Council to approve monitoring role change
Standards and conduct at Telford and Wrekin Council will be overseen by a new senior officer, if members approve a role-change this week.
All local authorities are required to appoint a monitoring officer to report on suspected illegality or maladministration.
In a report due to go before councillors this week, HR manager Sue Wilson writes that current monitoring officer Jonathan Eatough will take voluntary redundancy in the summer, and recommends Governance and Legal Service Delivery manager Anthea Lowe to replace him.
Ms Wilson says the change has come after a restructure of senior roles at the authority. The combined cost of Mr Eatough’s and Ms Lowe’s roles is £200,000, and the new arrangements will reduce this, she adds.
The 1989 Local Government and Housing Act requires councils to designate a monitoring officer.
Ms Wilson’s report says their three main duties are to report on suspected law-breaking or maladministration, take responsibility for conduct matters and ensure the council’s constitution operates correctly.
“Following the first phase of the senior management team structure in January 2020, a further review of the governance directorate has taken place to enable the council to maintain a robust service while achieving necessary savings,” she writes.
“There was overlap between the duties of Director of Governance and the post of Governance and Legal Services Delivery manager.”
Ms Wilson notes that these officers, Jonathan Eatough and Anthea Lowe, currently act as monitoring officer and deputy monitoring officer, respectively.
“It was, therefore, proposed that both of these posts be deleted and replaced by one new post,” she writes.
If approved, this new post will be titled ‘Associate Director of Policy and Governance’.
The holder will also act as monitoring officer, reporting directly to chief executive David Sidaway.
“During consultations with the individual post-holders, it was agreed Mr Eatough would leave the authority on the grounds of voluntary redundancies with effect from July 3, 2020, and Anthea Lowe, a suitably qualified, skilled and experienced officer, would be slotted into the new post.”
Telford and Wrekin Councillors will discuss Ms Wilson’s report when they meet on Thursday, May 21, for their online annual general meeting.
