Issue - meetings

Report of the Chair of Overview and Scrutiny

The item was introduced by Councillor Duncan Smith as chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (O&S). The report reviewed the new arrangements for Overview and Scrutiny which were implemented following the elections in May 2012. The annual report set out the achievements of scrutiny over the last 12 months and in particular highlighted the outcomes of a range of scrutiny task groups. He hoped that members would acknowledge that the annual report set out the very positive contributions made by O&S and he thanked all those members who have been engaged in the process during the year. He particularly thanked Rosalind Reeves, the Democratic Services Manager and her team and all the officers who had supported the scrutiny process throughout the year.

Regarding the scrutiny questionnaire, although it had received a comparatively full response from members, he was still disappointed that 25% of the members in the chamber couldn't pick up a pen to complete a simple survey. Whilst excusing some members who felt they were not in a position to comment, that still left 6 members who hadn't bothered to respond in any way. He encouraged those members who had not responded to speak in this debate so that he could understand why they had not engaged in the process. He emphasised that all members had a role to play in scrutiny whether they were Cabinet members, members of the O&S committee or others. The O&S committee had adopted a strategy of supporting every idea that have been put forward by members but it had a very thin agenda going forward so he  encouraged members to suggest suitable topics. These could be a issue causing problems, an area that was going well or a direction of travel which members would like to look at more closely.

The Mayor invited questions and Councillor Smith made the following responses:

• Asked whether Cabinet Members should be more involved in scrutiny task groups, he felt that engagement with Cabinet Members was important but he had some difficulty in them becoming a permanent part of a task group. There could be a potential conflict of interest if the Cabinet Member was then required to be questioned by the task group. He questioned the need for Cabinet Member working groups and felt it would make more sense for Cabinet Members to use scrutiny task groups as a policy development tool.
• Asked to comment on why some members felt they had lost opportunities to be kept informed under the new arrangements, Councillor Smith acknowledged that clearly members wanted to hear more from the Cabinet Members.  In his view there were only 10 members on the O&S committee and he felt the comments about not being informed had come from those members not on the committee. Therefore he felt this should be more of a challenge for Cabinet as how they were going to address this issue.
• Asked to comment on using the results of the skills audit to assist in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10