Agenda item

A report on the subject of the Designation of the Monitoring Officer Function is due to be considered at a meeting of the Joint Appointments Committee scheduled to take place on 3^rd August 2026, after the publication of the agenda for this Council meeting.  Any recommendations arising from that meeting on this subject will be reported to Council in a supplementary pack for this meeting.

The Leader presented a report concerning the designation of the Monitoring Officer function at the Council.

Members were informed that the Council was required by law to designate an officer to undertake the statutory role of Monitoring Officer. The Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services was currently designated as the Monitoring Officer of the Council.   However, Members were asked to note that following consideration of senior leadership arrangements through the appropriate governance process, the title of the role was changing to Executive Director of Governance and Assurance.  Council was therefore asked to consider transferring the statutory designation of Monitoring Officer to that new post title, to come into effect once the revised structure was implemented.

The purpose of the proposal was to ensure continuity, clarity and compliance with the Council's statutory obligations and to ensure that the Monitoring Officer designation remained attached to a role that existed within the Council's structure.  

Members were asked to note that the decision had no direct financial implications in itself, as any financial considerations were addressed through the separate restructuring process.  Instead, Council was invited to consider the proposal to ensure that the authority achieved good governance and statutory compliance.

Following the presentation of the report, reference was made to the meeting of the Joint Appointments Committee that had been held on 3^rd August 2026 at which a report on this subject had been considered.  At that meeting, Members had been advised that the position of the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services had been reassessed as an Executive Director role by both independent employment specialists and independent legal consultants respectively.  As part of this review process, a job evaluation exercise had been completed by independent experts.

It was noted that the realignment of the Monitoring Officer post to Director level would enhance governance arrangements at the Council.  The Monitoring Officer would also be employed at a more equivalent level to the other statutory officers: the Chief Finance Officer and the Head of Paid Service.  As a consequence, the Monitoring Officer would be in a stronger position to hold the organisation to account and to ensure that governance considerations shaped Council performance and service delivery.

During consideration of this item, questions were raised as to why the role of Executive Director of Governance and Assurance had not been advertised for recruitment and whether the process that had been followed had been transparent.  Clarification was provided that the focus of the report was on the assignment of the Monitoring Officer, as a statutory post, to the position of Executive Director.  The Joint Appointments Committee had already considered a report on the proposals in respect of the Executive Director post.  This meeting had been held in public and the decision-making process had been fully transparent.  The report to Council was not designed to review the decision taken by the Joint Appointments Committee and Members were asked to note that Council had not been asked to recruit new staff.

Consideration was given to the remuneration that would be received by the postholder in the position of Executive Director of Governance and Assurance and questions were raised as to whether this would have additional financial implications for the Council.  Members were informed that the post holder would receive financial remuneration as a member of staff but there were relatively limited financial implications due to the deletion of the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services role.

The recommendation was proposed by Councillor Matthew Dormer and seconded by Councillor Brandon Clayton.

RESOLVED that

the post of Executive Director of Governance and Assurance be designated as the Council's Monitoring Officer pursuant to Section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, with effect from the date the revised structure would be implemented.

(Prior to consideration of this item the Assistant Director of Legal, Democratic and Procurement Services left the meeting.  She was therefore not present during the debate nor the vote on this item.)