The Deputy Chief Executive submitted a report to the Committee, acting in its capacity as sole member of Brighter Futures for Children Limited (BFfC/the company), setting out decisions arising from the departure of BFfC’s Interim Executive Director for Finance and Resources.

The report explained that, following the departure of the Interim Executive Director for Finance and Resources it was the intention to seek to recruit a permanent Executive Director to the post.  The process would commence as soon as possible in 2022, however there needed to be an appropriate interim structure put in place to meet the requirements for Board membership under the Company’s Articles of Association.  At its meeting on 25 November 2021 the BFfC Board had resolved to appoint, subject to the approval of the Council, the Council’s s151 Officer and Finance Director as an additional Executive Director. This appointment would be enabled by way of secondment to BFfC for 20% of their time, and the agreed duties to be covered through the secondment were listed in Appendix 1.

The report proposed that the Committee acting as sole member consent to the appointment of the additional Executive Director for a maximum of six months to facilitate the review and appointment of a new permanent Executive Director of Finance and Resources. It noted that the proposals would have an impact on capacity to oversee the Finance transformation programme currently underway within the Council and that there might therefore be a need to bring in additional resource to ensure that this work did not slip.

Resolved –

(1)      That the secondment of the Council s151 Officer and Finance Director to act as the interim Executive Director for Finance for BFfC for 20% of his time for a maximum of 6 months, to facilitate the appointment of a new permanent Executive Director of Finance and Resources, be endorsed,

(2)      That the requirement in the Articles for the interim Executive Director of Finance to be an employee of the Company be waived for a maximum of 6 months to allow for the appointment of a new permanent Executive Director of Finance and Resources;

(3)      That the Committee confirm to the Board of Brighter Futures for Children Ltd that it did not view the role of interim Executive Director for Finance to generally be in conflict with the role of Director of Finance and section 151 officer for the Council, and that for the purposes of Article 19.2 of the Articles of Association, the interest should not reasonably be regarded as one giving rise to a conflict of interest; 

(4)      That the requirement for the transformation work already underway within the RBC Finance Team, including the implementation of a new financial system, to continue at pace, and that this might necessitate additional resources, be noted.

(Councillor Ennis declared a non-pecuniary interest in this item on the basis that he was the Chair of the Reading Youth Offending Service which was overseen by Brighter Futures for Children.)