Agenda item

Report of the Director of Human Resources.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Human Resources in relation to the inclusion of external parties in the recruitment of City of London staff, and which recommended that the Committee should resolve that external parties would not be part of future appointment processes.

The Chairman in introducing the report advised the Committee that the recommendation within the report to exclude external parties from recruitment processes was at variance with what was increasingly best practice to involve stakeholders informally in recruitment exercises. The Chairman therefore suggested the following alternative recommendations, and that subject to Members’ approval, a revised report would be submitted to the February Establishment Committee:

1.    That only City of London Elected Members, Co-opted Members, and Officers may take part as voting members of appointment panels for posts within the City of London Corporation.

2.    That for appointments which have a substantially outward facing or stakeholder engagement function, the inclusion of stakeholders or external advisers in the assessment and appointment process is to be encouraged.

3.    That the nature of the inclusion of any stakeholder or adviser should be agreed between the Chairmen of the service committees, the Town Clerk (or other relevant Chief Officers), and the Director of Human Resources, and might include:

(a)  the inclusion of a non-voting adviser on the appointment panel; and/or

(b)  the involvement of stakeholder representatives in the assessment centre process; and/or

(c)  consultation with stakeholder representatives as to the nature of the role and the type of candidates to be sought;

4.    that Officers be instructed to prepare amendments to the Recruitment and Selection policy to implement this decision.

RESOLVED – That:

a)    the Committee approve the Chairman’s recommendations; and

b)    a paper be submitted to the February Establishment Committee, encompassing changes to the recruitment and selection policy.