Agenda and minutes

To receive and note apologies for absence.

No apologies were received.

At this point in the meeting, Members and co-opted members are asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, or other registerable interest, they might have in respect of business on this agenda, if they have not already done so in advance on the Register of Interests. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

[Please see attached sheet for further guidance for Members]

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare if they

had any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests or any prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests that they might have had in the business on the agenda.

Councillor Douglas declared an interest in relation to item 8, City of York Trading Limited and Work With York Limited - Appointment of Director and Chair Nominations, in that she was included in the proposed nominations and as such would not participate in consideration of this item.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of the Staffing Matters & Urgency Committee held on 2 June 2025.

Resolved: That the minutes of the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee held on 2 June 2025 be approved and then signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak can do so. Members of the public may speak on agenda items or on matters within the remit of the committee.

Please note that our registration deadlines are set as 2 working days before the meeting, in order to facilitate the management of public participation at our meetings. The deadline for registering at this meeting is 5:00pm on Thursday, 10 July 2025.

To register to speak please visit www.york.gov.uk/AttendCouncilMeetings to fill in an online registration form. If you have any questions about the registration form or the meeting, please contact Democratic Services. Contact details can be found at the foot of this agenda.

Webcasting of Public Meetings

Please note that, subject to available resources, this meeting will be webcast including any registered public speakers who have given their permission. The meeting can be viewed live and on demand at www.york.gov.uk/webcasts.

During coronavirus, we made some changes to how we ran council meetings, including facilitating remote participation by public speakers. See our updates (www.york.gov.uk/COVIDDemocracy) for more information on meetings and decisions.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at

the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

At the Annual Council meeting on 22 May 2025, appointments were made to Committees, Sub-Committees and Outside Bodies for the 2025/26 municipal year. A further change is required to the membership of SACRE.

The Committee considered and confirmed the change of Membership for the SACRE Committee to appoint Tony Lawton to be appointed as a group member for group A representing Faith/Catholic.

Resolved: That Tony Lawton be appointed to SACRE group A to represent Faith/Catholic on the SACRE Committee.

Reason: In order to make appropriate Council appointments to Committees and Outside Bodies for the remainder of the current municipal year.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) who holds the designation of Head of Paid Services has given an early indication of notice that he will be retiring from his post from April 2026. This report seeks approval to proceed with options available for the replacing of the COO, and to establish an Appointment Sub-Committee for a Head of Paid Service appointment.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Chief Officer - HR and Support Services and it was reported that the Chief Operating Officer (COO) had expressed his intention of retiring at around Easter 2026, and the Committee were presented with options for moving forward.

Members voted on the motion to adopt the recommendations set out on page 24 of the agenda, and the result of the vote was as follows:

2 votes in favour, 1 vote against, 0 abstentions.

Resolved: That the Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee:

i.      Approved the recruitment of a Chief Executive as a replacement of the Chief Operating Officer following the early notification that the post holder intends to retire at Easter 2026.

ii.     Confirmed the pay package for the role of Chief Executive to allow the post to be advertised, in agreement with page 21 of the agenda.

iii.   Would establish an Appointments Sub-Committee for the role of Chief Executive and would delegate sufficient powers to the Sub-Committee enabling it to conduct the recruitment process and select and appoint a candidate, subject to the requirements of the standing orders on appointment.

iv.   Approved the engagement of an executive recruitment consultant to undertake an executive search to aid the recruitment process, this process will follow procurement processes.

v.    Noted the proposed timetable for the recruitment campaign, highlighted on page 22 of the agenda.

Reason: To allow timely appointment to the Head of Paid Services/Chief Executive in line with the Council’s Constitution and relevant legislation, as well as to ensure that there is a handover and seamless transition of leadership when the COO retires.

Members expressed words of thanks to the outgoing COO and wished him well in his retirement.

To consider the Committee’s draft work plan for the municipal year 2025-2026.

Members discussed the work plan for the municipal year 2025-2026 and it was resolved:

i.                That a report on the Appointment of a New YorWaste Director following the committee’s approval of the temporary appointment of City of York Council’s (CYC) Director of Finance, to represent the Council on the board of directors for YorWaste from 2 June following the resignation of former Director of Environment, Transport and Planning would be received in the meeting scheduled for 2 September 2025.

ii.               That members considered the work plan for the municipal year 2025-2026.

Reason: To ensure the Committee maintains a programme of work for the municipal year 2025-2026.

This report seeks the committee’s approval: To nominate Councillor Claire Douglas as the Chair of the Board of Directors of City of York Trading Ltd, to appoint City of York Council’s representative on the Board of Directors of Work with York Limited (WWY) for the continued provision of agency workers to the Council, and to nominate Councillor Claire Douglas as Chair of the Board of Directors of WWY.

The Chief Officer - HR and Support Services presented the report and highlighted to members that City of York Trading and Work with York were now operating as separate organisations as of early 2025.

The Chief Officer - HR and Support Services noted a correction to paragraph 7 on page 31 of the agenda in that “Cllr Kallum Taylor” should instead read “Cllr John Moroney”.

Members voted on the motion to adopt the recommendations set out on pages 32 and 33 of the agenda, and the result of the vote was as follows:

3 votes in favour, 0 votes against, 0 abstentions.

It was resolved that Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee:

i.                Approved the appointment of Councillor Claire Douglas to represent the Council on the Board of Directors for City of York Trading Limited and Work With York Limited.

ii.               Approved the delegated authority to the Managing Director of Work with York Limited to make all the necessary filings with the Registrar of Companies and necessary updates to the statutory registers and local administration in relation to this appointment.

iii.             Approved the appointment of Councillor Claire Douglas to act as Chair on the Board of Directors for Work With York Limited.

iv.             Approved the appointment of Councillor Claire Douglas to act as Chair on the Board of Directors for City of York Trading Limited.

Reason:

To ensure that City of York Trading Limited and Work With York Limited meets the requirements of the Control Test under the Teckal Exemption under contained under Reg 12(1) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and the requirements for Vertical Arrangements under Schedule 2, Part 1, Para. 2 of the Procurement Act 2023.