Nottinghamshire County Council makes recruitment change to prevent repeat of Hucknall Councillor controversy

Nottinghamshire County Council has added a new line to its recruitment procedures to prevent former councillors being hired into paid roles until 12 months have passed since they left office.

It follows the hiring of former Hucknall West Councillor Phil Rostance (Con) into the position of Executive Officer to the Senior Leadership Team (Ruling Group) at the start of November last year.

This was roughly six months after he stopped being a councillor following his defeat to Cllr Dave Shaw (Ash Ind) in May 2021's local elections.

His employment came despite Schedule 116 of the Local Government Act 1972 stating former councillors are "not to be appointed as officers" until at least 12 months after they ceased to be a member of that authority.

This rule is in place to prevent any conflicts of interest and to reduce political influence in senior officer positions – although there was no suggestion Cllr Rostance's appointment led to either.

The law adds: "A person shall, so long as he is, and for twelve months after he ceases to be, a member of a local authority, be disqualified for being appointed or elected by that authority to any paid office, other than to the office of chairman or vice-chairman."

The authority's chief executive apologised when the rule breach became apparent and said it was a "genuine mistake".

Councillors debated behind closed doors at the November full council meeting to discuss an outcome to Cllr Rostance's position. He remains in the role.

But the authority also pledged to alter its recruitment practices to prevent a similar breach from occurring in the future.

Now the council has outlined this step in documents due before its personnel committee next week (March 9).

The documents confirm a new line will be added to the authority's "range of checks" when assessing an applicant.

It will include: "Any statutory bars relating to elected members who cannot hold paid employment with the council for the first 12 months of leaving office."

Other checks on this list include proof of qualifications, validated references, a relevant DBS check and proof of eligibility to work in the UK.

The documents add recruits will not be set up on the authority's payroll if "any one of these requirements has not been met to a satisfactory standard".

The November meeting saw councillors torn on whether to debate Cllr Rostance's position in public or in private, with the authority's monitoring officer arguing the matter was not in the public interest.

Councillors were told discussing the item in public would lead to the disclosure of the former councillor's personal details such as salary, and that legal counsel had been sought on the issue.

However, it took more than an hour for a vote to take place after several opposition councillors called for the matter to be held in public.

Cllr Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind), leader of the Independent Alliance, said the matter "had already been reported in the media" and argued there were "no grounds not to mention it" in the meeting.

And Cllr Glynn Gilfoyle (Lab), who represents Worksop East, argued much of the information in an exempt document could have been left out and offered nothing to resolve why the breach had happened.

A recorded vote resulted in 33 councillors voting for the item to be held in private, with 27 voting to discuss Cllr Rostance's position in public.

Anthony May, the council's chief executive, issued a statement to the Local Democracy Reporting Service prior to the meeting admitting to the breach and describing it as a "serious matter".

He said he was making an "unreserved apology" to the council and Cllr Rostance for the breach, but said the matter was not discussed publicly due to "personal and financial information about the member of staff".

Cllr Rostance, who continues to represent Hucknall West for the Conservatives on Ashfield District Council, did not wish to comment when approached by the Local Democracy Reporting Service last November.