Article 12 – Officers

12.01 Management structure

(a) General. The full Council may engage such staff (referred to as officers) as it considers necessary to carry out its functions.

(b) Chief Executive and Directors. The full Council will engage persons for the following posts:

• Chief Executive (and Head of Paid Service)
  Functions and areas of responsibility: Overall corporate management and operational responsibility (including overall management responsibility for all officers). Provision of professional advice to all parties in the decision making process. Together with the Monitoring Officer, responsibility for a system of record keeping for all the Council’s decisions. Representing the Council on partnership and external bodies (as required by statute or the Council).
  
  
• Director of Law and Personnel
  (Chief Executive’s Department)
  Functions and areas of responsibility: Best value, trading standards, county archives, emergency planning, legal, governance and member support and other community services. Proper Officer for statutory duties. Personnel, workforce planning, transformation.
  
  
• Director of Policy and Communications
  (Chief Executive’s Department)
  Functions and areas of responsibility: Performance management, strategic policy co-ordination, community planning, community safety, communications and corporate consultations. Economic regeneration, libraries, information and arts.
  
  

• Director of Transport and Environment
  Functions and areas of responsibility: Structure plan, waste and minerals local plans, some development control, environment, highways and transportation.
  
  

• Director of Adult Social Care
  Functions and areas of responsibility: Adult social and welfare services.
  

• Director of Children’s Services
  Functions and areas of responsibility: Education, child social and welfare services, child protection.
  

• Director of Corporate Resources
  Functions and areas of responsibility: Financial services, information technology, property advice and support, audit and management review, Council’s statutory Finance Officer.

The Council will appoint one of the Directors as Deputy Chief Executive.

(c) Head of Paid Service, Monitoring Officer and Chief Financial Officer. The Council will designate the following posts as shown:

• Chief Executive
  Designation: Head of Paid Service
  
  
• Director of Law and Performance Management
  Designation: Monitoring Officer
  
  
• Director of Corporate Resources
  Designation: Chief Finance Officer

Such posts will have the functions described in Article 12.02–12.04 below.

(d) Structure. The Head of Paid Service will determine and publicise a description of the overall departmental structure of the Council showing the management structure and deployment of officers. This is set out at Part 7 of this Constitution.

12.02 Functions of the Head of Paid Service

(a) Discharge of functions by the Council. The Head of Paid Service will report to full Council on the manner in which the discharge of the Council's functions is co-ordinated, the number and grade of officers required for the discharge of functions and the organisation of officers.

(b) Restrictions on functions. The Head of Paid Service may not be the Monitoring Officer but may hold the post of Chief Finance Officer if a qualified accountant.

12.03 Functions of the Monitoring Officer

(a) Maintaining the Constitution. The Monitoring Officer will maintain an up-to-date version of the Constitution and will ensure that it is widely available for inspection by members, staff and the public.

(b) Ensuring lawfulness and fairness of decision making. After consulting with the Head of Paid Service and Chief Finance Officer, the Monitoring Officer will report to the full Council – or to the Cabinet in relation to a Cabinet function – if he or she considers that any proposal, decision or omission would give rise to unlawfulness or if any decision or omission has given rise to maladministration. Such a report will have the effect of stopping the proposal or decision being implemented until the report has been considered.

(c) Contributing to corporate management

(d) Supporting the Standards Committee. The Monitoring Officer will contribute to the promotion and maintenance of high standards of conduct through provision of support to the Standards Committee.

(e) Receiving reports. The Monitoring Officer will receive and act on reports made by ethical standards officers and decisions of the case tribunals.

(f) Conducting investigations. The Monitoring Officer will conduct investigations into matters referred by ethical standards officers and make reports or recommendations in respect of them to the Standards Committee.

(g) Proper officer for access to information. The Monitoring Officer will ensure that decisions, together with the reasons for those decisions and relevant officer reports and background papers are made publicly available as soon as possible.

(h) Advising whether Cabinet decisions are within the budget and policy framework. The Monitoring Officer will advise whether decisions of the Cabinet are in accordance with the budget and policy framework.

(i) Providing advice. The Monitoring Officer will provide advice on the scope of powers and authority to take decisions, maladministration, financial impropriety, probity and budget and policy framework issues to all councillors.

(j) Restrictions on posts. The Monitoring Officer cannot be the Chief Finance Officer or The Head of Paid Service.

12.04 Functions of the Chief Finance Officer

(a) Ensuring lawfulness and financial prudence of decision making. After consulting with the Head of Paid Service and the Monitoring Officer, the Chief Finance Officer will report to the full Council, or to the Cabinet in relation to a Cabinet function, and the Council's external auditor if he or she considers that any proposal, decision or course of action will involve incurring unlawful expenditure, or is unlawful and is likely to cause a loss or deficiency or if the Council is about to enter an item of account unlawfully.

(b) Administration of financial affairs. The Chief Finance Officer will have responsibility for the administration of the financial affairs of the Council.

(c) Contributing to corporate management. The Chief Finance Officer will contribute to the corporate management of the Council, in particular through the provision of professional financial advice.

(d) Providing advice. The Chief Finance Officer will provide advice on the scope of powers and authority to take decisions, maladministration, financial impropriety, probity and budget and policy framework issues to all councillors and the elected mayor and will support and advise councillors and officers in their respective roles.

(e) Give financial information. The Chief Finance Officer will provide financial information to the media, members of the public and the community.

12.05 Duty to provide sufficient resources to the Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer

The Council will provide the Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer with such officers, accommodation and other resources as are in their opinion sufficient to allow their duties to be performed.

12.06 Conduct

Officers will comply with the Officers' Code of Conduct and the Protocol on Officer/Member Relations set out in Part 5 of this Constitution.

12.07 Employment

The recruitment, selection and dismissal of officers will comply with the Officer Employment Rules set out in Part 4 of this Constitution.