Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chair for the duration of the meeting.

RESOLVED – That Councillor Venner 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 Director of Children and Families’ 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 during the meeting.

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 Director of Children and Families.

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.

To consider a report of the Chief Executive regarding recruitment to the position of Director of Children and Families.

(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)).

Further to Minute No. 7, 26^th June 2023, the Chief Executive submitted a report which outlined the process for the recruitment to the position of Director of Children and Families.

The Chief Executive together with the Head of HR were in attendance at the meeting in an advisory capacity.

An Employment Committee had met on 26^th June 2023 to undertake the shortlisting process for this recruitment exercise.

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 (interviews) 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).

Following the interview process, having considered all relevant information provided to the Committee in respect of the shortlisted candidate together with the outcomes from the interview, it was

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