Council drawing up shortlist of candidates for next chief executive

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

A County Borough Council is beginning to draw up a shortlist of candidates for its vacant chief executive position.

Caerphilly County Borough Council’s appointments committee was due to meet to discuss the next stages in the recruitment process.

A new chief executive will succeed Christina Harrhy, who left the local authority in early October after councillors backed a settlement deal.

Absence

The former executive had been on a long period of absence from the role prior to the settlement deal being reached.

Deputy chief executive Dave Street has been filling in at the top, on an interim basis, but the council expects to hire a replacement for Ms Harrhy in the new year.

The committee proceedings at the council offices, on Thursday December 5, were due to be held behind closed doors owing to the ongoing recruitment process.

Lisa Lane, the council’s deputy monitoring officer and head of democratic services, judged that “whilst there is a need to ensure transparency and accountability of a public authority for decisions taken in relation to the appointment of senior officers, this must be balanced against the fact that this process has not yet been formally concluded and also the right of a third party to the privacy of their affairs”.

“It is considered that this outweighs the need for the information to be made public,” she added in a public interest test report to the committee.

A job advert for the chief executive position, published in November, stated the council was seeking a “forward-thinking strategic leader” for the role.

The salary currently on offer for the role is £156,939 a year.

Following the shortlisting of candidates, those selected are expected to proceed to an “assessment centre” phase.

A final interview for the position is likely to take place in January 2025.