Governance

A Monitoring Officer's report

Client: Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council

Scenario: After the local elections in May 2008, Sefton Council was left under no overall control. Despite having a legal duty to do so, the Council members were unable to agree on a Leader or on the composition of the Cabinet. The Council’s Director of Legal Services was considering issuing a statutory Monitoring Officers report. This is an unusual step and very much the last resort, and we were asked for support and legal advice.

Weightmans’ actions and investigations: Local authority clients often need someone from outside to look dispassionately and in some detail at high-profile issues of this kind, and to provide written advice. Weightmans reviewed the Council’s constitution, and advised the Director on how to ensure decisions taken in the interim period were legally valid, and on the risks the Council was running by failing to comply with their legal duty. We also assisted the Director with the contents of the statutory report.

Result: The Director issued the report amidst considerable local and national publicity and when the Council met again, they appointed a Leader and a Cabinet in a way that complied with the law.