By Florence Kilby

Sheffield City Council has appointed a new acting chief executive as the investigation into alleged covid regulation breaking by Kate Josephs continues.

Ms Josephs is currently on paid leave from her £190,000 a year role as Chief Executive of the council, while investigations into a leaving party held when she finished her previous job as the Director General in the Cabinet Office Covid taskforce in December 2020 continue.

Eugene Walker has stepped up from his role as Sheffield City Council’s Executive Director for Resources.

Mr Walker said: “It’s a big year for Sheffield, with exciting plans for the city centre, major events taking place and important work to be done on our budget and delivering on the administration’s priorities. We are as committed as ever to serving the people of Sheffield.”

Leader of Sheffield City Council, Coun Terry Fox, said: “There’s no doubt this has been a challenging time for the council, but I’ve said before that our workforce has been fantastic,
and I want to thank them again for continuing to drive this city forward.”

Ms Josephs has previously claimed she did not attend of the events at 10 Downing Street. However, she “gathered with colleagues… to mark [] leaving the civil service”.
She held this ‘gathering’ at the Cabinet Office a day before Boris Johnson described a “deteriorated” situation regarding the rapidly spreading new Delta variant.

It is expected that the investigation will take a number of weeks.