OFFICER EMPLOYMENT PROCEDURE RULES

1. RECRUITMENT AND APPOINTMENT

(a) Declarations

· The Council will draw up a statement requiring any candidate for appointment as an officer to state in writing whether they are the parent, grandparent, partner, child, stepchild, adopted child, grandchild, brother, sister, aunt, nephew or niece of an existing Member or officer of the Council; or of the partner of such persons.

· No candidate so related to a Member or an officer will be appointed without the authority of the relevant chief officer or an officer nominated by them.

(b) Seeking support for appointment

· Subject to paragraph (iii), the Council will disqualify any applicant who directly or indirectly seeks the support of any Member for any appointment with the Council.  The content of this paragraph will be included in any recruitment information.

· Subject to paragraph (iii), no Member will seek support for any person for any appointment with the Council.

· Nothing in paragraphs (i) and (ii) preclude a Member from giving a written reference for a candidate for submission with an application for appointment.

2. RECRUITMENT OF HEAD OF PAID SERVICE AND CHIEF OFFICERS

2.1  Where the Council proposes to appoint a Chief Officer and it is not proposed that the appointment be made exclusively from among their existing officers, the Council will:

(a) Draw up a statement specifying:

· the duties of the officer concerned; and

· any qualifications or qualities to be sought in the person to be appointed.

(b) Make arrangements for the post to be advertised in such a way as is likely to bring it to the attention of persons who are qualified to apply for it; and

(c) Make arrangements for a copy of the statement mentioned in paragraph (a) to be sent to any person on request.

3. APPOINTMENT OF HEAD OF PAID SERVICE (chief Executive)

(a) The Council will approve the appointment of the head of paid service following the recommendation of such an appointment by a committee or sub-committee of the Council. 

4. APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF OFFICERS AND DEPUTY CHIEF OFFICERS

(a) A committee or sub-committee of the Council will appoint Chief Officers and Deputy Chief Officers, as defined in Article 10, to any posts at, or above salary level Group Head.

5. OTHER APPOINTMENTS

(a) Officers below Deputy Chief Officer.  Appointment of officers below Deputy Chief Officers (other than any assistants to political groups) is the responsibility of the head of paid service and their nominee, and may not be made by Members.

(b) Assistants to political groups.  Any appointment of an assistant to a political group shall be made in accordance with the wishes of that political group.

6. DISCIPLINARY ACTION

The Council will follow the Model Discipline Procedure and Guidance for dealing with matters of discipline, capability, redundancy and other dismissals against the Chief Executive, as specified in the latest edition of the Chief Executives of Local Authorities Handbook and any subsequent updates. This procedure will also be used as the framework for dealing with matters of discipline against other statutory chief officers within the Council (until the separate chief officers’ handbook is updated in due course).

7. EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The Council will publish and follow Equal Opportunities policies in relation to the recruitment of all staff.

8. INTERPRETATION

For the purpose of these Rules unless otherwise indicated Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer means a statutory chief officer, non-statutory chief officer or deputy chief officer within the meaning of the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) Regulations 1993), as amended by the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001.