Issue - meetings

At the last meeting of the Scrutiny Committee, it was resolved that:-

“the Cabinet be recommended to 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.”

This recommendation has been included as an item on the agenda for the Cabinet Meeting on 1 February 2022 (copy of the report included) and an updatye will be provided to the meeting on the response provided by the Cabinet to that recommendation.

A representative of the Strategic Head of Service & Monitoring Officer (Legal and Democratic Governance) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) detailing the response of the Cabinet to the recommendation made by the Scrutiny Committee at its last meeting in relation to the failure by the Cabinet to comply with Scrutiny Procedure 10.3(b) (Consideration of Scrutiny Committee reports by the Cabinet) with specific reference to the formal response to the recommendations of scrutiny review panels.

It was reported that at the Cabinet Meeting the Deputy Leader of the Council & Cabinet Member for Resources, Commissioning & Governance responded to this recommendation and acknowledged that there had been a delay in providing a response to the scrutiny reviews within the eight week timeframe for those reviews undertaken during 2020/21.  It was noted that three of the scrutiny reviews had now received that formal response which had been agreed by the Cabinet last week which left one outstanding.

The Cabinet further noted the separate reference to the Constitution Working Party which would now review whether it was necessary to codify a process through which the Cabinet could be held to account for any failures to comply with this requirement in the future.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.

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

The Scrutiny Committee will be asked to discuss the response of the Cabinet to scrutiny reviews previously undertaken by scrutiny committees during the 2020/21 municipal year and whether this complied with Rule 10.3(b) of the Scrutiny Procedure Rules (Consideration of Scrutiny Committee reports by the Cabinet) in the constitution, specifically that:-

“a formal response given within 8 weeks of that consideration and reported to the Scrutiny Committee.”

The Chair reported that this item had been placed on the agenda at his request to enable the scrutiny committee to discuss the response of the Cabinet to scrutiny reviews previously undertaken by scrutiny committees during the 2020/21 municipal year and whether this complied with Rule 10.3(b) of the Scrutiny Procedure Rules (Consideration of Scrutiny Committee reports by the Cabinet) in the constitution, specifically that:-

“a formal response given within 8 weeks of that consideration and reported to the Scrutiny Committee.”

The Chair 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.

RESOLVED – (1) That the Strategic Head of Service & Monitoring Officer (Legal and Democratic Governance) be requested to include an item on the agenda of 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).

(2) That the Cabinet be recommended to 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.