Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

No apologies were received; all Members were present.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members’ Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Personal Interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider, having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

There were no deputations on this occasion.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman had no announcements on this occasion.

To consider a report of the Monitoring Officer regarding the role of Assistant to the Executive.

The Independent Remuneration Panel (IRP) considered a report of the Monitoring Officer regarding the position of Assistant to the Executive (Item 5 in the Minute Book), seeking a recommendation of a Special Responsibility Allowance (SRA) for the position.

In presenting the report the County Council’s Head of Law and Governance confirmed the essence of the position of Assistant to the Executive, attached as Appendix 1 to these Minutes, is to help support and co-ordinate political engagement, and to provide political advice and support for the developing work of the County Council in respect to a specific remit appointed to by the Leader.  The IRP noted that the remit of this position might be time limited for specific issues or could, in the fullness of time, develop further, for example into an Executive position.

The IRP noted that the County Council continues to operate in a challenging environment and business agility is a key driver.  This position provides valuable additional capacity to the Executive to help meet those challenges through the provision of support and advice in relation to the political impacts and service delivery developments linked to the County Council’s extensive transformation programme.

The IRP further noted the announcement of the Leader at the County Council meeting on 18 July 2019 of a new position: Assistant to the Executive – Environment.  Following the County Council’s decision to declare a Climate Change Emergency, the Leader confirmed at an Extraordinary Meeting of the County Council on 23 September 2019 that the remit of this Assistant to the Executive would specifically be climate change and therefore confirmed the new position to be Assistant to the Executive – Climate Change.  To support the IRPs deliberations, the Director of Economy, Transport and Environment (ETE)  was invited to attend the meeting and expand on the specific remit of this position, which is attached as Appendix 2 to these Minutes, and to provide information about the success of the previous Assistant to the Executive positions that were attached to the ETE portfolio.

During the course of their deliberations, the IRP considered that the information set out in the report’s appendix provided a good base and that they were content that the information supplied by the Director of ETE provided sufficient detail as to the specific remit of the Assistant to the Executive – Climate Change for an SRA to be applied to the appointment.  Furthermore the IRP considered that each future appointment to the position of Assistant to the Executive should be supported by a statement about the specific remit of such position for consideration by the IRP for recommendation as to whether an SRA, in accordance with a) below, should apply to the position.

RESOLVED:

That it be a recommendation to the Employment in Hampshire County Council Committee

a)    that the IRP supported the proposal of a generic position of Assistant to the Executive and, subject to b) below, that an SRA of 25 per cent of an Executive Member SRA be applied to the Assistant  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.