Retirement and the Future
Some of you may be aware that I have decided to retire on 01 November from my main role at Blackpool Council as Director of Governance and Monitoring Officer. This week has been a key milestone in preparing for that as I stood down as Monitoring Officer. My Deputy Lorraine Hurst was appointed by Council as Monitoring Officer and she has now appointed me as her Deputy for my remaining time at Blackpool. My role being to support Lorraine in this transition and ensure a smooth handover. She will report directly to the Chief Executive and be on the weekly Corporate Leadership Team.
ADSO MO/ DMO Group
My last newsletter in January mentioned the ADSO MO/ DMO Group and the ADSO view that the role of Monitoring Officer should be retitled ‘The Chief Governance Officer’ and it should be the best person for the role not the one who happens to be the most senior legal person. Lorraine is an excellent governance professional and will carry the baton for the governance sector and has served her apprenticeship as a very able Deputy.
I may be retiring from Blackpool but I will be continuing my role as Company Secretary of ADSO and we had our Board meeting this week. There were key items on the appointment of a Chief Executive for ADSO and a 2024 conference venue which will be picked up in future newsletters but sticking with the theme of the Monitoring Officer, the Chair reported that discussions had taken place with HoeyAinscough Associates to provide support both to ADSO MO/ DMO Group and to the wider ADSO membership. The support included would be an ‘advice line’ for ADSO members on standards issues.
Three types of support would be offered:
- General standards advice to help officers understand the statutory framework and related Code of Conduct issues.
- Advice with regard to an assessment, investigation, or determination of a complaint.
- Advice on wider governance, procedural and constitutional issues, including the role of standards committees and Independent Persons.
The advice would not be formal legal advice but would be based on HoeyAinscough’s experience as the national experts on the standards framework with over ten years’ experience of providing advice for councillors, council officers and the public on standards-related issues.
This was agreed by the Board and will be a great addition to the ADSO membership offer and it will be promoted more widely in the weeks to come and will of course be a key item at the next meeting of the ADSO MO/ DMO Group. Watch the ADSO website for more details in the weeks to come.
Consultation on the Code of Practice on Good Governance for Statutory Officers
LLG, CIPFA and SOLACE are currently consulting on the Code of Practice on Good Governance for Statutory Officers. The Code of Practice sets out expectations for the Chief Executive, the Chief Finance Officer and the Monitoring Officer in local authorities. The Code aims to support these roles to work effectively together and deliver good governance.
The consultation period ends on 05 April 2024 and the consultation and full draft code can be accessed at this link:
Consultation on the Code of Practice on Good Governance for Statutory Officers
Learning from Councils which faced Finance and Governance challenges
In September 2022, the Local Government Association (LGA) commissioned a desktop study on five councils with experience of finance and governance challenges which led to either a S114 report or a capitalisation direction with a governance review at the time the research was commissioned. The first stage of the research was completed in April 2023 and since the LGA commissioned the research, a further four local authorities have issued a S114 report, demonstrating that this is an increasingly important issue.
In order to discuss the research findings and consider actions to support the sector going forward, four roundtable events were held in late 2023, attended by 45 delegates including representatives from the four councils still in existence which were the subjects of the research.
This report provides a summary of learning arising from the research and roundtable discussions for the sector, in particular about Annual Governance Statements which governance officers will be starting to draft in the weeks to come. For more information on this please see the LGA website at the link below.
LGA Publications – Learning from councils which faced finance and governance challenges
Mark Towers, ADSO Company Secretary