Question

does the role of a monitoring officer extend to more than investigating code of conduct complaints?

Answer 1

No, not under normal circumstances.

Answer 2

Yes they can be useful as a source of  impartial advice and in our Borough the MO triggered the possibility of elections in every PC Ward where there were vacancies

In fact the Borough Democratic Services take an interest in PC’s and at one stage said they could impose members on none quorate councils which I would be interested to see work in practice

Comments

The majority prefer not to get involved, citing the self-governing nature of parish councils. They are obliged to appoint councillors to inquorate councils and I nearly found myself in this situation last year with one of mine. When you say the MO triggered the possibility of elections, was the intention to impose this and, if so, who was going to pick up the bill?

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Dave
I’d never heard of it before, in each Ward with vacancies even if they’d been like that since the May 2019 election notices were put out giving 10 residents the chance to call an election just like happens when a Councillor resigns
They’ve also arranged training about declarations of interest but judging from my sample check of them it hasn’t made much difference to their accuracy

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If the 2019 elections didn't generate sufficient candidates, what on earth made the MO think that an invitation to petition would achieve this? We had 10 residents submit a petition in one of mine early last year, but they didn't nominate a candidate when the election came around! It sounds to me as though your MO is going off piste here.

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This election offer applied to all Wards in the Borough with vacancies
In my own PC they have rejected candidates for cooption even with several vacant seats including one whom it was claimed was too
political because they were a member of a mainstream political party
I’m in an opposing party and still supported them
Three of our Wards then got 10 electors to ask for an election so it remains to be seen if we get candidates

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You should remind your council of their legal obligation to fill co-opted vacancies "at the earliest opportunity". This doesn't give them the right to wait for a friendly candidate to come along.

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thats a really interesting answer. i have approached our M.O for 'impartial advice' and its clear they dont want to get involved. Perhaps it depends on how the role is resourced , and the staffing levels /workloads  of democratic services officers generally - but its very difficult to know where to go when its not a Code of Conduct complaint - but the parish council puts up a wall of non co operation
when  issues of lawful decision making are raised.