Disclosure Log

Question

1. Monitoring Officer Appointment and Organisational Position Please confirm:

1.1 Professional background

Whether the Monitoring Officer is:

• legally qualified (solicitor or barrister)

• another professional (which one)

1.2 Nature of appointment

Whether the Monitoring Officer appointment is:

• permanent (substantive)

• interim

If the Monitoring Officer is currently interim, please confirm:

• the date the interim appointment commenced

• the anticipated end date (if known)

1.3 Organisational position

Please confirm:

• the directorate or department in which the Monitoring Officer role sits

• whether the Monitoring Officer also serves as Head of Legal Services / Director of Legal / equivalent

2. Legal Services Structure

Please confirm how legal services are delivered within the authority:

• in-house legal team

• shared legal service with other authorities

• combined authority / regional legal service

• outsourced external provider

• hybrid arrangement

If legal services are delivered through a shared service, please provide the partner authorities involved.

3. Legal Department Resourcing

Please provide the annual budget allocated to the legal services department (or equivalent) and the number of staff within the authority’s legal services department (full-time equivalent) for the following financial years:

Year Budget Staffing

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

2024/25

2026/27

4. Locum / Agency Legal Staff

Since 1 January 2016, please confirm:

4.1 Engagement of temporary legal staff

The total number of locum, agency, or temporary lawyers engaged by the authority’s legal services department.

4.2 Annual expenditure

The total annual expenditure on locum or agency legal staff for the following financial years:

Year Budget

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

2024/25

2026/27

5. Monitoring Officer Vacancy and Interim Arrangements Since 1 January 2020, please confirm whether the Monitoring Officer role has at any time been:

• vacant

• held by an interim Monitoring Officer

If yes, please provide:

• approximate dates

• whether the role was covered by:

o interim appointment

o Deputy Monitoring Officer acting up

o another officer

6. Governance Reporting

Since 1 January 2015, how many Monitoring Officer reports under section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 have been issued by the authority?

If available, please provide copies of the reports or links to where they are publicly available.

7. Organisational Documents

Please provide:

• a copy of the current organisational chart showing the Monitoring Officer role and legal services structure

• if available, the organisational charts, job descriptions and person specifications since 2016 showing the Monitoring Officer role

Answer

In accordance with financial regulations, financial records are only required to be retained for six years plus the current financial year. Consequently, the information provided only extends back to 2020/21.

I have included budgeted staffing numbers rather than actual figures, as staffing levels may vary during the course of a year due to employee turnover.

Legal Services does not routinely engage locum or agency staff. Where additional legal expertise is required, external legal advice is commissioned for specific matters, although this would not ordinarily fall within the category of locum or agency staffing.