There were no apologies received.  Councillor Shah was absent without apologies.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 18 September 2013 to be submitted and signed.

Copies of the minutes of this meeting are usually available seven working days following the meeting.

(All minutes are available on the Council’s website.)

The minutes of the Chief Officer Pay Panel meeting held on 18 September 2013 were submitted and signed.

THE CHAIR TO MOVE: That, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during consideration of the item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Section 100(1) of the Act for the reasons stated below in terms of Schedule 12A.

NOTE: if approved, the Chair will ask members of the press and public to leave the meeting at this point.

RESOLVED

that, under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business as it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during consideration of the item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Section 100(1) of the Act for the reasons stated in the report.

Report of Managing Director (to follow)

This report is considered Part B in accordance with Paragraph 1 Schedule 12A as it contains information relating to individuals.

The Managing Director introduced the report and thanked the panel for convening to consider the matter. 

The pay scale for the Head of Human Resources had been identified in the biennial equal pay review carried out by the East of England Local Government Association as an issue to be addressed. In addition, the Managing Director explained that the Council had moved from a shared services arrangement with Three Rivers District Council to a Lead Authority model with Watford Borough Council leading on Human Resources. 

The Head of Human Resources post was still on the Shared Services Head of Service pay grade, although the post now had similar responsibilities to Watford Borough Council Heads of Service.  The current Head of Service had also been successful in securing a number of contracts which were generating income for the Council and more than covered the cost of any increase following the move in pay scales.

The Managing Director responded to questions from the panel.

RESOLVED

Approved the regrading of the Head of Human Resources role onto the Watford Non Shared Head of service payscale as set out in paragraph 3 of the report.