Kate Josephs: How long has the Sheffield City Council chief been back at work and what has she done?

After an initial period when she appeared to be keeping her head down, she is often seen publicly fronting council matters in and out of the town hall.

Only last week she was commenting on the tree felling report, before that it was the Clean Air Zone and before that the Stannington Gas Flood. But while some issues come and go, some appear to be stuck or moving so slowly they are overtaken by events - in particular big projects on Fargate, Castlegate and in Atterciffe which have been hit by inflation.

It was in June last year Kate Josephs returned to work after being suspended on full pay for nearly half-a-year for organising a rule-breaking leaving drinks in the Cabinet Office to mark the end of her time as director general of the Covid taskforce. She also got into trouble for not informing politicians in Sheffield until a national newspaper broke the story.

A huge, secretive inquiry - that cost more than £150,500 in investigations, legal fees and staffing costs - eventually decided she should be allowed to return to work. In that time she was paid to stay at home £94,627.05. On her return, she apologised and promised to make donations from her salary to good causes that were ‘at least’ as much as she earned in that time.

In October, she was specifically asked to develop a plan to better support women experiencing menopause. In December, she appeared at press conferences in Stannington after more than 2,000 homes were left without heating or hot water during a cold snap due to a ‘gas flood’.

In February she was praised by Sheffield milk producer Eddie Andrew of Our Cow Molly for visiting his Dungworth farm to advise on the Clean Air Zone which was set to cost the firm £28,600-a-year. And last week she was said those affected by the 2007/8 tree felling scandal would get a ‘personal and thoughtful apology’ adding that it was too early to say whether anyone would face disciplinary action.