Issue - meetings

The Leader of the Council has been invited to attend the meeting to provide an overview of how the recommendations and comments of scrutiny committees were considered by the Cabinet.

The Chair reported that following a discussion at the last meeting of the Scrutiny Committee, the Leader of the Council (Councillor Elise Wilson) had been invited to attend the meeting to discuss the means by which the recommendations and comments made by scrutiny committees as part of the pre-decision scrutiny process were or should be reflected and reported to the Cabinet to inform their decision-making.

The Leader of the Council reported on the following:-

·         Cabinet Members routinely attended their respective scrutiny committees and so were directly aware of the concerns and comments of members.

·         Scrutiny was valued by the Cabinet as an equal partner.

·         The comments of scrutiny committees were frequently reported to the Cabinet Meeting by the relevant Cabinet Member.

·         In some circumstances the comments and recommendations of scrutiny committees were codified within the report submitted to the Cabinet Meeting.

In response, members of the Scrutiny Committee made the following comments:-

·         Rather than relying on the reporting of comments by the Cabinet Member, other members of the Cabinet should consider viewing the webcasts of scrutiny committees.  In response, the Leader of the Council stated that this did take place in some circumstances.

·         Attendance by Cabinet Members at scrutiny committees and the timely submission of reports should be considered the bare minimum.

·         The value of scrutiny needed to be measured in the quality of decision-making in the council.

·         It was suggested that scrutiny needed to be more diligent in ensuring that the comments made and discussion held were relevant to the remit of that committee.

·         When scrutiny committees resolved to make a recommendation to the Cabinet, this should be considered as a ‘red flag’.

·         There was the potential for Democratic Services to provide an enhanced role in the reporting of scrutiny comments.

·         The Cabinet needed to be provided with sufficient information to ensure that it was able to fully understand the concerns of scrutiny.

·         There was a general consensus that the current system did not work and there needed to be a more robust mechanism for the reporting of scrutiny comments and recommendations to the Cabinet.

·         There was a desire for an independent commentary to be included in reports to cabinet reflecting the overall views of scrutiny, although it was acknowledged that it would not be appropriate or necessarily possible for this to take place for every report considered by the Cabinet.

RESOLVED – That the Strategic Head of Service & Monitoring Officer (Legal and Democratic Governance) be requested to submit a report to the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee outlining proposals for the implementation of an appropriate mechanism that would trigger the inclusion of a commentary of the views of scrutiny committees within reports submitted to the Cabinet.

This item has been placed on the agenda at the request of the Chair.

The Scrutiny Committee will be asked to discuss how the recommendations and comments made by scrutiny committees as part of the pre-decision scrutiny process are or should be reflected and reported to the Cabinet to inform their decision-making.

The Chair reported that this item had been placed on the agenda at his request to enable the scrutiny committee to discuss how the recommendations and comments made by scrutiny committees as part of the pre-decision scrutiny process are or should be reflected and reported to the Cabinet to inform their decision-making.

The Chair expressed his concern that in considering a report on the ‘Future High Street Fund – Stockroom’ proposals, the Cabinet had not had the benefit of a formal record of the discussion and comments made by the three scrutiny committees that had met in advance of its meetings to consider the matter.  It was stated that while the resolutions of each of those scrutiny committees had been incorporated, this was insufficient for the decision-maker to understand the specific concerns expressed as part of those deliberations.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         There was already an established process whereby comments of scrutiny committees were incorporated into the final report that was submitted to the Cabinet in relation to the Medium Term Financial Plan item that could be replicated.

·         It would not be necessary for comments to be routinely captured in Cabinet reports, however where there was significant dissent or opposition to the proposals then this needed to be brought to the decision-maker’s attention.

·         It was suggested that the Leader of the Council be invited to attend the next meeting of the scrutiny committee to address the meeting in relation to this issue and how the Cabinet considered the comments and concerns of scrutiny.

RESOLVED – (1) That the Leader of the Council be invited to attend the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee to provide an overview of how the recommendations and comments of scrutiny committees were considered by the Cabinet.

(2) That the Strategic Head of Service & Monitoring Officer (Legal and Democratic Governance) be requested to develop a protocol for the reporting of scrutiny comments and recommendations within the final report considered by decision-makers.