The monitoring officer is a statutory appointment under Section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. The monitoring officer cannot be the chief finance officer or the head of paid service.
The statutory functions of the monitoring officer are to:
- maintain the constitution
- ensure lawfulness and fairness of decision making
- support the standards and audit committee
- responsible for dealing with alleged breaches of the members’ code of conduct (part 5, section 1).