Council agrees changes to senior management structure

South Ayrshire Council's revised Chief Officer structure was agreed at a Special Council meeting today (Friday 9 September).

Councillors approved posts that will see changes across the Corporate Leadership team to address the recommendations contained in the Best Value Audit report.

The revised structure includes an additional Director with responsibility for Strategic Change and Communities and incorporates revisions to the remits of Assistant Directors to include a focus on Strategic Change and to bring together Housing Operations and Policy.

Two Chief Officer posts will undergo a change of remit. The Head of Finance and ICT will also become responsible for Procurement, under the revised job title of Head of Finance, ICT and Procurement.  Human Resources responsibility will be removed from the Head of Legal, HR and Regulatory Services, resulting in a change of job title to Head of Legal and Regulatory Services. The Chief Executive will assume line management of the Chief HR Adviser and the Chief Internal Auditor.

An additional Assistant Director with responsibility for Education has been created. There will be a reduction of one Quality Improvement Manager post, with the applications for the Assistant Director - Education being ringfenced to current Quality Improvement Managers.

South Ayrshire Council's Chief Executive, Eileen Howat, said: "It's important that we get things right for both the people we're here to serve and our hard-working employees.

"This revised management structure will allow us to fulfil our commitment to residents, by placing a focus on providing the services they rely on."

Leader of South Ayrshire Council, Councillor Martin Dowey, said: "In these uncertain times the people of South Ayrshire need and deserve stability and confidence in their Council. A dedicated, driven corporate leadership team is essential to this.

"Last year's Best Value Assurance report recommended that the Council should 'assure itself that it has the capacity and skills required to increase its pace of improvement in key aspects of Best Value, such as community planning and empowerment, financial and workforce planning, and transformation'.  Today we agreed a Chief Officer structure that will undoubtably achieve this recommendation and take the administration's plans forward, whilst ensuring the best service delivery for our communities.

"We believe in making changes for the right reasons and I'm sure this amended structure will provide robust leadership across the organisation, helping us to realise our ambitions."

A Chief Officers' Appointments and Appraisal Panel meeting to agree the timescales for the recruitment and selection process for the new posts will be held in due course.