Decision details

At its meeting on 13 December 2021, the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee considered an item that had been placed on the agenda at the request of the Chair in relation to the ‘Cabinet responses to Scrutiny Reviews’.

The Chair of the scrutiny committee stated that it was his understanding that none of the scrutiny reviews undertaken in the previous municipal year had yet received a formal response. It was further commented that there was no mechanism within the constitution for failures to comply with this procedure rule, and that consideration should be given to remedying this.

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee agreed to recommend that the Cabinet comply with their duty under Scrutiny Procedure Rule 10.3(b) and provide formal responses to those scrutiny reviews undertaken during the 2020/21 municipal year.

The Cabinet then:-

(1) Noted that since the recommendation of the scrutiny committee, three cabinet responses had been provided to those scrutiny reviews undertaken in 2021/22 with one response remaining outstanding.

(2) Noted that the matter was the subject of a separate referral to the Constitution Working Party asking that consideration be given to instituting a mechanism for dealing with failures by the Cabinet to comply with the provisions of Scrutiny Procedure Rule 10.3(b).

None.