Standards Committee  

The Monitoring Officer
The role of the Monitoring Officer
Advising the Standards Committee
Advising Members

The Monitoring Officer

Who is the council’s Monitoring Officer?

Alan R Eastwood
For contact details please see contact tab above.

The role of the Monitoring Officer

The Monitoring Officer needs to be aware of the potential conflicts involved in advising the Standards Committee and advising Members and any Sub-Committees of the Standards Committee.

Advising the Standards Committee

It is important that Standards Committees receive high quality, independent advice. The Standards Board for England, therefore, recommends that a Monitoring Officer should be the adviser to the Standards Committee, unless they have an interest in the matter that prevents them from performing this role independently. If this situation arises the Monitoring Officer would arrange for another appropriately qualified Officer to advise the Standards Committee.

In advising the Standards Committee, the Monitoring Officer or his deputy or other legal adviser should:

• Make sure that Members of the Standards Committee understand their powers and procedures
• Make sure that the determination procedure is fair and will allow the allegations to be dealt with as efficiently and effectively as possible
• Make sure that the Member about who the allegation is made understands the procedures the Standards Committee will follow.
• Provide advice to the Standards Committee during the hearing and their determination
• Help the Standards Committee produce a written decision and a summary decision

Advising Members

Monitoring Officers play an important role in advising their Members on a day to day basis. In performing this role, Monitoring Officers need to be aware of the potential conflict that can arise, as these conflicts could prevent them from advising the Standards Committee at a later stage.

However, conflicts of interest are not likely to arise simply from informal discussions with Members and the Monitoring Officer.

The Standards Board for England recommends that Monitoring Officers consider other methods in order to reduce the likelihood of such conflicts, including:

• Arranging for another Officer to advise Members; or
• Continuing to advise Members, identifying possible scenarios that may lead to conflicts and re-assuring themselves that if their advice could be material to the investigation, they have another appropriately experienced Officer who is prepared to support the Standards Committee in its hearings and deliberations.