The Monitoring Officer has submitted a report asking Council to approve the appointment of the council’s independent persons for a term of five years to 30 November 2024 following a formal recruitment exercise.

Councillor Aziz, the Chair of the Standards Committee, will present the report.

Recommendation: Council is recommended to:

1.    approve the appointment of Chris Ballinger, Andrew Mills-Hicks, Jill McCleery and Osama Raja as the council’s independent persons for a term of five years to 30 November 2024; and

2.    delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer to make the necessary arrangements.

Council considered the Monitoring Officer’s report published with the agenda and a supplementary report published after the agenda, asking Council to approve the appointment of the council’s independent persons for a term of five years to 30 November 2024 following a formal recruitment exercise.

Councillor Aziz, the Chair of the Standards Committee, presented the report. She moved the recommendations, and asked Council to appoint the individuals named below. This was agreed unanimously on being seconded and put to the vote.

Council resolved to:

1.    approve the appointment of Chris Ballinger, Andrew Mills-Hicks, Jill McCleery and Osama Raja as the council’s independent persons for a term of five years to 30 November 2024; and

2.    delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer to make the necessary arrangements.

The Monitoring Officer has submitted a report asking Council to approve the appointment of the council’s independent persons.

Councillor Aziz, the Chair of the Standards Committee, will present the details of the proposed appointments.

Recommendation: Council is recommended to

1.    approve the appointment of the council’s independent persons for a term of five years to 31 October 2024 and

2.    delegate authority to the Monitoring Officer to make the necessary arrangements.

Council considered a report of the Monitoring Officer asking Council to approve the appointment of the council’s independent persons.

Council noted that due to the availability of applicants and suitable interview dates, it had not been possible to complete all the interviews before this meeting. A recommendation as to suitable appointments could not be made until these were completed.

Consequently, new recommendations had been circulated to councillors in the briefing note.

As the Committee Chair was not present, Councillor Pressel, the Vice-Chair of the Standards Committee, presented and moved these new recommendations, which were agreed on being seconded and put to the vote.

Council resolved to extend the term of the current independent persons by a further month to 30 November 2019 to allow the recruitment process to conclude, and to consider the outcome and recommendations at its next meeting.

The Monitoring Officer has submitted a report asking for authorisation to extend the terms of office of the council’s independent persons for a further three months to 31 October 2019.

Councillor Aziz, the Chair of the Standards Committee, will present the report.

Recommendation: Council is recommended to authorise the Monitoring Officer to extend the terms of office of the Council’s Independent Persons for a further three months to 31 October 2019.

Council considered a report of the Monitoring Officer asking for authorisation to extend the terms of office of the council’s independent persons for a further three months to 31 October 2019.

Councillor Aziz, the Chair of the Standards Committee, presented the report and moved the recommendations, which were agreed on being seconded and put to the vote.

Council resolved to authorise the Monitoring Officer to extend the terms of office of the Council’s Independent Persons for a further three months to 31 October 2019.

This report informs the Committee on the progress for the appointment of Independent Persons in 2019.

Recommendation:  That the Standards Committee resolves to:

1.       note the progress on the appointment of Independent Persons in 2019;

2.       agree to appoint one opposition member of the Standards Committee to serve on the interview panel as required at paragraph 5, ii) of the report.

The Monitoring Officer presented the report which detailed the arrangements and progress on the appointment of Independent Persons in 2019.  The Monitoring Officer said that there would be a second recruitment stage if this initial exercise proved unsuccessful.

The Committee emphasised the importance of reaching a wide range of potential applicants for the post of Independent Person to reflect the diversity of the city.  They recommended promoting the vacancies through established contacts with local communities and the Council’s partner organisations. They also suggested that a press release might be a positive promotional tool.

The Monitoring Officer agreed to act on these suggestions.

The Standards Committee resolved to:

1.       note the progress on the appointment of Independent Persons in 2019;

2.       agree to appoint the opposition member of the Standards Committee to serve on the interview panel as required at paragraph 5, ii) of the report.

In closing the Chair recorded the Committee’s thanks to the four Independent Persons for the contribution they had made to the work of the Standards Committee and for the sound judgement and advice provided in support of the often complex and sensitive casework relating to Code of Conduct complaints. The Monitoring Officer confirmed that she would be writing formal letters of thanks to all of the Independent Persons.