(8) Officer Employment Procedure Rules

1. Recruitment and appointment
   
   (a) Declarations
   
   i) The Council will draw up a statement requiring any candidate for appointment as an officer to state in writing whether they are the parent, grandparent, partner, child, stepchild, adopted child, grandchild, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew or niece of an existing councillor or officer of the Council; or of the partner of such persons.
   
   ii) Every member and Chief Officer or Deputy Chief Officer of the Council shall disclose to the Director of Law any relationship known to him or her to exist between himself or herself and any person known to be a candidate for an appointment under the Council. The Director of Law shall report to the members or Chief Officer responsible for making the appointment details of the disclosure.
   
   iii) No candidate so related to a councillor or an officer will be appointed without the authority of the Corporate Personnel Manager and relevant chief officer and another chief officer or officers nominated by them.
   
   (b) Seeking support for appointment.
   
   i) Subject to paragraph (iii), the Council will disqualify any applicant who directly or indirectly seeks the support of any councillor for any appointment with the Council. The content of this paragraph will be included in any recruitment information.
   
   ii) Subject to paragraph (iii), no councillor will seek support for any person for any appointment with the Council.
   
   iii) Nothing in paragraphs i) and ii) above will preclude a councillor from giving a reference for a candidate for submission with an application for appointment.
   
   
2. Recruitment of head of paid service and chief officers
   
   Where the Council proposes to appoint a chief officer and it is not proposed that the appointment be made exclusively from among their existing officers, the Council will:
   
   (a) draw up a statement specifying: i) the duties of the officer concerned; and ii) any qualifications or qualities to be sought in the person to be appointed;
   
   (b) make arrangements for the post to be advertised in such a way as is likely to bring it to the attention of persons who are qualified to apply for it; and
   
   (c) make arrangements for a copy of the statement mentioned in paragraph (1) to be sent to any person on request.
   
   
3. Appointment of head of paid service
   
   (a) The full council will approve the appointment of the head of paid service following the recommendation of such an appointment by a committee or sub-committee of the Council. That committee or sub-committee must include at least one member of the Cabinet.
   
   (b) The full Council may only make or approve the appointment of the head of paid service where no well-founded objection has been made by any member of the Cabinet.
   
   
4. Appointment of chief officers and deputy chief officers
   
   (a) A committee or sub-committee of the Council will appoint chief officers and deputy chief officers. That committee or sub-committee must include at least one member of the Cabinet.
   (b) An offer of employment as a chief officer or deputy chief officer shall not be made if an objection is received from a member of the Cabinet which is well founded in the opinion of the Chief Executive or the Monitoring Officer.
   
   (c) A deputy chief officer means a person who, as respects all or most of the duties of his/her post, is required to report directly or is directly accountable to a chief officer.
   
   
5. Other appointments
   
   (a) Officers below deputy chief officer. Appointment of officers below deputy chief officer (other than assistants to political groups) is the responsibility of the head of paid service or his/her nominee, and may not be made by councillors.
   
   (b) Assistants to political groups. Appointment of an assistant to a political group shall be made in accordance with the wishes of that political group if such an appointment is made.
   
   
6. Disciplinary action
   
   (a) Suspension. The head of paid service, monitoring officer and chief finance officer may be suspended whilst an investigation takes place into alleged misconduct. That suspension will be on full pay and last no longer than two months.
   
   (b) Independent person. No other disciplinary action may be taken in respect of any of those officers except in accordance with a recommendation in a report made by a designated independent person.
   
   (c) Councillors will not be involved in the disciplinary action against any officer below deputy chief officer except where such involvement is necessary for any investigation or inquiry into alleged misconduct, though the Council's disciplinary, capability and related procedures, as adopted from time to time may allow a right of appeal to members in respect of disciplinary action.
   
   
7. Dismissal
   
   In the event of a proposal to dismiss the Head of Paid Service, a Chief Officer or Deputy Chief Officer, all the members of the Cabinet shall be informed and the body making the decision shall consider whether any objection from a Cabinet member is well founded before deciding whether to confirm the dismissal.
   
   Councillors will not be involved in the dismissal of any officer below Deputy Chief Officer except where such involvement is necessary for any investigation or inquiry into alleged misconduct, though the Council's disciplinary, capability and related procedures, as adopted from time to time may allow a right of appeal to members in respect of dismissals.