Tees Valley Combined Authority approve interim officers

The figure is part of a wider £204,000 cost which includes funding for another interim position’s accommodation. TVCA chief executive Tom Bryant has asserted his belief that the increased costs can be covered by a reduction in spending on external legal governance advice.

A timeline was put in place at Friday’s cabinet meeting to ensure that permanent post holders are in place within 12 months, which is the maximum length of time that the interims can hold the positions, under the proposals agreed by the combined authority cabinet. The Middlesbrough mayor also believed that by noting that the process should commence in January, it would be a way of holding the TVCA management accountable.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting on Friday July 25, Mr Bryant highlighted the “departures” of staff from Tees Valley Combined Authority. The exits of monitoring officer Emma Simson and finance director Gary Macdonald were confirmed by TVCA on Thursday, July 17.

The three high-ranking employees had served as TVCA’s statutory officers, and with two thirds of this team now no longer part of the organisation, new statutory officers were needed. Mr Bryant said that work has been undertaken with “two specialist recruiters” to provide interim candidates for the positions.

For the interim group director of finance and resources, Jo Moore was proposed. Meanwhile, Jodie Townsend was recommended as interim monitoring officer. Mr Bryant said: “Both candidates offer significant experience and expertise and, I believe, are exactly what we need in terms of supporting the organisation on its improvement journey.”

The chief executive proposed starting the permanent recruitment process in approximately six months time, meaning the positions would be filled within 12 months (which is the maximum length of the interim appointments). Two separate director positions are also currently occupied by interims, and the process for appointing permanent staff to these positions is set to get under way in September, and would be brought back to the cabinet in December for a decision.

The additional cost of all the interim positions has been listed as £204,000 (not including undisclosed agency fees) in TVCA documents. This additional cost is on top of a total of more than £600,000 already budgeted for these four positions (which covers salaries as well as additions such as pension costs).

Mr Bryant said: “The proposal in terms of how we fund the additional cost is that you’ll see in the report that we have incurred significant spend on external legal governance advice, and I am confident that we can reduce that spend with these new arrangements, and the additional cost would be covered by a saving on that budget.”

Leader of Hartlepool Council, Labour Councillor Brenda Harrison was supportive of the process that had been undertaken to get to this point, while Redcar and Cleveland leader, Labour Councillor Alec Brown, asked about the impact on the Best Value Notice. Mr Bryant said: “Obviously, government wants to see us making the necessary improvements, and they will want to see a plan towards permanency.” Adding: “If anything, the experience that the two interims bring in the short term, I think will be a real added value to the organisation.”

Tees Valley Conservative Mayor Ben Houchen suggested the idea “from a process point of view” of an additional meeting in April/May to enable the approval of the permanent statutory officers, citing the probability that the appointment process likely wouldn’t be completed by the time of March’s cabinet meeting.

Middlesbrough Labour Mayor Chris Cooke said: “What I think does concern me a little bit is there’s a verbal process that you’ve just articulated that actually isn’t written anywhere, so I almost feel like if there was some sort of noting that a process will start in the new year, maybe even putting it as January, which is not beyond the realms of man. I just think that then is documented.

“And not to put too fine a point on it, but that’s a way of holding you to account, to make sure that that process doesn’t go off the rails.” Mr Bryant concurred with Mayor Cooke that the timeline should be captured as an action in the minutes.