Agenda item
Summary List of Actions
Report of the Executive Director of Secretariat
Contact: Teresa Young ([email protected] or Joanna Brown ([email protected]), both on telephone number 020 7983 6559.
(a) The Committee is recommended to note the completed and outstanding actions arising from the previous meetings of the Committee, as listed in the report; and
(b) The Committee is recommended to note:
(i) Appendix 1 – The letter from the Chief Executive to Len Duvall AM, dated 1 December 2010, in respect of payments to interim/temporary members of staff (Pages 25 to 26 of the appendix to the letter are attached for Members of the Committee only and are exempt from publication by virtue of paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A of Section 100I of the Local Government Act 1972 in that they relate to information relating to an individual);
(ii) Appendix 2 – The letter from the Chief Executive to the Chair of the Committee, dated 22 December 2010, in respect of payments to interim/temporary members of staff;
(iii) Appendix 3 – The letter from the Chair of the Committee to the Director of Marketing, dated 6 January 2011, in respect of People’s Question Time;
(iv) Appendix 4 – The letter from the Chair of the Committee to the Chief Executive, dated 6 January 2011, in respect of the Review of Code of Ethics and the Statutory Officers Staffing Protocol;
(v) Appendix 5 – The letter from the Chief Executive to the Chair of the Committee, dated 4 January 2011, in respect of the Committee’s response to the creation and deletion of posts consultation considered at the meeting on 16 December 2010.
(vi) Appendix 6 – The letter from the Deputy Mayor to the Chair of the Committee, dated 8 December 2010, in respect of the Committee’s response to the consultation on the Gender, Race and Equality Schemes; and
(c) The Committee is recommended to confirm approval of the letter from the Chair of the Assembly to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in respect of the London Assembly confirming that it supports the Mayor’s proposal that the nature of the future standards regime at the Greater London Authority should be a matter for joint determination by the Assembly and the Mayor (the letter to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is attached at Appendix 7 to the report).
Minutes:
6.1 The Committee considered the report of the Executive Director of Secretariat that set out the completed and outstanding actions arising from the previous meetings of the Committee.
6.2 Len Duvall AM raised concerns in relation to Appendix 1 to the item (the letter from the Chief Executive to Len Duvall AM, dated 1 December 2010, in respect of payments to interim/temporary members of staff – pages 23-24 of the agenda). The Chief Executive was absent due to illness and therefore not present to respond to questions, but the Executive Director of Resources responded on his behalf. A transcript of the discussion is attached at Appendix 2.
6.3 In respect of payments to certain interim/temporary members of staff, Members expressed a wish to summons relevant managers to the next meeting of the Committee. Officers sought legal advice and suggested that the issue was returned to at the end of the meeting. [At the end of the meeting, the Senior Committee Officer informed Members that the legal advice was clear that Section 61 of the GLA Act did not provide for former members of GLA staff to be summonsed to London Assembly meetings under the provisions of that section that related to persons who had a contractual relationship with the Authority. Members requested further clarification on this matter, and it was agreed that the information would be circulated to Members of the Committee as soon as was possible].
6.4 Members agreed that the individuals they would wish to summons if they were able to do so or otherwise invite, were:
· Chief Executive of the Greater London Authority (GLA) (or, if not available, the Executive Director of Resources);
· Assistant Director – London Engagement;
· The former Head of Marketing and Publicity; and
· The Director of Marketing.
6.5 Regarding Appendix 5 of Item 4, a letter on the creation and deletion of posts, Len Duvall AM noted that the Chief Executive had reflected on the Committee’s comments at its meeting on 30 November 2010 and had decided to make some changes to the proposed structure to the Executive Office so that the post of Deputy Head of Office had been renamed as Senior Executive Support Officer and would not now have a line management role and had been evaluated at grade 7. However, he considered that the Chief Executive’s comparison of the management structure of the Executive Office with the structures of the Labour and Conservative Members’ Support Teams was an inappropriate comparison, as there was a far larger number of staff in both the latter teams and there was no person filling the post of Deputy Head of Office in the Conservative Members’ support team. He also considered that the letter should have used plain English and asked that it be recorded that he did not regard the letter to be a satisfactory response. The Chair added that it was not the first time that the Chief Executive had responded in an unsatisfactory way to correspondence from the Committee.
6.6 Resolved:
(a) That the completed and outstanding actions arising from the previous meeting of the Committee be noted;
(b) That the following appendices be noted:
(i) The letter from the Chief Executive to Len Duvall AM, dated 1 December 2010, in respect of payments to interim/temporary members of staff (attached at Appendix 1 to the report);
(ii) The letter from the Chief Executive to the Chair of the Committee, dated 22 December 2010, in respect of payments to interim/temporary members of staff (attached at Appendix 2 to the report);
(iii) The letter from the Chair of the Committee to the Director of Marketing, dated 6 January 2011, in respect of People’s Question Time (attached at Appendix 3 to the report);
(iv) The letter from the Chair of the Committee to the Chief Executive, dated 6 January 2011, in respect of the Review of Code of Ethics and the Statutory Officers Staffing Protocol (attached at Appendix 4 to the report);
(v) The letter from the Chief Executive to the Chair of the Committee, dated 4 January 2011, in respect of the Committee’s response to the creation and deletion of posts consultation considered at the meeting on 16 December 2010 (attached at Appendix 5 to the report);
(vi) The letter from the Deputy Mayor to the Chair of the Committee, dated 8 December 2010, in respect of the Committee’s response to the consultation on the Gender, Race and Equality Schemes (attached at Appendix 5 to the report); and
(c) That the letter from the Chair of the Assembly to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in respect of the London Assembly confirming that it supports the Mayor’s proposal that the nature of the future standards regime at the Greater London Authority should be a matter for joint determination by the Assembly and the Mayor, be approved. (The letter to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government was attached at Appendix 7 to the report);
(d) That the following individuals be summonsed or invited to the
1 March 2011 meeting of the Committee as appropriate, subject to legal advice:
· Chief Executive of the GLA (or if not the Executive Director of Resources)
· Assistant Director – London Engagement
· The former Head of Marketing and Publicity
· The Director of Marketing
(e) That legal advice about summonsing former members of staff be circulated to the Committee.
Supporting documents:
- Summary List of Actions, item 6. PDF 131 KB View as DOC (6./1) 173 KB
- Appendix 1 - Letter to Len Duvall from CEx, item 6. PDF 425 KB
- Restricted enclosure View the reasons why document 6./3 is restricted
- Appendix 1 - London Engagement Team, item 6. PDF 322 KB
- Appendix 2 letter from Cex to Chair re payments to temporary staff, item 6. PDF 689 KB
- Appendix 3 - letter to D of Marketing re PQT, item 6. PDF 61 KB View as DOC (6./6) 310 KB
- Appendix 4 - letter to CEx re reports at 16 Dec BMAC, item 6. PDF 59 KB View as DOC (6./7) 310 KB
- Appendix 5 - letter from Cex to Chair re Restructure of Executive Office, item 6. PDF 1 MB
- Appendix 6 - Richard Barnes response to Jennette Arnold re equalities, item 6. PDF 712 KB
- Appendix 7 - Letter from Chair of Assembly to Secretary of State for CLG, item 6. PDF 227 KB
- Minutes - Appendix 2 - Transcript, item 6. PDF 75 KB View as DOC (6./11) 72 KB