Agenda item

Select Committee Report on Overview and Scrutiny

To consider the Government’s response to the House of Commons Select Committee report on Overview and Scrutiny in local government.

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report, set out at Agenda pages 11 to 22, which gave details of the Government’s response to the House of Commons Select Committee report on Overview and Scrutiny in local government.

 

The report stated that the House of Commons Select Committee for Communities and Local Government had published its report on Overview and Scrutiny in local government in December 2017. A number of the Select Committee’s recommendations called for Government action. The Government subsequently published its response to the Select Committee report in March 2018.

 

The key elements of the Government’s response were summarised as:

 

·           the Government planned to issue new Statutory Guidance to local authorities at the end of 2018;

 

·           the Government agreed that Overview and Scrutiny Committees should report to the full Council meeting rather than the Executive, mirroring the relationship between Select Committees and Parliament;

 

·           the Government accepted the need to limit the Executive’s involvement in Overview and Scrutiny meetings and would make it clear that Executive Members should not participate in Scrutiny other than as witnesses;

 

·           Government guidance would make it clear that Scrutiny support officers should be able to operate independently and provide impartial advice to Members;

 

·           the Government aimed to continue discussions about the election rather than appointment of Overview and Scrutiny Chairmen, but it did not support a pilot scheme. The Government noted that Councils already had the power to elect Chairmen;

 

·           the Government did not accept the recommendations relating to additional resources for the Overview and Scrutiny function, believing that these matters were best left to local discretion;

 

·           the Government agreed that there should be clear and transparent oversight of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).

 

The Scrutiny Officer gave details of recent developments relating to the publication of statutory guidance by Government later in 2018. In discussions with the Centre for Public Scrutiny the Government had indicated that it would be arranging engagement sessions and workshops with Scrutiny practitioners (including Members) in order to understand a range of views on potential improvements.

 

In the ensuing discussion Members raised the following points:

 

·           Members welcomed the Government’s proposed new Statutory Guidelines which would help to strengthen the operation of Overview and Scrutiny;

 

·           Members welcomed the proposed Government stakeholder events aimed at seeking the views of Scrutiny practitioners and agreed that the Council should be represented;

 

·           Members felt that the Council’s Constitution Review Working Group should be notified that new guidelines would be circulated at the end of the year which would have implications relating to Overview and Scrutiny reporting arrangements and the involvement of Executive Members in the Scrutiny process;

 

·           It was suggested that the Committee develop a set of performance indicators, based on best practice, which would allow Members to monitor the effectiveness of Overview and Scrutiny at the Council.

 

RESOLVED That:

 

1)     the Government’s response to the House of Commons Select Committee report be noted;

 

2)     the Committee’s comments on the proposals in the report be submitted to the Government, the Centre for Public Scrutiny and the Local Government Association;

 

3)     Members wish to take part in the stakeholder engagement sessions relating to the emerging statutory guidance on Overview and Scrutiny, due to be held in the autumn of 2018;

 

4)     the Constitution Review Working Group be notified about the Government’s response to the Select Committee recommendations and the proposed publication of Statutory Guidance on Overview and Scrutiny, expected  at the end of 2018;

 

5)     the Committee receive a report on potential performance indicators to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny function.

Supporting documents: