Agenda item

The Management Committee is responsible for the co-ordination of the single work programme. It agreed the continuation of the legacy topics for scrutiny from the last Council as reported to the new Management Committee at its first meeting. These were also formally adopted by the select committees at their recent round of meetings and will now be added to the work programme.

Action is underway to hold a series of meetings involving the chairs and vice-chairs of select committees with relevant Cabinet members, portfolio-holders and service directors to discuss service priorities and overview and scrutiny engagement. The outcome of these will recommend topics for the work programme.

The new Business Plan (see early item) will provide the main focus for future overview and scrutiny activities and it is clear from early discussion between leading councillors and seniors officers that an increased expectation will be placed on the overview and scrutiny function to undertake significant work at policy development and pre-decision stages, much of which will be co-ordinated through the new Executive Office and Transformation.  

All Councillors have been consulted about providing information on their work and professional experience, areas of interest and availability to undertake overview and scrutiny activities. This also included expressions of interest to join the legacy task groups. This will then form a “database” from which chairs and vice-chairs of select committees can consult when making appointments.

Potential topics for scrutiny review identified from councillor induction as reported to the last meeting are being investigated at select committee level. Those that were seen as the direct responsibility of the Management Committee are the subject of the  report attached.

Overview and Scrutiny Councillor Development

Centre for Public Scrutiny Annual Conference

A brief report is attached from the recent national conference.  The Chairman and Vice-Chairman who attended will comment on the key messages.

Ongoing Development

Feedback has been positive from the overview and scrutiny induction events. The next step identified was to deliver a session on the specific skills needed to operate effectively as a scrutiny member. Following initial discussion with an external provider, it is proposed to target the first session at the newly appointed chairs and vice-chairs of the select committees to help build “the team”. This would then be followed-up with roll-out targeted at the wider non-executive membership.

This proposal is currently being developed for consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Management Committee before submission to the Councillor Development Group with a delivery target of September (after the August recess).    

The Management Committee were reminded that it was responsible for the co-ordination of the single work programme, and had agreed the continuation of the legacy topics for scrutiny from the last Council as reported to the new Management Committee at its first meeting. These were also formally adopted by the select committees at their recent round of meetings and would now be added to the work programme.

Action was underway to hold a series of meetings involving the chairs and vice-chairs of select committees with relevant Cabinet members, portfolio-holders and service directors to discuss service priorities and overview and scrutiny engagement. The outcome of these meetings would recommend topics for the work programme.

The new Business Plan would provide the main focus for future overview and scrutiny activities and it was clear from early discussion between leading councillors and seniors officers that an increased expectation would be placed on the overview and scrutiny function to undertake significant work at policy development and pre-decision stages, much of which would be co-ordinated through the new Executive Office and Transformation.  

The Chairman reported that all Councillors had been consulted about providing information on their work and professional experience, areas of interest and availability to undertake overview and scrutiny activities. This also included expressions of interest to join the legacy task groups. This would then form a “database” from which chairs and vice-chairs of select committees could be consulted when making appointments.

Potential topics for scrutiny review identified from councillor induction as reported to the last meeting were being investigated at select committee level. Those that were seen as the direct responsibility of the Management Committee were the subject of a report considered by the Committee.

In considering  the two topics (i) Improving the experience of customers making complaints to the Council and (ii) Increasing the public’s trust in politicians and public engagement with local democracy, arising from the Councillor Induction event relevant for this Committee, Members felt that in relation to (i) above, as there were a number of changes taking place in the service a review at this stage would not add value.  In relation to (ii) above Members generally felt that this was not an appropriate area for the Management Committee to look at and that no action be taken on this suggestion.

Resolved:

To note the above report and that no action be taken on the proposed topics arising from the Scrutiny Councillor Induction event.

b)    Overview and Scrutiny Councillor Development

Centre for Public Scrutiny Annual Conference

The Management Committee received a report on the Centre for Public Scrutiny national conference. The report highlighted the key messages coming out of the conference and summarised the workshops attended by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

Ongoing Development

The Management Committee were informed that feedback had been positive from the overview and scrutiny induction events. The next step identified was to deliver a session on the specific skills needed to operate effectively as a scrutiny member. Following initial discussion with an external provider, it was proposed to target the first session at the newly appointed chairs and vice-chairs of the select committees to help build “the team”. This would then be followed-up with roll-out targeted at the wider non-executive membership.

It was noted that this proposal was currently being developed for consultation with the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Management Committee before submission to the Councillor Development Group with a delivery target date of September 2013.    

Resolved

That the comments on (i) members attendance at the Centre for Public Scrutiny National Conference, and (ii) members ongoing development be noted.