Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Customer Services which presented the interim structure following the resignation of the Chief Operating Officer, which took into consideration the longer term needs to support the changes from the 2021/22 and 2022/23 Programme of Government.

The report also proposed changes to the way in which specific operational services were managed and delivered, as originally outlined against the Target Operating Model in 2017 and made recommendations for new alignments as part of the overall shift towards the next iteration, TOM 1.2.

The report recommended:-

that the Council –

a)              Amendments to Organisational Structure

1.               agree to make permanent the current interim realignment of clusters in the Council, as follows:

-        Operations & Protective Services Cluster within the Resources Function 

-        People & Organisational Development Cluster within the Customer Function. 

2.               agree the creation of a role of Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services, with a fixed term duration of no later than March 2026 (leaving the Chief Operating Officer role vacant during this period).

3.               agree the reporting structure, where the Chief Education Officer and Chief Officer Children’s Social Work report to the new Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services role.

4.               agree the job profile for the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services role as attached at Appendix 1.

5.               in accordance with the Workforce Plan and agreed approach to succession planning and development of our internal workforce, agree that this new role be advertised internally within the organisation, in the first instance, and for external recruitment to then take place in a situation where internal recruitment has not been successful.

6.               note that a meeting of the Appointment Panel will be arranged to undertake the selection process for the role on an interim basis.

b)              Target Operating Model and Organisational Structure

7.               in line with the above, thereby agree the adjustment of the key functions of the Council within the Target Operating Model, with Children’s and Family Services being on an interim basis, as follows:

-        Customer

-        Commissioning

-        Children’s and Family Services

-        Resources

8.               instruct the Chief Executive to review the Scottish Government’s preferred structural model for Children’s Services when it is published (anticipated to be later in 2023) and report back to Council, providing advice  on the implications for the Council, and specific proposals in relation to the requirements for the Council’s organisational structure going forward; including the impact on the Interim Director of Children’s and Family Services role.

The Council resolved:-

(i)              in respect of the Target Operating Model to note that of the 18 Chief Officers currently in situ none have identified themselves of being from an Ethnic Minority background;

(ii)             given the low proportion of Ethnic Minority employees in the Council compared to the UK, to agree that everything possible should be done by officers to ensure that employees who are suitably qualified and who identify as Ethnic Minority should be encouraged to apply for these senior posts;

(iii)            to note the Equalities, Outcomes and Mainstreaming report is due to be considered by the Staff Governance Committee at its meeting in March 2023; and

(iv)           to otherwise approve the recommendations.