The Ribble Valley Council's Sub-committee - Policy & Finance met on Thursday, 18 September 2025, to interview candidates for the role of Chief Executive. The committee agreed to invite six candidates to the selection process, which included psychometric testing, an interview with a third party, a written exercise, a presentation, and an interview with the elected members of the sub-committee.

Chief Executive Recruitment

The main item on the agenda was the interviews for the role of Chief Executive. The agenda for the meeting stated that the interviews would take place on the 17th and 18th of September 2025.

According to the minutes of the previous meeting, the Head of HR advised that the advert for the new Chief Executive went live in the MJ (Municipal Journal) on 30 July 2025 and closed on 25 August 2025. The committee had previously agreed on the selection process, which included:

• Psychometric testing
• An interview with a third party (either a Lancashire council Chief Executive or a representative from North West Employers Organisation)
• A written exercise
• A presentation
• An interview with the four elected members on the sub-committee, with the Head of HR also in attendance.

The minutes of the previous meeting also state that the Head of HR was tasked with inviting the six candidates to the selection process, developing questions for the written exercise, presentation, and elected member interview, and thanking the other 18 applicants for their applications but advising them that they were unsuccessful.

Exclusion of Press and Public

The committee resolved to exclude the press and public from the meeting, as noted in item 3 of the agenda. This was done by virtue of paragraph 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, which allows for the exclusion of the press and public from meetings when confidential or exempt information is being discussed.