At the last meeting, the Committee was advised of the need to appoint an Independent Person (IP) following the resignation of one of the Council’s three IPs.

The Committee agreed that the Chairman of the Committee and an Executive Director together with the Monitoring Officer comprised a panel to interview the suitable applicants and make a recommendation to the Audit and Standards Committee and then on to full Council on 16 December 2019.

At the closing date (18 October), eight applications had been received and four candidates were shortlisted for interview, held on 30 October and 5 November 2019.  The expectations of the role in terms of regular attendance at meetings and contributions to committee discussions on standards matters were explained to each applicant at interview.

The calibre of the applicants was high and the Panel was confident to recommend that Mrs Rose Durban be appointed to serve as one of the Council’s IPs and for her name to be put forward for approval by the full Council on Monday 16 December.

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Durban to the meeting and Members requested that they receive a brief biography from Mrs Durban, which would be forthcoming.

RECOMMENDED: That Mrs Rose Durban be appointed as an Independent Person in accordance with Chapter 7, Section 28 of the Localism Act 2011, for a term of four years commencing from 17 December 2019.