Agenda and minutes

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Media

Items
No. Item

C1

Apologies for Absence and Declarations of Interest

To receive any apologies and declarations of interest.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Bagnall, Dean, de Vries, Jones, Eke, Oliver, Pavitt, Loughlin, Sutton and Fairhurst.

 

C2

Appointment of Head of Paid Service and Chief Executive pdf icon PDF 130 KB

To consider the appointment of Head of Paid Service and Chief Executive.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Leader of the Council summarised the report and outlined the recruitment process for the Head of Paid Service and Chief Executive. The process for recruiting a permanent Chief Executive had been undertaken by the Appointments Committee, the Interim Chief Executive and the recruitment specialist Solace. The process culminated with shortlisted candidates taking part in interviews with the Appointments Committee on Friday, 3 September 2021. On the recommendation of the Appointments Committee, the Leader proposed the appointment of Peter Holt as the Head of Paid Service and Chief Executive of the Council.

 

Councillor Lees seconded the proposal.

 

Members discussed the appointment and welcomed the incoming Chief Executive. A number of questions were raised by Members, including the brief provided to Solace in regard to diversity and inclusion principles, the candidate’s skill-set and the lack of documentation accompanying the proposed appointment.  

 

The Chair adjourned the meeting at 6.20pm due to technical issues with the microphone system.

 

The meeting was reconvened at 6.32pm.

 

The Chair apologised to the public for the technical problems with the microphones, which had not been resolved. He said a decision was required this evening and the meeting would continue without the aid of microphones.

 

Councillor Driscoll entered the meeting at 6.35pm. He took no part in the debate or vote.

 

The Interim Chief Executive was invited to comment. With regard to the brief provided to Solace, he said the Council’s policies had been shared with Solace at the beginning of the process. Furthermore, Solace had been selected due to their inclusivity in terms of their own recruitment practices. He advised that, in his report, he had provided a pen-portrait of the recommended candidate rather than a full CV, due to the privacy issues relating to publishing such a document in the public domain. He concluded, noting that the Appointments Committee had delivered its delegated duty to carry-out a thorough recruitment process, resulting in the recommendation to Full Council as required.

 

The Interim Chief Executive, HR Manager, the Appointments Committee and Solace were thanked for their hard work during the recruitment process.

 

RESOLVED to appoint Peter Holt to the post of Head of Paid Service and Chief Executive.

 

The meeting ended at 6.41 pm.