To inform Council of the progress in the recruitment of independent persons and to recommend a way forward.

Before the discussion commenced, chairperson indicated that the committee should be able to deal with this item without making references to the personal information provided to the committee.  However, if the personal information was discussed, then the committee would need to move into closed session.  

Councillors DB Wilcox and RJ Phillips indicated that they knew the applicants but that there was no need to make a declaration of interest as there was no close personal association.  

The monitoring officer presented the report and highlighted. 

• There was currently only one independent person. 
• Three applications had been received and interviews had taken place.  
• The committee was being asked to make a decision as to any recommendation to Council on 12 October 2018. 
• One expression of interest had been received from the Worcestershire pool of independent persons. 

A member of committee expressed a view that by not accepting the applicants that it may be perceived to be unfair and that they would be proposing that all three were offered the role of independent person. 

The committee members who formed part of the interview panel expressed the following concerns:

• The vacancies had only been advertised digitally.   The vacancies should have been advertised in The Hereford Times, Ross Gazette, the Worcester Evening News as it was felt that there were individuals who would be interested but did not see the advertisement. 
• That a member of the committee would be recommending acceptance based on the exempt information provided.   The view of the interview panel had been reached after careful consideration and refuted that there had been any unfairness. The panel members did individually score each applicant but had not proceeded to consider rankings and criteria for making recommendations after the interviews due to the concern about the advertising.
• The applicants had not come forward as a direct result of the advertisement but had come forward due to awareness of the vacancy raised by a member of the council. 
• The scoring of the individuals indicated that there had been none of them had scored the maximum points.  The applicants appeared not to have undertaken much research into the role of the independent person and the requirements of the Localism Act 2011.    

The following views were expressed by members of the committee: 

• Individuals have a right to be judged on their attributes and not background. 
• They were grateful for volunteers for the role but on this recruitment the scores were not overwhelmingly positive.   There was no information about thresholds for selection contained within the report and without that criteria it would not be possible to make a recommendation.  
• The role should continue to be advertised as Herefordshire deserved good independent persons. 
• Joining the Worcestershire pool of independent persons would not be fair to Herefordshire residents as the pool was not local. 
• It was unfortunate that there were a lack of people in Herefordshire volunteering for the role.    

The solicitor to the council confirmed that the vacancy had been advertised but that the panel felt that the manner in which it had been advertised was deficient.

It was agreed that there would be no recommendation to Council on 12 October and that the role would be re-advertised so that a wider pool could be considered.   The three interviewed applicants would remain undetermined and would receive favourable consideration when recommendations are considered.

It was requested that a report come back to the committee in November 2018. 

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.