MD2573 Appointment of the GLA’s Executive Director, Resources/CFO

Appointment of the GLA’s Executive Director, Resources / Chief Finance Officer

Martin Clarke, the GLA’s Executive Director, Resources and statutory Chief Finance Officer, has announced his retirement. It is therefore necessary to appoint his successor.

The GLA’s Protocol for the appointment of statutory officers (Appendix 1) provides that, where a statutory officer post is advertised, the Mayor and the Assembly (through a staffing committee) shall approve the arrangements for the selection of a shortlist of qualified applicants to be interviewed and that the staffing committee will establish an advisory panel to undertake the interviews, concurrently with mayoral representative(s), and make a recommendation regarding appointment, noting that appointments to statutory officer posts are joint decisions of the Mayor and full Assembly.

The Protocol also provides for the Chief Officer (Head of Paid Service) to participate in an advisory capacity in the interviews for the roles of Chief Finance Officer and Monitoring Officer.

David Gallie was selected as the preferred appointment following a fair, open and transparent external recruitment process that was in line with the Statutory Officers – Staffing Protocol. An external firm was commissioned to provide executive search and candidate handling services and the role was advertised in national and specialist media. A panel representing the Mayor and London Assembly shortlisted and interviewed candidates, with the support of the GLA’s Human Resources team and the external consultants.

Following the process, the Mayor and lead Assembly Members have indicated they wish to appoint David Gallie currently Assistant Director, Group Finance at the Greater London Authority, as the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) Executive Director, Resources with effect from 1 April 2020.

Under the Greater London Authority (GLA) Act 1999 (as amended), the GLA is required to have a Chief Finance Officer. (CFO). The CFO exercises the statutory functions set out for that role in the GLA Act relating to GLA financial matters. The role has specific statutory functions and is politically restricted under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

The CFO role will be known as the Executive Director, Resources. A full job description is attached at Appendix 2.

As one of the GLA’s statutory officer roles, the CFO post has unique employment status within the Authority. Appointments to the post must be made, and the terms and conditions determined, by the Mayor and the London Assembly acting jointly.

The Mayor is being asked to approve the appointment of David Gallie to the role, on the terms and conditions as set out in Part 2 of this decision form, through this Mayoral Decision.

The London Assembly will be asked to approve this appointment at its 16 January 2020 meeting.

An open and fair recruitment process was held in line with the good practice equality principles and best practice.

This decision requests approval for the appointment of David Gallie to the role of the GLA Executive Director of Resources. The agreed salary for the role is £130,000 per annum. In addition, the GLA will pay standard on-costs such as National Insurance and pension.

The cost will be funded from the Executive Director of Resources budget.

The Mayor and the Assembly acting jointly must appoint a Chief Finance Officer (section 127A of the GLA Act 1999). The appointment to the post and the determination of its terms and conditions of are to be such as the Mayor and the Assembly acting jointly think fit.

The Chief Finance Officer appointment must be made on merit. The appointment process and other matters relevant to the three Statutory Officers is set out in Statutory Officers’ Protocol – Staffing. This reflects the Local Authorities’ (Standing Orders) Regulations 1993/202 which do not apply to the GLA but whose contents reproduce standard local government practice.

Generally speaking, these provide that where it is not proposed to appoint a statutory officer from existing members of the Authority’s staff, a recruitment and interview process must be conducted, which has been the case.

The Head of Paid Service appoints all GLA staff in consultation with the Mayor and Assembly other than the 13 appointments the Mayor can make personally and the three statutory officers (Head of Paid Service, Chief Finance Officer and Monitoring Officer), who are appointed jointly by the Mayor and Assembly.