News / Monitor ups ante on SLM

In a consultation on the assessment process, the regulator said applications received after 1 October 2007 should include a detailed action plan of how they would implement service line management (SLM) by September 2008. The action plan should explain the degree of granularity of their SLM – the level of speciality or sub-specialty to which the analysis would be provided. Monitor said it would not prescribe the level of granularity as each applicant would have their own requirements, but they would have to justify the level of detail they had chosen.

For assessments after 1 October 2008, Monitor would expect submissions to include trusts’ SLM reports and these should reconcile to the data provided in the applicant’s long-term financial model. The regulator said SLM would improve its analysis of applicants’ financial viability as well as providing additional evidence to demonstrate strong governance. It has asked for comments by 18 December.

Monitor has issued a revised audit code for foundation trusts. This includes a number of amendments. No member of the audit team may now be a member or governor of the foundation trust being audited, while the senior statutory auditor is required to sign the audit report in his or her own name as well as on behalf of the firm of auditors.