The topical session reported on herein sought to confirm the need to start thinking about the place of monitoring in the context of a safety case and to hear from within the Integration Group for the Safety Case (IGSC) the status of knowledge related to monitoring developments in member programmes through a series of presentations on the role of monitoring in a safety case. The topical session was organised in the framework of the sixth meeting of the IGSC, held at the NEA Offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France on 3 November 2004.