The Monitoring Officer
The role of the Monitoring Officer
Advising the Standards Committee
Advising Members
Are you using the correct form?
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.
The link to the form is available on the right under downloads.
The points listed below will help you decide whether this is the correct form to use when making your complaint. You should speak to Alan R Eastwood monitoring officer on 01204 331101 if you are not clear if the standards committee can consider your complaint. The assessment sub-committee of the standards committee will make the decision about what action, if any, to take on your complaint.
- Your complaint must be about conduct that occurred while the member(s) complained about were in office. Conduct of an individual before they were elected, co-opted or appointed to the authority, or after they have resigned or otherwise ceased to be a member, cannot be considered by the assessment sub-committee.
- The Code of Conduct came into effect on 5 May 2002, although some authorities adopted the Code of Conduct earlier. If your complaint concerns matters that occurred before 5 May 2002 you should contact Alan R Eastwood monitoring officer on 01204 331101 before making your complaint to check whether it is within the jurisdiction of the assessment sub-committee to consider.
- Your complaint must be about one or more named members of the following authorities Bolton Council, Blackrod, Horwich or Westhoughton Town Councils
- Your complaint must be that the member(s) has, or may have, breached the Code of Conduct. A copy of the Code of Conduct and frequently asked questions about the Code of Conduct are available at the standards board website, see link on the right. You may also contact Alan R Eastwood monitoring officer on 01204 331101 if you require further information.
- Complaints about dissatisfaction with a decision or action of the authority or one of its committees, a service provided by the authority or the authority’s procedures do not fall within the jurisdiction of the standards committee. Complaints about the actions of people employed by the authority also do not fall within the jurisdiction of the standards committee.
- Your complaint must be in writing. If a disability prevents you from making your complaint in writing you may contact Alan R Eastwood monitoring officer on 01204 331101 for assistance.
It is important to note that not every complaint that falls within the jurisdiction of the standards committee will be referred for investigation or other action. The assessment sub-committee of the standards committee must decide whether this is appropriate. If the assessment sub-committee decides not to refer your complaint for investigation or other action it will give you the reasons for this decision. It will also explain any right that you may have to ask for the decision to be reviewed.
What happens once I submit my complaint?
The assessment sub-committee will then meet to consider your complaint and decide whether it should be referred for investigation or other action. This will happen within an average of 20 working days of the date we receive your complaint. Meetings of the assessment sub committee are ‘closed’, which means that you will not be able to attend. It is therefore very important that you set your complaint out clearly and provide at the outset all the information you wish the assessment sub committee to consider.
When the assessment sub-committee has reached its decision we will notify you in writing whether your complaint has been referred for investigation or other action. At the same time we write to you, we will also write to the member(s) you have complained about and the parish or town clerk (if applicable). We will send these letters within five working days of the assessment sub-committee reaching its decision. The decision of the assessment sub-committee is made available for public inspection once the member the complaint is about has been given a summary of the complaint. In very limited situations the member may not be given this summary immediately and if so any public inspection will not happen until the member does get the summary.
What is meant by 'other action'?
The assessment sub-committee may decide to refer your complaint for ‘other action’ instead of referring it for investigation. Other action is a deliberately broad term that may include options such as requiring the person you have complained about to apologise or undergo training or mediation. The assessment sub committee will carefully consider the circumstances surrounding your complaint when deciding whether other action is appropriate. If the assessment sub committee decides to refer your complaint for other action we will explain what this involves.
How should I set out my complaint
It is very important that you set your complaint out fully and clearly, and provide all the information at the outset. You should also provide any documents or other material that you wish the assessment sub-committee to consider, where possible. Unless the authority advises you otherwise, you will not be able to attend the meeting of the assessment sub-committee.
We recommend that you use our complaint form or provide a covering note summarising what you are complaining about, especially if your complaint includes a lot of supporting documentation. In the summary you should tell us exactly what each person you are complaining about said or did that has caused you to complain. If you are sending supporting documentation please cross-reference it against the summary of your complaint.
You should be as detailed as possible and substantiate your complaint where you can. Although you are not required to prove your complaint at this stage of proceedings, you do have to demonstrate that you have reasonable grounds for believing that the member(s) complained about has breached the Code of Conduct.