Cheshire East Council announced today the first wave of appointments to new senior management posts, which replace the previous structure at the top of the organisation.
In addition, the Council will be interviewing applicants for the post of Chief Executive later in April. This appointment will complete the new senior team.
The current interim Chief Executive, Kim Ryley, has indicated that he will not be applying for the position on a permanent basis for personal reasons. He will remain in his interim post until the person appointed takes up their position in several months' time.
The appointments to new senior management posts are the first stage of a much wider review of all management roles and responsibilities at the Council, as part of its plan to become a 'strategic commissioning' organisation.
The new approach is intended to ensure more effective and better value-for-money services for local residents and businesses in Cheshire East. Overall management costs will be cut by £5m a year as part of this, which the Council says will do away with the "outdated and unhelpful professional 'silos' within the organisation, which created bureaucracy, waste and delay in making the positive differences to quality of life that local people want to see".
Ten senior appointments have been made over the Easter period and one new post has been filled on an interim basis, pending external advertisement, and one is still to be filled. All the current top posts will be removed and replaced with this new slimmer structure based on bigger jobs, with several staff set to leave the Council in the near future, as their functions are handed over to others.
The new senior team at the Council is:-
- Lorraine Butcher, Executive Director of Strategic Commissioning
- Rachel Musson, Interim Chief Operating Officer
- Mike Rowan, Interim Monitoring Officer and Head of Legal Services
- Heather Grimbaldeston, Director of Public Health
- Tony Crane, Director of Children's Services
- Brenda Smith, Director of Adult Social Care and Independent Living
- Caroline Simpson, Director of Economic Growth and Prosperity
- Nigel Moorhouse, Head of Early Intervention and Prevention
- Kevin Melling, Head of Environment Protection and Enhancement
- Peter Hartwell, Head of Public Protection and Enforcement
- Vivienne Quayle, Head of Commercial Strategy, Business Innovation and Performance
- Paul Bradshaw, Head of Organisational Development
- Brian Reed, Head of Democratic Services and Governance
The Council will now press on to redesign and make appointments to the next group of 30 management posts, to ensure the first phase of the review covering the most senior posts in the Council will be finished by around the end of April. The full process for all managers will be completed by September.
The Council says any delay in this timetable would reduce the level of savings achieved from the changes and slow down the wider programme of improvements the Council will start to put in place this year.
Leader of the Council Councillor Michael Jones said: "We are an aspirational Council and we want to be the best. Building a strong management team to support my ambitions and those of my Cabinet, to make Cheshire East an even better place to live and work, is essential.
"We must move on quickly, as there is much to be done. We have a huge planned programme of service change and improvement agreed as part of our new 3-Year Plan. But we must now start putting this in place quickly, so that local people and businesses can see the benefits of having an effective Council in these difficult times.
"I would have welcomed an application from Kim Ryley to stay on as our Chief Executive. I have no doubt he would have been an outstanding candidate. He has brought a depth of experience to his interim role with us and has set a high bar for our next Chief Executive. We are confident that we will be able to make a strong appointment later this month."
Interim Chief Executive Kim Ryley explained: "This process of new appointments has helped us identify our most talented staff, who will perform well in their new roles and have potential for further progression and promotion in future. This is the first example of our new 'Talent Management' approach, which will be extended over time to all Council staff.
"We will provide tailored support to the newly appointed senior managers, so that they can take up their bigger roles quickly and confidently. At the same time, as a good employer, we will offer support also to those colleagues who will be displaced by the appointment process."
Comments
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In the circumsatances It may appear to be carping but as it is claimed that £5 million p.a. is to be saved, would it equaly be true to say that £5 million p.a. has been wasted p.a. since the inception of CEC three years ago? I would also question the make up of £5 million p.a. If it is just salaries, that is eqivalent to 50 staff on £100,000 p.a. What were they doing? Why were they paid so much?
In the press release CEC have stated that "Ten senior appointments have been made over the Easter period and one new post has been filled on an interim basis," Why then have they only provided details of thirteen of the appointments and listed two of them as "interim" positions.
Leader of the Council Councillor Michael Jones said: "We are an aspirational Council and we want to be the best." I suggest even more work is required Councillor Jones to identify who wrote this press release and give them lessons in basic numeracy skills.