The Chief Officer Appointments Committee met to establish sub-committees responsible for appointments to several chief officer posts. These sub-committees are responsible for making appointments to the posts of Corporate Director, Environment & Sustainable Transport, Corporate Director, Adults & Health, Director of Housing Needs, and Director of Housing Services. The meeting was scheduled to discuss the size and membership of these sub-committees.

Establishment of Chief Officer Appointment Sub-Committees

The Chief Officer Appointment Committee was scheduled to discuss the establishment of appointment sub-committees for several key positions within the council. These positions include:

• Corporate Director, Environment & Sustainable Transport
• Corporate Director, Adults & Health
• Director of Housing Needs
• Director of Housing Services

The report pack included job descriptions for each of these roles, outlining the responsibilities and qualifications required.

Corporate Director, Environment & Sustainable Transport

The Corporate Director of Environment and Sustainable Transport is responsible for leading and managing a range of services, including street cleansing, recycling and waste management, highways, traffic management, parking services and sustainable transport, parks and open spaces, grounds maintenance, licensing and regulatory services, and community safety. They also act as the council's environmental sustainability champion, with strategic responsibility for developing and implementing environmentally sustainable policies and strategies.

The job description states that they will:

To lead and manage environmental and infrastructure services to deliver an environmentally sustainable Newham.

Corporate Director, Adults & Health

The Corporate Director of Adults and Health is responsible for leading and managing a portfolio of services including commissioning of health and social care, adult social care and safeguarding, and public health. They also work in partnership with the Newham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and other NHS providers to enable full integration of health provision and adult social care provision. The post holder also holds the statutory post of Director of Adult Social Services¹ and is designated as the Caldicott Guardian².

Director of Housing Needs

The Director of Housing Needs is responsible for leading the corporate strategic approach to tackling homelessness and ensuring everyone has access to good quality and timely advice. They are also responsible for ensuring the council's duties under parts 6 and 7 of the Housing Act 1985³ are efficiently and fairly complied with.

Director of Housing Services

The Director of Housing Services has strategic leadership responsibility for the management and maintenance of the council's portfolio of approximately 16,000 tenanted properties and around 8,000 leasehold properties. They are responsible for ensuring full statutory and regulatory compliance, maintaining the safety of residents, and delivering all landlord services to tenants and leaseholders.

Composition of the Sub-Committees

The Chief Officer Appointment Committee was scheduled to discuss the size and membership of the appointment sub-committees, ensuring they align with the council's requirements. According to the report pack, these requirements include:

• The Mayor of Newham, Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE, is a standing member of the Chief Officer Appointment Committee and any sub-committee, but may nominate another member to chair the meeting.
• The quorum for the sub-committee is three members.
• The composition of the sub-committee should be appropriate to the appointment being made.
• The composition of the sub-committee should be reflective of the council's guidance on diverse recruitment panels, as detailed in Appendix E of the report pack.

The report pack also notes that the sub-committee membership should include at least one substitute member. The council's guidance on diverse recruitment panels emphasises the importance of diverse panels in promoting the council's commitment to diversity and inclusion, providing candidates with confidence in a fair assessment, reducing unconscious bias, and creating opportunities for more employees to be involved in recruitment. The guidance states that all panels should consist of at least three people and be ethnically and gender diverse.