The code supports the chief executive, chief financial officer, and monitoring officer
The Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) in the UK has introduced a "good governance" code of practice to support the chief executive, chief financial officer, and monitoring officer in ensuring councils operate lawfully and effectively.
LLG developed the initiative in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and Solace.
The Law Society Gazette reported that the new code outlined clear expectations for the three key statutory officers responsible for maintaining a council’s corporate health and effectiveness: the chief executive, the chief financial officer, and the monitoring officer.
Helen Bradley, a monitoring officer and LLG’s governance national lead emphasized the code's importance in raising awareness of the critical roles these officers play, particularly the monitoring officer, whose responsibilities are often the least understood among the trio.
"The code is a great foundation to raise awareness of the statutory officers’ roles," Bradley stated. "It particularly highlights the monitoring officer's role, which is perhaps the least understood of the three."
The comprehensive 22-page code of practice consists of seven standards, each accompanied by guidance on achieving them. These standards include understanding governance, acting wisely, leading ethically, acting effectively, resourcing the roles, building resilience, and delivering sound decision-making.
To ensure effective action, the head of paid service, chief financial officer, and monitoring officer are advised to meet regularly. These meetings are crucial for reviewing current and future issues that could impact their statutory duties, encompassing political, financial, legal, staffing, or other concerns. Additionally, these officers must have the necessary access to brief the leader or directly elected mayor and the authority to attend formal and informal meetings between chief officers and elected members.
For delivering sound decision-making, the code stipulated that statutory officers must ensure council decisions are "understandable, lawful, and implementable, set out in plain English." They must also act swiftly if the local authority falls short in these areas.
The code acknowledged that local authorities may occasionally face challenging situations, including financial difficulties, governance or service failures, or issues stemming from poor culture, bad administration, or inadequate decision-making standards. In such scenarios, the statutory officers are tasked with collaboratively flagging concerns as early as possible, as emphasized within the code.
"From time to time, local authorities may find themselves in financial difficulty, governance or service failures, or suffering the results of a poor culture, bad administration, or inadequate standards of decision making. In such situations, it is the role of the statutory officers to work together to flag concerns as early as possible," the code stated.
