MD1577 Statutory Officers’ Protocol

1. Introduction and background

1.1 The Authority is required to have three Statutory Officers: a Head of Paid Service; a Chief Finance Officer; and a Monitoring Officer. These three posts have unique employment status within the Authority. They are the only three posts to which appointments must be made, and terms and conditions determined, by the Mayor and the Assembly acting jointly. The Mayor and the Assembly acting jointly are required to approve any changes to the Statutory Officers’ Protocol

1.2 In November 2009 the Mayor and Assembly agreed to approve and adopt (noting that it was a joint decision with the Assembly) a staffing protocol in respect of the three Statutory Officers.

1.3 On 28 January 2015 the Assembly and the Mayor agreed some minor revisions to the protocol.

2. Issues for Consideration

2.1 The Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 amended the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (England) Regulations 2001 and created a new procedure for dismissing statutory officers. This requires a change to the Statutory Officer’s Protocol.

2.2 The draft Statutory Officer’s Protocol is in Appendix 1.

2.3 The amendments to the protocol are contained within Appendix 2 of the protocol; the main changes are as follows:

• The designated independent person (DIP) is no longer responsible for conducting an independent investigation. Instead a panel appointed by the Authority, consisting of the Mayor, Assembly Members and at least two Independent Persons must meet for the purposes of advising the Authority on matters relating to the dismissal of the statutory officers of the authority;
• The Panel must be appointed at least 20 working days before there is a meeting of the authority to consider, and decide by voting, whether or not to approve a proposal to dismiss;
• That meeting must, before voting on the proposals for dismissal, take into account (i) any advice, views or recommendations of the Panel; (ii) the conclusions of any investigation into the proposed dismissal; and (iii) any representations from the relevant statutory officer.

3. Equality comments

3.1 The Statutory Officers – Staffing Protocol complies with legal provisions that apply to the statutory officers, and has been drafted to ensure that it complies with equalities principles. The GLA’s statutory officers have been consulted on the protocol.

4. Financial comments

4.1 There are no financial implications associated with this.

5. Legal comments

5.1 The Mayor has the power to do what is set out in this report.

5.2 The relevant law relating to this matter is referred to above, and is referred to and properly reflected in the amended protocol.

Statutory Officers’ Protocol