The Leicestershire County Council meeting on 3 December 2025 included reports from the Cabinet, the Constitution Committee, and the Appointment Committee. Councillors were scheduled to discuss the council's annual delivery report, proposed revisions to the council's constitution, and the appointment of a new chief executive. There were also several notices of motion to be considered, covering topics such as support for family carers and local flood management.

Appointment of Chief Executive

The report pack included a recommendation to appoint Jane Moore as Chief Executive and Head of Paid Service, effective from 4 December 2025. The stated remuneration for the role was Grade 22, spinal column point 71 of the Leicestershire County Council Salary Scale 2025-26. The appointee would also take on the roles of Electoral Registration Officer and Returning Officer.

The report pack stated that the role became available following the decision of the current Chief Executive, John Sinnott, to retire.

The report pack stated that a politically balanced sub-committee was established to undertake the recruitment, and that the sub-committee comprised Councillor D Harrison CC, Councillor K Crook CC, Councillor J Poland CC, Councillor M Mullaney CC and Councillor D Taylor CC.

The report pack stated that the role was advertised externally with the support of Starfish Search, recruitment consultants, and a thorough and comprehensive recruitment process was carried out.

The report pack stated that the Appointment Committee put forward Jane Moore, current Director of Children and Family Services, as the preferred candidate to be the Council's new Chief Executive, and noted that One of Jane's key achievements has been successfully leading children's services to its Outstanding Ofsted rating last year. She will bring this experience and ambition to her leadership of the whole council.

Annual Delivery Report and Performance Compendium 2025

The report pack contained the Annual Delivery Report and Performance Compendium for 2025. The Delivery Report focused on delivery against the County Council priorities as set out in the council's main service strategies. The Performance Compendium included information on comparative performance and 2024/25 performance outcome results, funding for Leicestershire and associated risks.

The report pack stated that the council's own detailed benchmarking showed that it was the fifth best performing county in England on a wide range of performance measures in 2023/24, despite being the lowest funded.

The report pack stated that initial analysis of 2024/25 end-of-year data showed that of 160 metrics, 73 improved, 34 showed no real change and 53 worsened.

The report pack stated that areas for focus included:

• Continuing to maintain awareness of Leicestershire's unfair funding position.
• Continuing progress on the council's preferred option for Local Government Reorganisation.
• Continuing to progress improvements to SEND¹ services and targeted improvements to Children's Social Care.
• Implementing the Public Health Strategy and a refreshed Health and Wellbeing Strategy, and supporting public health services.
• Pressing for an effective government solution to the challenges in Adult Social Care and implementing the Improvement Plan in response to the CQC² Inspection of Leicestershire Adult Social Care services.
• Implementing a refreshed Local Transport Plan (LTP 4)³ continued public transport improvements and measures to help support and grow the local economy.
• Maintaining the focus on ensuring good local public services and customer satisfaction.

The report pack stated that the Scrutiny Commission considered the draft Annual Delivery Report and Performance Compendium at its meeting on 10 November 2025 and welcomed the report as well as the council's performance which remained strong despite its low funded position.

The report pack stated that the Scrutiny Commission also commented on park and ride services and raised concerns regard the adult social care survey results which remained below average.

The report pack stated that the Cabinet considered the draft Annual Delivery Report and Performance Compendium at its meeting on 18 November and agreed that the Chief Executive, following consultation with the Leader, be authorised to make any amendments to the draft Annual Delivery Report and Performance Compendium prior to its submission for approval to the County Council on 3 December 2025.

Review and Revision of the Constitution

The report pack contained a report from the Constitution Committee recommending changes to the Constitution as part of the annual review.

The report pack stated that changes had been made to three areas of the Constitution: the Articles (Part 2), the Meeting Procedure Rules (Part 4A) and the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules (Part 4E).

The report pack stated that two changes had been made to the Articles in Part 2 of the Constitution relating to Article 6 (Overview and Scrutiny Committees) and Article 14 (Finance, Contracts and Legal Matters). A new Article 6.06 was added to capture current practice regarding the appointment of the four Scrutiny Commissioners. Article 14 was amended to make clear the current practice which allows the Director of Law and Governance to subdelegate their powers in respect of instigating and defending cases in court.

The report pack stated that amendments had been made to the Meeting Procedure Rules to provide greater clarity regarding the council's current, accepted processes and to ensure the Rules can be more easily navigated by officers and members.

The report pack stated that the key amendments to the Meeting Procedure Rules included:

• Separating the procedures into two main parts, with the third section dealing with administrative matters relating to the interpretation, amendment and suspension of the Rules.
• Introducing subheadings to make the document easier to navigate.
• Amending Standing Order 1 to allow more time to hold the annual meeting in an election year.
• Expanding Standing Order 2 to make clear how the Chairman and Vice Chairman are appointed, who can be appointed and sets out more clearly their authority to manage the meeting process.
• Making the rules clearer in Standing Order 3 to cover circumstances when a quorum might not be present at the start of a meeting.
• Replacing current paragraph (4) and the note at the bottom of Standing Order 6, a new paragraph (1) has been added to make clear that the minutes of a previous meeting need only be confirmed at the next ordinary meeting (not at an extraordinary meeting).
• Moving current paragraph 7(2) in Standing Order 7 to Section 2 (Executive, Commission, board and committee Procedure Rules) of these rules, which relate to meetings of the Commission, boards and other committees.
• Making a minor change to Standing Order 8 to delete paragraph (5), the ability for the Chairman of the Scrutiny Commission to make a Position Statement now being included in paragraph (1).
• Simplifying the process in Standing Order 9 for submitting reports to Council to make clear who is responsible for moving the recommendation set out in the report.
• Adding new paragraphs (2) and (3) to Standing Order 10 to acknowledge current practice allowing for motions to be received by email and that these can be submitted to the annual meeting.
• Changing the title of Standing Order 17 from 'Motions and amendments generally' to make its purposes clearer.
• Creating a new Standing Order 19 which sets out more clearly the process for moving and seconding motions.
• Incorporating all of current Standing Orders 19 (Length of speeches and conduct of members), 20 (Seconder's speech) and 21 (When a member may speak again) into Standing Order 20 and has been retitled.
• Creating a new Standing Order 24 which incorporates current Standing Order 24 (Next business etc), 25 (Adjournment of debate) and 26 (Closure).
• Adding new paragraph (1) to Standing Order 25 to make clear the current practice that, unless otherwise stated, matters will be determined by a majority vote.
• Deleting current Standing Order 31 (Interests in Contracts and other matters) as this duplicates the Members' Code of Conduct.
• Creating a new Standing Order 28 which lists those rules in Section 1 (County Council Procedure Rules) that will also apply, subject to any necessary modification, to meetings of the Commission, boards and committees.
• Adding a new paragraph (3) to Standing Order 29 to reflect the current process as set out in the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules regarding the appointment of scrutiny committee chairmen.
• Inserting new paragraphs (1) to (3) in Standing Order 30 to make clear the current process for setting and calling meetings.
• Including new paragraphs (2) (5) in Standing Order 31 to set out the process for appointing and notifying the Chief Executive of substitutes for meetings.
• Incorporating the current Standing Order 33(3) regarding political groups requesting items be added to scrutiny agendas into Standing Order 31.
• Incorporating the rules relating to questions from elected members into Standing Order 32 so far as these relate to non-Council meetings.

The report pack stated that some minor, correctional changes had been made to the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules to reflect the changes set out above.

Notices of Motion

The agenda included the following notices of motion:

• Support for Family Carers - proposed by Councillor D Harrison CC. The motion called for the council to formally recognise carers as a group requiring particular consideration and support, and to assess future decisions, services and policies made and adopted by the council to determine the impact of changes on carers.
• Opposing Labour's Digital ID Scheme - proposed by Councillor M Mullaney CC. The motion stated that the council formally opposes the Labour Government's Digital ID plans, and requests that the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive write to the Secretary of State for the Home Department and the Minister for Digital Infrastructure expressing the council's firm opposition to Labour's mandatory Digital ID system and calling for the plans to be scrapped.
• Urgent Action on SEND Funding - proposed by Councillor D Taylor CC. The motion resolved to write to the Secretary of State for Education, urging an immediate review and uplift of SEND funding allocations for Leicestershire County Council.
• Community Flood Signage Scheme for Leicestershire - proposed by Councillor J Poland CC. The motion resolved to introduce a pilot scheme of enhanced resources allocated to prioritise 'quick response' to locations where road closures could reduce the risk to life and risk of property flooding caused by bow waves or other relevant locations promoted by Volunteer Flood Wardens (VFWs).