Agenda and minutes

County Councillor Jayne Rear replaced County Councillor Peter Buckley for this meeting.

Apologies were received from County Councillor Azhar Ali OBE.

Members are asked to consider any pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the agenda.

None.

To be confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 23 June 2022 and 5 July 2022 be agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There was no urgent business

The next meeting of the committee will be held on Wednesday 7 September 2022 at 1pm at County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next meeting of the committee would be held on Wednesday 7 September at 1pm at County Hall, Preston.

The committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following items of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, as indicated against the heading to the item.

Resolved: That the press and members of the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972. It was considered that in all the circumstances the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

(Exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972. It was considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interests in disclosing the information).

The Committee considered proposals relating to the establishment of the role of Executive Director of Resources (S151 officer) and arrangements for recruiting to the role.

Resolved: That

  i.  the establishment of a permanent Executive Director of Resources role that holds the statutory (s151) financial responsibility and the consequential change to the Chief Executive's role and job title be noted.

  ii.  the job description and person specification for the Executive Director of Resources (s151) role be approved.

  iii.  the engagement of recruitment consultants to assist with the recruitment process, on the basis set out in the report, be approved.

  iv.  the Chief Executive be authorised to engage recruitment consultants to assist with the recruitment process.

  v.  technical assessments be used during the recruitment process, the outcome of which will determine the shortlist for the role, and that the technical assessments are to be undertaken by the Chief Executive of CIPFA, Robert Whiteman CBE and an appropriate current or former Local Authority Chief Executive/Executive Director.

  vi.  the assessment centre arrangements for recruiting to the role as set out in the report be approved, and that, where possible, in person assessments are preferred over virtual or online

  vii.  the Chief Executive be authorised to approve changes to the recruitment process in consultation with the Chair of Committee, Deputy Chair of the Committee and Leader of the Opposition, under the advice of the recruitment consultants.

 viii.  The advertised salary level should be £155k plus more for an outstanding candidate