Agenda and minutes

Councillor Dylan Rees was elected Chair for the duration of the

appointments process.

To receive declarations of interest by Members or Officers with regard to any item of business.

No declaration of interest was received.

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer requesting the Panel to make a decision on recruitment criteria.

Submitted - a report by the Director of Function (Council Business)/ Monitoring Officer on the above.

The Solicitor (Corporate Governance) reported that a casual vacancy has arisen on the Standards Committee, and a recruitment process is being undertaken to appoint an independent member to the Committee. 

The Solicitor (Corporate Governance) reported that the Selection Panel is required to decide the criteria for the personal specification in the application process.  She stated that legislative criteria (Enclosure 1) is the minimum requirement that any candidate would have to satisfy in order to be considered, although additional requirements, considered as local choice criteria (with suggestions of such criteria included in Enclosure 2) may also be applied. 

The Solicitor (Corporate Governance) reported that the Panel will score the applications and devise the interview questions, against the set criteria.  The shortlisted candidates will then be invited for interview by the Panel.

The Panel discussed the options available and agreed to apply only the statutory legislative criteria for the role (as detailed in Enclosure 1 to the report).

RESOLVED to agree that the Selection Panel adopt the statutory requirements as its criteria for the recruitment process.

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer on the draft newspaper advertisement and the proposed Application Form for the recruitment process.

Submitted - a report by the Director of Function (Council Business)/ Monitoring Officer on the above.

It was noted that it is statutory to advertise any vacancy for an independent member to the Standards Committee in two local newspapers.  Reference was made to previous appointments in 2017 and 2019, where advertisements were placed on the Council’s website, Twitter, Facebook, North Wales Chronicle and the Bangor and Anglesey Mail.

The Solicitor (Corporate Governance) gave a summary of the main headings in the report and its enclosures and gave an overview of the background information for applications (included in Enclosure 2.1) and application form (included in Enclosure 2.4).  The Panel discussed the options available regarding advertising the vacancies and the costs involved.  The Panel agreed that a notice be placed in two local newspapers, with a link provided to the application form and background papers, as well as promoting the vacancy on the Council’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages.

RESOLVED:- 

•  To approve the draft documentation in Enclosure 1, to include only the statutory requirements.

•  To authorise the Director of Function (Council Business)/ Monitoring Officer to amend the paperwork to reflect any decision made on Item 3 of this agenda.

•  To advertise the vacancies for an independent member to the Standards Committee in two local newspapers, as well as the Council’s website and social media accounts.

To consider adoption of the following: -

“Under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during discussion on the following item on the grounds that it may involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the said Act and in the attached Public Interest Test.”

RESOLVED to adopt the following:-

“Under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during the discussion on item 12 on the grounds that it involved the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the said Act and in the Public Interest Test as presented.”

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer requesting the Panel to consider suitable interview questions.

Submitted - a report by the Director of Function (Council Business)/ Monitoring Officer requesting that the Selection Panel consider and agree on suitable interview questions for shortlisted candidates from the criteria adopted. 

A list of potential interview questions was provided in Enclosure 1 of the report. The Solicitor (Corporate Governance) reported that the Panel would have an opportunity to include any amendments to the interview questions in the Selection Panel’s next meeting.

RESOLVED:-

•  To consider the draft interview questions presented for candidates, at the next meeting of the Selection Panel.

•  To permit the Selection Panel to include any additions/ amendments to finalise the interview questions at the Panel’s next meeting.

•  The Solicitor (Corporate Governance) to schedule a date for the next Selection Panel meeting to consider the applications received and draw up a shortlist.