Appointment of the Chair of Arts Council London

The Mayor announced on Thursday 10 June 2010 that Veronica Wadley has been appointed Chair of the Arts Council London.

Since October 2009, the Economic Development, Culture, Sport and Tourism (EDCST) Committee had been asking questions and received information about the appointment and recruitment process for this post following the then Secretary of State’s rejection of the original appointment.

This correspondence and relevant information that the Committee has received is set out below:

Latest update - June 2010

Following the announcement of Veronica Wadley's appointment on 10 June, the Chair (Len Duvall AM since May 2010) wrote to the Chief Executive to clarify the details of the final appointment process.

Letter from the Chair to the Chief Executive of the GLA - 10.06.10Response from the Chief Executive - 21.06.10

Background information and correspondence in chronological order:

October 2009

Veronica Wadley's appointment is announced by the Mayor before being vetoed by the then Culture Secretary, Ben Bradshaw

The Mayor's Arts and Culture Advisor, Munira Mirza attended the EDCST Committee meeting on 21 October 2010 and was asked about the appointment process.

EDCST Committee meeting transcript - 21.10.09.

November 2009

In light of comments made by the independent member in the process, Sir David Durie, to the Standards Committee, Dee Doocey AM, Chair of the EDCST Committee sought clarification on the interview and selection process.

Letter from Sir David Durie to GLA Deputy Chief Executive, Jeff Jacobs - 03.08.09Follow up letter to the GLA Chief Executive, Leo Boland - 25.08.09

The Chair wrote to Munira Mirza and Leo Boland and recieved the following responses:

Letters to Munira Mirza and Leo Boland - 02.11.09Response from Munira Mirza - 06.11.09Response from Leo Boland - 06.11.09

December 2009

Len Duvall AM (Member of the EDCST Committee and Chair from May 2010) received copies of all GLA correspondence relating to the appointment process of the Chair of the Arts Council London. Please note that file is 580 pages long and may be slow to load.

GLA correspondence Additional GLA correspondence

The Chair then wrote to Munira Mirza to explain the apparent inconsistency between her description of the shortlisting process for the second stage interviews with the Mayor and that suggested by the published correspondence.

Second letter to Munira Mirza - 07.12.09Second response from Munira Mirza - 30.12.09

The Chair also wrote to Leo Boland to confirm the appointment process in light of the additional correspondence received.

Chair's letter to Leo Boland regarding second appointment processResponse from Leo Boland - 09.12.09.

Len Duvall AM received aditional information following a Freedom of Information request to the Arts Council.

Arts Council FOI request response - part 1Arts Council FOI request response - part 2

January 2010

Leo Boland sent a follow up letter to confirm the panel members and the role of the independent in the re-run process and that he believed this was compliant with GLA’s protocols and Nolan Principles.

Response from Leo Boland setting out re-run proceedure

February 2010

The Chair wrote to the Standards Committee to update them on the EDCST Committee's work to date and to request that they consider the role of independent members in the GLA’s recruitment process.

Chair's update to the Standards Committee - 12.02.10

April 2010

The Chair of the Standards Committee responded that it would consider the role of independent members at its meeting on 15 June 2010.

Response from the Standards Committee - 15.04.10Standards Committee transcript - 15.06.10

June 2010

Following the announcement of Veronica Wadley's appointment on 10 June, the Chair (now Len Duvall AM) wrote to the Chief Executive to clarify the details of this latest appointment process.

Letter from the Chair to the Chief Executive of the GLA - 10.06.10Response from the Chief Executive - 21.06.10