC must under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (Act) notify the Panel of the preferred candidate for appointment as Chief Executive Officer.  As per Schedule 1 of the Act the PCC provided the following information to the Panel:

 

a)         The name of the person whom the PCC is proposing to appoint;

b)         The criteria used to assess the suitability of the candidate

c)         Why the candidate satisfies these criteria; and

d)         The terms and conditions on which the candidate is to be appointed.

 

Also provided for the Panel’s consideration were the details relating to:

 

i)          The recruitment, application and interview process;

ii)         The candidate recruitment pack including the role profile and person specification;

iii)        The criteria used for assessment;

iv)        CV/covering letter of the preferred candidate.

 

During the discussion and opportunity for questions, the following main points were made:

 

·       There were 8 applicants for the role, of which 3 were interviewed.

·       It was confirmed that the post was politically restricted.

·       A Member noted that the PCC’s preferred candidate (Gareth Boulton) was the current Deputy Chief Executive and questioned whether consideration had been given to appointing from outside the organisation.  The PCC confirmed that this was an area that he had given careful consideration to but believed that having the appropriate skills and competencies was most important and the preferred candidate had a very clear pitch to focus on resources to make them more efficient.

·       Gareth Boulton (current Deputy Chief Executive and the PCC’s preferred candidate) was welcomed to the meeting.

·       A Member questioned how Gareth would develop his relationship with the Panel.  He believed that understanding, trust, respect, openness and honesty were the starting blocks to build upon.  He believed in the value of good Scrutiny and planned to continue to engage with the Chairman, Vice-Chairman and support officers to the Panel to best effect.

·       In terms of the Deputy Chief Executive role, it was confirmed that this vital role which fulfilled a key function and provided resilience would be backfilled.  Moving forward there would be more focus on strengthening governance.  It was hoped that a Deputy would be in post by the end of the calendar year.

·       Gareth provided the Panel with examples of what had gone well and not so well whilst in post as Deputy Chief Executive.

·       A Member highlighted the importance of the independence of the Chief Executive and questioned how  ...  view the full minutes text for item 442.