Councillors approve Independent Monitoring Officer’s recommendations

Councillors have approved the recommendations of the Independent Monitoring Officer at a confidential meeting of the Council tonight (Thursday 19 May). 

Quentin Baker was appointed by Thanet District Council as an Independent Monitoring Officer in December 2021, to help improve governance at the council, in line with statutory recommendations set out to the council in a report from its external auditors. 

Since his appointment in December 2021, Mr Baker has been focusing on the areas of concern raised within the auditor’s report to understand what happened and why. He has also been working to support the resolution of outstanding grievances to ensure these matters are concluded. To assist with this process, Mr Baker has spoken with a number of Councillors, Officers, external partners and external lawyers, and reviewed documentation.

Mr Baker has now concluded his review and his full report was shared with all Councillors this evening. 

As the full report contains sensitive personal information, Mr Baker has prepared a public summary. The summary contains the full recommendations, in accordance with the external auditor’s statutory recommendations, which the Council has adopted.

Implementation of the eight recommendations approved this evening will begin with immediate effect.

Lessons Learnt Report – Public Summary

Appendix A – statutory recommendations 12 October 2021

Appendix C – Implementation Plan

Note: Appendix B is contained within the Public Summary document.