TES Terms of Reference Appendix B

TES Board Recruitment Procedure

1. Tenures of TES Board members

  1. Team East Sussex (TES) business members, including the TES Chair/Vice-Chair, can serve a term of up to two years at a time, commencing March 2020. Business members may be reappointed as part of the recruitment process; there is no maximum number of terms that business members can serve.
  2. Higher Education and Further Education membership is not time limited. Appropriate senior level representation will be put forward by the HE/FE institutes of East Sussex, at the request of the TES Chair and with the endorsement of the TES Board.
  3. Public sector representation will be a nominated Councillor from each of the six local authorities within East Sussex: Eastbourne Borough Council, Hastings Borough Council, Lewes District Council, Rother District Council, Wealden District Council and East Sussex County Council. It is recommended that the TES member for each Council be the Leader. If that is not possible, the Leader may choose to be represented by another Cabinet Member or appropriate Portfolio Holder for their Council. Public sector representation on TES is not time limited, and membership of the six local authority representatives will run concurrently with each member’s tenure within their respective Council.

2. Reappointing existing TES business members

  1. The TES Secretariat will advise all TES business members that their membership is coming to an end not less than two months before the end of their two-year term. The TES Secretariat will begin the recruitment process described in section 3, including the ‘reappointment’ process described in 2.3 and 2.4, not less than one month prior to the two-year termination date.
  2. All existing TES business members will be invited to reapply to TES; there is no maximum number of terms that business members can serve.
  3. Existing business members who wish to continue serving on the TES Board will not be asked to complete an application form, but will be asked simply to confirm their intention to be reappointed via email to the TES Secretariat.
  4. The TES Secretariat will prepare a list of those business members seeking reappointment, along with a summary of their attendance at TES meetings over the previous two-year period, to be shared with the TES Board. The TES Board will then be asked to approve all of the ‘reappointments’ for a further two-year period, either at its next scheduled meeting or via electronic procedure if the next scheduled meeting is too late.
  5. Business members can be reappointed in this manner twice, thereby serving for a total of 2+2+2 years. At the end of this period, if they wish to be reappointed again, the business member will need to reapply through the full, open recruitment process described in section 3.

3. Recruiting new TES business members

  1. The TES Secretariat will begin the recruitment process not less than one month prior to the two-year termination date of its existing business members.
  2. The call for new applications to the TES Board will be made public and communicated via the East Sussex County Council (ESCC) website and ESCC social media platforms. The ESCC Communications team will also be asked to further promote the opportunity through relevant press releases where possible, and the call will be distributed through TES’s subgroups, business networks and Borough/District officers, all of whom will be asked to further distribute and promote as appropriate. Additionally, consideration will be given to the overall diversity of membership in terms of the individual’s protected characteristics as listed in the Equality Act 2010 (including, but not limited to, gender, race, sexual orientation and age), and the call may be promoted through representative groups and networks as appropriate.
  3. An application form will be made available on the TES pages of the ESCC website. All public promotion and communication will point to these website pages. Supplementary information on the role of TES business members, such as the TES Terms of Reference, board induction material and application guidance, will also be available to view alongside the application form.
  4. An application deadline of not less than three weeks (15 working days) will be given from the date the vacancy is first made public. Applicants will be required to submit their application to ESCC’s Economic Development team via the online form. Promotion as described in 3.2 will continue throughout the period of the vacancy.
  5. The TES Secretariat will sift and shortlist all applications to ensure basic minimum requirements are met in terms of representing the business sector, business operation within the county and commitment to attend TES Board meetings.
  6. If required, a selection panel will be assembled to review the shortlisted applications. The selection panel may meet in person, virtually, or choose to ratify the recommendations of the TES Secretariat via email. The selection panel will be made up of:
    • 1 x TES local authority representative;
    • 1 x TES HE/FE representative;
    • 1 x TES Secretariat senior representative;
    • 1 x TES/SELEP business representative (see point 3.8); and
    • 1 x SELEP Secretariat senior representative.
  7. The local authority representative on the panel shall be chosen by the TES local authority members, and the HE/FE representative shall be chosen by the TES HE/FE members. The TES Secretariat representative shall be the ESCC Head of Economic Development, Skills, Culture and Infrastructure, or their selected alternate senior officer. The SELEP Secretariat representative shall be the SELEP Chief Executive Officer or their selected alternate senior SELEP Secretariat member.
  8. The TES/SELEP business representative on the selection panel is dependent on the following circumstances:
    • Under normal conditions, the recruitment of new TES business members occurs every two years, alongside the reappointment of existing TES business members. While the reappointment process is likely to be concluded before the selection panel for new business members is required, any TES business member still involved in the reappointment process at the time the selection panel is to be convened cannot participate in the selection panel.
    • In the event that all existing TES business members are involved in the reappointment process at the time the selection panel is to be convened, the business representative on the selection panel shall be another business member of the SELEP Strategic Board.
    • In the event that one or more TES business members are not involved in the reappointment process, the business representative on the selection panel shall be a TES business member. The first choice TES business member is the TES Chair, then the TES Vice-Chair; otherwise, the remaining TES business members (not involved in the reappointment process) will nominate another TES business member to sit on the selection panel.
    • When recruiting to a vacant position ‘mid-term’, such as when a business member has resigned from the TES Board, the business representative on the selection panel shall be a TES business member as described in 3.8(c).
  9. The TES Secretariat will share all application information with the selection panel electronically, and if required, arrange a meeting for the panel to convene. The selection panel may meet in person, virtually, or choose to ratify the recommendations of the TES Secretariat via email.
  10. If a selection panel meeting is arranged, panel members will firstly appoint a panel Chair from amongst themselves; it is recommended that the business representative be appointed as panel Chair. Panel members will be asked if they wish to invite individual candidates to the meeting for a short interview. The selection panel meeting will take place no more than two weeks (10 working days) after the application closing date. In the event that three or more selection panel members are unable to attend, then the meeting will be reconvened.
  11. In choosing new TES business members, the selection panel shall seek to ensure a balanced representation of businesses reflecting the county’s geography and the diversity of its business base in terms of size and sector. Consideration will also be given to associations with other locally/nationally recognised business-representative bodies and to the inclusion of the voluntary and community sector.
  12. The selection panel will aim to reach a consensus at the selection panel meeting. Should a vote be required then a majority ruling will suffice. In the event of a tie, the business representative on the selection panel will have the casting vote.
  13. The selection panel may choose at their discretion to convene a second selection panel meeting, such as in the event that a large number of applications are received and the panel wishes to further shortlist them and invite individual candidates back to a later interview.
  14. The selection panel will only appoint business members it feels will best serve the aims and functions of TES as set out in the TES Terms of Reference.
  15. In the event that the selection panel favours more candidates than there are vacancies and feels that the additional applicants are too strong to reject outright, the selection panel may choose to create a ‘reserve list’ comprising the additional strong candidates. Should further TES business member vacancies then arise mid-term, appointments may be made directly from the reserve list rather than through full open recruitment, according to the procedure described in section 4.
  16. Should the recruitment panel choose not to fill a vacancy at all, or if there is an insufficient number of applicants, then the vacancy shall be re-advertised according to the procedure described in section 5.
  17. The TES Secretariat will advise each candidate of the outcome of their individual application within five working days of the selection panel reaching a decision. Successful candidates will be given induction information for both TES and SELEP, as described in paragraph 4.6 of the TES Terms of Reference, and be invited to the next scheduled TES Board meeting.
  18. The TES Secretariat will advise the SELEP Secretariat of all changes to TES membership within five working days of the selection panel reaching a decision.

4. Recruiting TES business members mid-term

  1. Where individual business member vacancies occur ‘mid-term’, such as when an existing business member chooses to leave the TES Board part-way through their two-year tenure, then the recruitment procedure described in section 3 applies, other than in the condition set out in 4.2.
  2. In the event that a ‘reserve list’ of previously assessed applicants has already been drawn up within the current two-year tenure, as described in 3.15, then appointments may be made directly from the reserve list rather than through the full open recruitment procedure. The reserve list remains valid for consideration only if it was created within the current two-year tenure period.
  3. In the case of 4.2, the TES Secretariat will review the reserve list to consider which of the previously assessed applicants are best suited to fill the vacancies, according to the balance of representation described in 3.11 and with consideration given to any ranking/prioritisation originally attributed to the reserve list. The TES Secretariat will then ask the selection panel that created the reserve list to approve their recommendation.
  4. In the event that three or fewer members of the original selection panel remain (where some members are no longer employed by or engaged with TES, ESCC or SELEP so cannot participate), then a new selection panel will be convened according to the procedure described in 3.6-3.8.
  5. In approving the appointment, the selection panel will aim to reach a consensus. Should a vote be required then a majority ruling will suffice, and in the event of a tie, the business representative on the selection panel will have the casting vote.
  6. Where a new TES business member is appointed mid-term, their tenure is aligned to the current two-year tenure period (so rather than the new business member serving a full two-year term, they will serve only for however many months remain of the current tenure).
  7. A mid-term vacancy does not need to be recruited to if less than six months remain of the standard two-year tenure period.

5. Re-advertising a vacancy

  1. In the event that a vacancy is not filled, either through the decisions of the selection panel or through an insufficient number of applicants, then the vacancy shall be re-advertised.
  2. Prior to re-advertising, the TES Secretariat shall ask all current business members to recommend appropriate business contacts from their networks who they feel may be suitable for a position on the TES Board. The TES Secretariat shall contact the recommended individuals to encourage them to apply.
  3. In re-advertising the vacancy, the full procedure for open calls described in 3.2–3.4 is again followed. All potential candidates must apply through this same open, competitive process, including any business contacts recommended by existing business members. The TES Secretariat will again sift and shortlist applications according to the criteria in 3.5.
  4. The TES Secretariat will propose the shortlisted candidates to TES for electronic approval, providing full application information, whereby the quorum and decision-making conditions in section 6 of the TES Terms of Reference shall apply. TES members may elect to invite candidates to a TES Board meeting before calling for a decision, in which case the decision shall be made at the next scheduled TES Board meeting rather than electronically. TES members will consider the balance of representation described in 3.11 when making their decision.
  5. The TES Board will only appoint business members it feels will best serve the aims and functions of TES, as set out in the TES Terms of Reference. Should the TES Board choose not to fill a vacancy, or if there is an insufficient number of applicants, then the vacancy shall again be re-advertised according to the procedure described in 5.2–5.4.
  6. A vacancy does not need to be re-advertised if less than six months remain of the standard two-year tenure period.

Back to TES Terms of Reference