Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chair for the duration of the meeting.

RESOLVED – That Councillor Pryor be elected as Chair for the duration of the meeting.

To consider any appeals in accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules (in the event of an Appeal the press and public will be excluded)

(*In accordance with Procedure Rule 15.2, written notice of an appeal must be received by the Head of Governance Services at least 24 hours before the meeting)

There were no appeals against refusal of inspection of documents received.

RESOLVED – That Appendix 3 to the report entitled ‘Appointment of Deputy Director Learning’ in Minute No. 7 be designated as exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4(1) and (2) and on the grounds that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information by reason of the need to maintain the competitive nature of the interview process and to retain information submitted by individual applicants in confidence, as disclosure could undermine the process, future appointment processes, or the outcome on this occasion to the detriment of the Council’s and public interest.

To disclose or draw attention to any interests in accordance with Leeds City Council’s ‘Councillor Code of Conduct’.

There were no interests declared at this point in the meeting, however a declaration was made during the consideration of agenda item 7 (Appointment of Deputy Director Learning) (Minute No. 7 refers).

To receive any apologies for absence from the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence received.

To consider a report of the City Solicitor which provides an overview of the governance arrangements and format of this specific Employment Committee.

The City Solicitor submitted a report which provided Members with an overview of the governance arrangements and format for this specific Employment Committee which had responsibility for recruitment to the position of Deputy Director of Learning within the Children and Families directorate.

In acknowledging the significant number of applications which had been received for this specific recruitment and in response to an enquiry, it was agreed that officers look into the possibility of further establishing the process of an initial sifting of candidates by officers/search consultants, as appropriate, with the outcomes provided to Members to aid the Committee’s longlisting or shortlisting deliberations. In considering this it was reiterated that the Committee would continue to receive all relevant information required and it was emphasised that the Committee would continue to be the decision taker.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the governance arrangements and format relating to the Employment Committee, as detailed in the submitted report, be noted;

(b)  That the Council’s requirements regarding the consideration and disclosure of ‘exempt’ information, be noted.

(c)  That officers look into the possibility of further establishing the process of an initial sifting of candidates by officers/search consultants, as appropriate, and as detailed above.

(Councillor Stephenson joined the meeting during the consideration of this item)

To consider a report regarding recruitment to the position of Deputy Director of Learning within the Children and Families directorate.

(Please note that Appendix 3 to this report is designated as being exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4 (1) and (2)).

The Chief Executive submitted a report which outlined the process for the recruitment to the position of Deputy Director Learning, within the Children and Families directorate.

Appendix 3 to this report, which contained candidates’ details (designated as being exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4 (1) and (2)) was circulated to Committee Members for their consideration prior to the meeting. 

The Director of Children and Families together with the Deputy Head of HR and HR Business Partner were in attendance at the meeting in an advisory capacity.

Having considered the publicly accessible parts of the submitted report and appendices, the Committee agreed to go into private session at this point in order to undertake the formal recruitment process (shortlisting) and specifically consider the information contained within Appendix 3 (candidates’ details) to the submitted report which had been designated as being exempt from publication under the provisions of Access to Information Procedure Rule 10.4 (1) and (2).

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the contents of the submitted report, be noted;

(b)  That 5 candidates be shortlisted for formal interview.

(Prior to the Committee’s commencement of the shortlisting deliberations, Councillor France-Mir disclosed a non-registerable interest due to the fact that one of the candidates was recently known to her husband. At this point Councillor France-Mir left the meeting and took no part in the Committee’s shortlisting deliberations in order to avoid any perception of there being a conflict of interest on her part)

At this point, the meeting was adjourned.

The meeting was reconvened on Tuesday, 19^th September 2023 to undertake the formal interview process.

Councillors: J Pryor (Chair), E Flint, M France-Mir and R Stephenson were in attendance.

(At the reconvening of the meeting, Councillor France-Mir re-joined the meeting, as the matter which had resulted in her declaration of a non-registerable interest at the commencement of the shortlisting process had now been resolved, as the candidate that gave rise to her absenting herself from the meeting had not been progressed by the Committee to the interview stage, which enabled Councillor France-Mir to participate for the remainder of the process)

The Director of Children and Families together with the Deputy Head of HR were in attendance at the meeting in an advisory capacity.

Having considered all relevant information provided to the Committee in respect of the shortlisted candidates together with the outcomes from the interviews, it was

RESOLVED – That Dan Barton be offered the position of Deputy Director of Learning within the Children and Families directorate, subject to the conclusion of the associated notification processes, as set out within the Officer Employment Procedure Rules.