Agenda item

REPORT OF THE SCRUTINY OFFICER

To consider the outcome of Overview and Scrutiny Committee resolutions.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the report entitled Resolutions of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted:

(2)       That the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be requested to meet with the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive to discuss holding an externally facilitated workshop for all members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet to ascertain effective methods of Overview and Scrutiny that result in added value and impact on decisions.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to improve its Overview and Scrutiny in order to have added value and impact on decisions.

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report entitled Resolutions of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

He advised that the report was in two parts with the first part being resolutions made by the Committee and most of these were either concluded or in hand.

The second part related to recommendations of Task and Finish Groups for which some were still awaiting a response from Cabinet.

The Task and Finish Group report on Commercialisation of Council Services had been presented to Cabinet approximately two years ago and as a result a Project Board had been set up to report back on how the recommendations should be implemented however there had, as yet, been no response from Cabinet as to the progress made.

A Member noted that there was rarely a positive response from Cabinet regarding Task and Finish Group reports and that all too often the recommendations were not commented on, even to reject them.

The Task and Finish Groups involved a lot of people putting in a lot of work, which then generated constructive ideas and, in the case of commercialisation, Cabinet appeared to be saying they would do the work again by setting up a project board.

The Council’s progress on commercialisation had been minimal at a time when additional funding would help maintain services and it felt like the time spent on the Task and Finish Group had been wasted.

He questioned the value of continuing Task and Finish Groups.

There was some discussion about the work of the Council being piece meal and not cohesive and that this appeared to be due to policy being budget led rather than a strategic policy led view.

It was noted that staff numbers had significantly reduced and that this had an impact on the work and capabilities of the Council and had resulted in projects remaining incomplete and lack resources being used as a reason not to do things.

Members felt that without effective feedback, the Committee were unable to judge whether the recommendations were helpful or not.

It suggested that a letter be sent to the Leader of the Council asking for a response regarding the Task and Finish Group on Commercialisation recommendations and suggesting that the new role of Deputy Chief Executive be given responsibility for commercial operations, also to advise that the lack of feedback to recommendations meant that Task and Finish Groups and this Committee could not judge their effectiveness.

Upon further debate Members felt that a discussion would be more beneficial than a letter.

The Strategic Director suggested an externally facilitated workshop for Members of this Committee and Cabinet to ascertain effective methods of Overview and Scrutiny that result in added value and impact on decisions.

RESOLVED:

(1)       That the report entitled Resolutions of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted:

(2)       That the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee be requested to meet with the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive to discuss holding an externally facilitated workshop for all members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet to ascertain effective methods of Overview and Scrutiny that result in added value and impact on decisions.

REASON FOR DECISION: To enable the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to improve its Overview and Scrutiny in order to have added value and impact on decisions.