Agenda item

Councillor James Ogungbose, Cabinet Member for Central Services presented a report on the appointment of Independent Persons (IP) to carry out an advisory role as part of the arrangements the Council must have in place in accordance with the provisions of the Localism Act 2011. The law requires that at least one IP must be appointed to give an impartial view regarding the management and response to complaints made against elected members in accordance with the Councillors Code of Conduct.

Both the Monitoring Officer and any councillor who is the subject of a complaint have the right to consult the IP. This creates the potential for a conflict of interest. Consequently following the resignation  last year of one of two IP, the Standards Committee decided it would be sensible to appoint a further two IP’s, for which a recruitment exercise was carried out.

At the meeting of the Assembly in September Members decided they would like to see local people taking up the position of IP and therefore officers were asked to undertake a further recruitment exercise from which two candidates, both with strong local connections, and suitable to the role were identified, and whom Councillor Ogungbose recommended for appointment. 

Councillor McCarthy commented on the absence in the report to the previous discussions at the Assembly in September and the decision not to appoint the two candidates presented at that time. He questioned why only two men had been put forward for two positions, what had happened to those applicants this time around and why there were no suitable female applicants.  He suggested that it demonstrated serious flaws in the recruit process and certainly was not representative of the Council’s policy towards equal opportunities. Councillor Gill added that with a local population of more than 180,000 he would expect it to be possible to attract some female applicants.

Councillor Ogungbose explained that adverts for the position were placed across a wide area. The Monitoring Officer added that at the September meeting of the Assembly when the appointments were considered and the decision was taken to go out to recruit persons with local connections, the two applicants put forward at that time were effectively ruled out as neither had close enough links with the Borough.

Councillor Twomey stated that it was unfortunate that the recruitment exercise had not thrown up a bigger pool of suitable applicants. However the post attracted a remuneration of only £500 and was a voluntary role, which in all likelihood was a contributory factor for the lack of interest.  He added, however, that the two applicants presented before the Assembly fully met the criteria laid down for the role.

The Assembly resolved to:

(i)  Approve the appointment of Dr. Gurpreet Singh Bhatia and Pastor Thomas Adeyemi Aderounmu as Independent Persons in accordance with Section 28(7) of the Localism Act 2011; and

(ii)  Agree that the appointment of all the Council’s Independent Persons be until the next Assembly meeting following the Annual Assembly in 2018 when it shall be reviewed.