Hull City Council Back from the Brink

1
Hull City CouncilBack from the Brink

• Kim Ryley
• Chief Executive
• Hull City Council

2
TIME LINE OF HULLS PROGRESS

• Date Key Events
• July 2002 CGI report
• December 2002 Corporate Assessment (Poor)
• Government Appointee and Monitoring Board
  
• est.
• May 2003 Change of Administration (Labour)
• July 2003 Suspension of Chief Executive by
  Members
• November 2003 Corporate Governance
• progress
  inspection and Government
• 
  intervention.
• July 2004 Councillor "X" suspended by APE

3
TIME LINE OF HULLS PROGRESS

• Date Key Events
• November 2004 Kim Ryley commences
  employment
• 
  with Hull City Council
• December 2005 Progress Assessment Report (1
  star)
• Early 2006 End of
  formal ODPM intervention and
  
• 
  withdrawal of Government Envoy
• May 2006
  Change of administration (Lib Dem)
• September/October 2006 Councillor "Y"
  disqualified by APE
• February 2007 Corporate Assessment (2 star)
• 2008 CPA (3 star) Improving
  well

4
CGI Report July 2002

• there has been a culture that tolerated bullying
  of officers by some senior members within the
  Council
• standards of behaviour . continued . to fall
  short of a consistent level of professional
  respect that would get the best from the
  Councils workforce
• members have sometimes interfered in the work of
  officers and undermined their positions.

5
Progress Inspection Report November 2003

• the fundamental cause of the Councils
  continuing failure to get to grips with the
  difficult issues which it faces is poor political
  leadership and governance
• - relationships between officers and members
  and
• member behaviour remain poor.
• the Council has a political culture which is
  immature and confrontational. Councillors lack
  trust in each other and staff. This is a
  considerable barrier to improvement.

6

• Councillors at Hull must be willing to learn
  from the skills and experience of others and
  demonstrate significant and lasting changes in
  their behaviour and culture. A statutory
  direction should . reinforce this requirement.
• To bring about and sustain the necessary level
  of improvement, the Council needs the skills and
  experience of a chief executive with a proven
  track record of achieving, bringing about and
  embedding improvement in large and complex
  organisations.

7
Councillor X - Suspension

• The residents . Deserve a better deal. Housing
  Officers are in a position to remedy many
  problems but just avoid the issue. (ward
  leaflet)
• I am avoiding asking for your suspension and the
  suspension of your housing officers until after
  the election. (letter to Housing Manager)
• Local residents are furious at the complaint
  made by housing officers and say that the housing
  department only wants councillors who are meek
  and mild and will not stand up for residents.
  (ward leaflet)

8
Councillor Y - Disqualification

• Ill have your guts for garters. (to Council
  solicitor pursuing rent arrears against
  Councillor Y)
• She is an evil witch. (to PA of Councils
  Monitoring Officer)

9
Councillor Z Letter to Hull Daily
Mail13/02/2007

• Mr Ryley is an employee of the City Council and
  is therefore powerless to take action regarding
  councillors behaviour, which is exactly how it
  should be.
• The conduct of councillors should always be
  judged solely by the electorate . Acting in a
  much swifter manner than the undemocratic and
  unelected SBE ever could.
• Im not sure what sort of council Mr Ryley would
  prefer to see in operation but I can only assume
  he would like to see an indentikit of councillors
  who never bother to challenge the unelected and
  extremely well paid officers such as himself when
  determining policies for this city.

10
Role of Standards Committee and Monitoring Officer

• Terms of reference of Standards Committee
  increased from pure statutory role (at the time)
  of promoting and maintaining high standards of
  conduct by Members and co-optees and assist in
  following Code of Conduct.
• Regular monthly meetings.
• Proactive work programme including whistleblowing
  and anti-fraud and corruption initiatives.
• Lead members established for key areas on work
  programme.
• Expansion of Monitoring Officer role key
  officer role in Whistleblowing Policy and
  Member/Officer relations protocol.

11

• Revised Constitution including
• New Member/Officer Relations Protocol
• New Officer Delegation Scheme
• Improved Decision making arrangements
• Informal Dispute Resolution Procedure (proved to
  counteract the high number of SBE referrals)
• Chair of Standards Committee also a Member of
  Monitoring Board direct involvement and link
  between Recovery Programme and Standards
  Committee
• Chair attends Council annually to present this
  report.
• Leader and Chief Executive attend Standards
  Committee on annual basis (incorporated into
  SCWP)
• Group Secretaries/Whips meet with Standards
  Committee on an annual basis
• Councils Statutory Officers meet quarterly

12

• APE decisions
• training for Councillor X during
  suspension
• SBE Annual Assembly presentations
• 2006 proactive Standards Committee
• 2007 local filter (and presentations
  to other
• Authorities as a result)
• 2008 local assessments

13
The Necessary Ingredients for Improvement

• Visible Leadership from the top.
• Improved systems and procedures to change
  behaviour
• Clear incentives to change
• A zero tolerance approach
• Courage and determination!