The Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority Appointments Panel met on Wednesday 14 January 2026 to discuss the recruitment of a Chief Executive. The panel decided to shortlist two candidates for interview and agreed on the focus of their presentations and the number of interview questions.

Recruitment of Chief Executive

The panel considered a report detailing the shortlisting process for the role of Chief Executive (Head of Paid Service). Following an initial evaluation of applicants by Lincolnshire County Council's Resourcing Manager, Alison Miller, the panel was tasked with selecting candidates to invite for an interview.

The panel agreed that two of the longlisted candidates demonstrated sufficient experience across all required areas. This decision was made after reviewing the criteria set out in Appendices A and B of the report, which were exempt from public disclosure. The panel also noted that the recruitment process had been effective and the role had been well-publicised through various channels, including the Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) website, social media, and the websites of the three constituent councils: North East Lincolnshire Council, Lincolnshire County Council, and North Lincolnshire Council.

The panel resolved to shortlist these two candidates for interview.

In addition to shortlisting candidates, the panel discussed and agreed on the format and content of the interview process. It was decided that candidates would be required to deliver a presentation focusing on their vision for Greater Lincolnshire and change management experience, as these were identified as key priorities for the role. This decision was informed by the discussions at a previous meeting on 3 December 2025, where the salary for the Chief Executive role was set at £120,000 with an additional £10,000 performance-related bonus.

Furthermore, the panel reviewed the proposed interview questions, which were detailed in Appendix D of the report. They agreed to reduce the number of questions to six, combining some of the original suggestions and removing those that overlapped with the presentation topic or focused on the authority's existing governance arrangements. This streamlined approach was deemed optimal given the allocated interview time.

The decisions made by the panel were:

• To shortlist two candidates for the Chief Executive role.
• To focus the presentation assessment on vision for Greater Lincolnshire and change management experience.
• To proceed with the agreed six interview questions.

The interviews are scheduled to take place on 20 January 2026, with a final decision on the preferred candidate to be made immediately afterwards. The appointment of the Chief Executive will then be subject to satisfactory references and approval by the Authority at an Extraordinary Meeting scheduled for 30 January 2026.

The meeting was chaired by Mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns DBE. Other members present included Councillor R Gibson (Lincolnshire County Council), Councillor S Shreeve (North East Lincolnshire Council), and Councillor N Poole (North Lincolnshire Council), who were acting as delegate members for Councillors S Matthews and R Waltham MBE respectively. Apologies were received from Councillors P Jackson, S Matthews, and R Waltham MBE. The meeting was held in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972, with the public excluded for the discussion of exempt information relating to the recruitment process.