The Cardiff Council Appointment Committee met to discuss the appointment of an Operational Manager for Legal Services, specifically for Property, Planning, and Procurement, who would also serve as Deputy Monitoring Officer. The committee agreed to invite candidate 81718 for an interview and to advise them of the presentation topic for the interview, allocating a maximum of 10 minutes for the presentation.

Appointment of Operational Manager for Legal Services

The main item of business was to consider the shortlisting of candidates for the position of Operational Manager (OM1) for Legal Services, with a focus on Property, Procurement, Planning, and also serving as Deputy Monitoring Officer.

The Job Description and Person Specification outlines the job purpose as:

The postholder will be responsible for complex legal work associated with High Value Property related legal work and undertaking the day-to-day supervision, management and monitoring of solicitors of the Property and Planning Team, the Local Land Charges Team and the management of the Principal Procurment Solicitor and in the absence of their manager the Procurment Team; advice to the Council, Cabinet, Committees, and Directorates on related legal matters; representation of the Council in Court and at Tribunals, hearings, and inquiries.

The postholder will also support the Monitoring Officer¹ as one of her deputies, and may be required to stand in for the Director of Governance & Legal Services and Monitoring Officer on occasion.

The Behavioural Competency Framework Cardiff Council lists the essential competencies required for the role, including:

• Putting Our Customers First – Level 4
• Getting Things Done – Level 4
• Taking Personal Responsibility – Level 4
• Seeking to understand others and treating them with respect – Level 4

The minutes from the meeting on 14 October 2025, noted that there was one application received for the post.

Following discussion of the findings from an assessment centre, the committee resolved to invite candidate 81718 for interview, and to advise them of the choice of presentation topic, allowing a maximum of 10 minutes for the presentation.

Exclusion of the Public

The committee resolved to exclude the public from the discussion regarding the appointment of the Operational Manager. This decision was made because the discussion involved information relating to applicants, which is considered exempt under paragraphs 12 and 13 of Part 4, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972². These paragraphs relate to information about an applicant becoming an employee of the authority, and information that could reveal the identity of an individual.