Showing posts sorted by relevance for query scrutiny committee. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query scrutiny committee. Sort by date Show all posts

Thursday 29 May 2014

Scrutinising Brent's Scrutiny Proposals

A Wembley Matters reader has given the proposals on new scrutiny arrangements a little scrutiny and found them wanting. Fiona Ledden's proposal is that Brent should have just one Overview & Scrutiny Committee to replace the current five,

In her report Fiona Ledden writes:
“Five committees is a considerably higher number than most other London councils have following a random survey”
This is illogical. A random survey of how many London Boroughs? A higher number than most other London Boroughs we randomly surveyed? A higher number than most of the 32 London Boroughs? How many other London Boroughs are making do with one OSC? What sort of Boroughs are they that are doing that?

Here are 17 London boroughs. They all have more permanent OSC bodies than Brent is proposing,. All bar one has three or more OSCs and the only that comes close is Ealing, which has an OSC ansd a Standing Commitee on Health.

Southwark:
The overview & scrutiny committee (OSC) is the main co-ordinating scrutiny body.  It appoints three scrutiny sub-committees and is responsible for their overall management:

Camden
Three of the scrutiny committees mirror the three service directorates, one covers health scrutiny and the fifth will look at corporate resources, performance and policy together with covering the central departments.
Committee membership
Lambeth
Lambeth council has six scrutiny committees: the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which oversees and co-ordinates the work of the sub-committees and the scrutiny function in general; and five cross-cutting sub-committees, which cover issues arising from all our services.

Haringey
The Council has an overarching Overview and Scrutiny Committee which is made up of five non-Cabinet Councillors as well as statutory and non statutory co-optees. Councillors sitting on the Committee reflect the political balance of the Council.  The Committee is supported in its work by four standing scrutiny panels:
  • Adults and Health Scrutiny Panel
  • Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel
  • Communities Scrutiny Panel
  • Environment and Housing Scrutiny Panel
Scrutiny panels are made up of between 3 and 7 councillors who are not members of the Cabinet, are chaired by members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and membership is politically proportional.

Enfield
The Overview & Scrutiny Committee (OSC) coordinates the work of the 6 Scrutiny Panels. Made up of the 6 Chairmen and chaired by the Members and Democratic Services Group Chairman, OSC ensures that the Scrutiny function in Enfield operates smoothly, and organises references from the various panels.


Hounslow
Scrutiny panels
We have three scrutiny panels that oversee the service areas of council business. These are  coordinated by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
From time to time, we set up task and finish scrutiny panels to look into specific issues of concern to scrutiny members. These can be service areas or more general policy areas of relevance to the community. Each task and finish panel is set up just to look at one issue, then disbanded.
Select a panel below to get more information about meeting dates, agendas and reports.

Standing scrutiny panels  


Ealing – one OSC but a standing panel on health
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is able to set up review panels to consider specific issues. The review panels have a fixed term and have to work to an agreed programme.

Standing panel

Health and Adults Social Services This panel is responsible for scrutinising health services in the borough, as well as the council’s provision of social services for adults. The panel recently considered proposed reforms of hospitals across North West London (the Shaping a Healthier Future programme) as well as the merger of Ealing Hospital Trust with North West London Hospitals Trust, and proposals for reforms to dementia services.

Hackney 
Overview and scrutiny board
Made up of the chairs and vice-chairs of the commissions, the overview and scrutiny board coordinates the function and runs special projects to scrutinise council performance.

Scrutiny commissions

Children and young people

We look at all services for children and young people, including those provided by the Hackney Learning Trust and social services.

Community safety and social inclusion

We review issues of crime and community safety. We also look at support for the voluntary sector, community cohesion and adult learning.

Governance and resources

We review the way the council operates, including how the budget is prepared and agreed.

Health in Hackney

We look at all health services, adult social care and services for older people.

Living in Hackney

We have a remit for all housing issues, as well as leisure and culture, planning, sustainability, waste and street cleanliness.

Barnet
At the London Borough of Barnet, there are four Overview and Scrutiny Committees, each with their own Terms of Reference, which sets out their responsibilities and power. These Committees are:  


Islington
 Scrutiny in Islington

Reviewing decisions

The Policy and Performance Scrutiny Committee is the council’s main scrutiny committee.  It coordinates the work of the council's four scrutiny review committees and can play an important role in reviewing decisions made by the Executive. If five or more councillors request such a review, the committee can call in a decision made by the Executive before it is implemented and consider if the decision should be recommended back to the Executive for further consideration. If the Policy and Performance Scrutiny Committee considers that the Executive's decision does not follow the council's policy or budgetary framework, it can refer the decision to a meeting of full Council

Greenwich
Merton
The structure of Overview and Scrutiny at Merton consists of three scrutiny panels and an Overview and Scrutiny Commission.

The three panels each have individual areas of responsibility whilst the Commission supports the panels, oversees the development and delivery of the annual work programme and co-ordinates cross-cutting reviews and responses.

Newham
Scrutiny arrangements differ from council to council. We have an overarching Overview and Scrutiny Committee and five scrutiny commissions:
Richmond
Overview and Scrutiny Committees
We have four Overview and Scrutiny Committees, which meet at least six times a year:

Croydon
Three committees

Health, Social Care and Housing Scrutiny Sub-Committee

Scrutiny and Strategic Overview Committee

Children and Young People Scrutiny Sub-Committee


Hammersmith & Fulham
The four Scrutiny Committees are: 
  • Education and Children's Services Select Committee
  • Transport, Environment and Residents Services Select Committee
  • Housing, Health And Adult Social Care Select Committee
  • Overview & Scrutiny Board
 Lewisham
Overview & Scrutiny
Public Accounts Select Committee
Health & Communities Select Committee
Sustainable Develoment Select Committee
Children and  Yoing Persons Select Committee
Housing Select Committee
Safter & Stronger Communities Select Committee

Sunday 14 February 2016

Brent admits single Scrutiny Committee failures and proposes a change to two committee system

Less than two years after the adoption of the controversial decision to have just one Scrutiny Committee in Brent proposals are to go before the Cabinet to have two Scrutiny Committees. If adopted this would go to the May Council AGM.

The proposal outlines the issues that have arisen from the single committee structure, some of which were forecats by a guest blog on Wembley Matters in May 2014 LINK:

.        The purpose of moving to a single Scrutiny Committee meeting on a frequent basis was to enable a more consistent, holistic and streamlined approach to all scrutiny activities commissioned by a single committee. The introduction of a single committee to replace the previous four themed scrutiny committees also made a considerable saving in terms of member allowances. Prior to May 2014 each scrutiny committee had a chair, vice-chair and six members with respective allowances. The annual potential cost of each committee was £38,020 in member allowances, making a total for the whole scrutiny function of potentially £152,080. The current cost of member allowances for a single scrutiny committee is potentially £36,190 making a potential saving of £115,890 on the previous model. These costings are maximum potential costs only as members already in receipt of a special responsibility allowance would not be entitled to a second special responsibility allowance for their scrutiny role. The costings nonetheless provide a useful illustration of the indicative costs implications.

.        It was considered that operating separate scrutiny committees produced a fragmented approach to scrutiny with each committee developing its own work programme which did not always reflect the cross-cutting aspects of complex policy issues. It was also felt that a single committee would be a more effective use of the finite officer resources available to support scrutiny given the pressure on resources.

.        However after nearly two years of operating the single Scrutiny Committee structure, the anticipated advantages have not outweighed the logistical issues of monthly meetings and has resulted in a concentration of scrutiny activities into a relatively small group of members and officers.

.        Having one committee responsible for all scrutiny activities has meant that the committee has not developed in depth specialism and understanding of services or key policy agendas. With a wide variety of issues being considered at each meeting the agendas can be incoherent and this makes it difficult to develop continuity on specific subjects or issues between committee meetings.

.         In particular the move away from themed committees has resulted in less active engagement of service areas in working constructively with scrutiny members as there is less perceived ownership of one corporate Scrutiny Committee. This has both distanced service departments from scrutiny and meant that less members overall are activity engaged in debate and discussion on the policy issues and performance of Council services. In practice the current model means that only eight members are actively engaged in scrutiny discussion on a regular basis (although other members who are not part of the formal scrutiny committee do contribute to task groups). Previously around 30 non–executive members regularly contributed to a scrutiny committee at least once a quarter.

.        The single Scrutiny Committee model has also impacted on the development of a productive scrutiny relationship with statutory partners, particularly in relation to the duties of the Council to scrutinise the provision of local health services and partnership work on community safety. It has proved difficult to accommodate a consistent work programme on health issues, children’s services and adult social care within the single work programme. This has limited the development of an in depth understanding of these complex and critical service areas, which was noted in the findings of the recent Ofsted inspection of Brent’s Safeguarding and Looked After Children’s services.

.        The disadvantage of a single Scrutiny Committee structure could not necessarily have been foreseen. Brent is still the only Council in London to operate a single scrutiny committee structure, although three others have a main committee with themed sub-committees. However as the Council enters the next phase of change with the development of the Brent 2020 Vision and the programme of outcome based reviews, it is vital that we reconsider the most appropriate scrutiny structure which will facilitate the effective engagement of members in shaping the future direction of the Council via the Scrutiny function. This is particularly important given the political composition of the Council and the challenging nature of the issues the borough faces.

The report goes on to propose a two committee structure to remedy the situation after setting out the role of Scrutiny:
 
.        There are a number of key objectives which any new scrutiny structure should be designed to achieve. These are:-
·      To enable non-executive members to develop a thorough understanding of key policy and service issues which supports effective and constructive scrutiny of performance and decision-making across Council services and meets the statutory requirements of scrutiny.
·      Maximises the number of Members engaged in regular scrutiny activities and enables non-executive members to contribute to the shaping of Council policy at the right point in the policy development process.
·      A structure that covers both the breadth of internal and external issues but also provides sufficient scope for the committee to develop specialisation and become experts in their subject areas.
·      The frequency of scrutiny meetings is aligned to the decision-making timetable and enables high quality reports to be produced with scrutiny input made at the right time in the development of options and proposals.
·      Can take a holistic view of partnership, performance and resourcing issues in relation to the individual service or issue under scrutiny.
·      Enables clear accountability of Lead members and senior officers for decisions and service performance.
·      The scrutiny function should be responsive to the views and concerns of service users and residents, actively seeking their opinions to shape their work programme.
·      Is properly resourced and supported by senior officers and services within the Council and the contribution of scrutiny members is a valued part in the process of defining the Council’s future policy direction.
.        3.15  In order to achieve these objectives it is therefore proposed that the future Scrutiny committee structure should, as set out below, be more closely aligned to the organisational structure of the Council as well as providing more opportunity for in-depth scrutiny.

 Proposed Scrutiny Structure

The proposal is to have two scrutiny committees combining the following remits:-

·      Community and Well being Scrutiny Committee 

This committee would cover Housing, Adult Social Care, Public Health and the statutory responsibilities with regard to scrutiny of local health services and major reconfigurations of provision. It would also scrutinise the children and young people’s service, partnership work undertaken by the Children’s Trust and scrutiny of Safeguarding arrangements. The committee would be composed of eight elected members (seven from the Labour Group and one opposition group member which is consistent with current political balance arrangements). The four voting education co-opted members and the two non voting education co-opted members would be part of this committee. 

·      Resources and Public Realm Scrutiny Committee 

This committee would cover corporate resources, (including Customer Services, Policy, Partnerships and Performance, Procurement and IT) as well as regeneration, environment and community safety. The committee would be composed of eight elected members (seven from the Labour Group and one opposition group member which is consistent with current political balance arrangements). 
The indicative cost implications in respect of special responsibility allowances are set out below. As previously stated, however, these costings are potential maximum costs only and actual costs are likely to be lower as some of the members will already be in receipt of a special responsibility allowance. In addition, in accordance with the provisions of the Members’ Allowance Scheme, a 1% uplift in allowances has been factored in. On this basis the total potential costs are £40,614 higher than the current scrutiny structure.

2 x Chairs allowance at £14,140
2 x Vice Chairs at £5,050
12 x SRA allowance for committee members at £3,202
Total
£28,280 £10,100 £38,424
£76,804
  
The full report can be found HERE

Monday 6 July 2015

Setting out Scrutiny Committee's role for 2015-16




The Scrutiny Committee will be setting out its aims as well as a draft work programme at its meeting on Tuesday July 14th.

This extract from the report to be considered at the meeting gives details of the Committee's approach:
 

3.1       Scrutiny activities will be led and co-ordinated by the Scrutiny Committee. This Committee will meet up to 10 times during the year.  The Committee consists of fourteen members comprising eight Councillors, four voting education co-opted members and two non-voting co-opted members. The voting co-opted members only have voting rights in relation to education functions.

3.2  The Scrutiny Committee will:

hold the Cabinet to account for its decisions.
contribute to strategy development through scrutiny of key policy documents and make comments on these to the Cabinet.
support policy development through commissioning Member-led investigations of issues affecting the community or borough.
provide scrutiny of external public bodies and services, including education,
health and other partners as specified by the Localism Act, 2011
coordinate activities with other local bodies charged with scrutiny functions , for example, Healthwatch, tenant scrutiny, Brent’s Safe r Neighbourhood Board and the regional Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee.
review and monitor performance to ensure continuous improvement.
receive call-in of Cabinet decisions, public petitions and community calls to action.

3.3       The Council has a number of statutory responsibilities with regard to scrutiny of local bodies which will be built into the work programme of the committee during the year, particularly concerning health and police services.
Appendix A sets out the terms of reference for the Scrutiny Committee, these are set out in the constitution of the council. 
3.4       The Committee will be able to establish time limited task and finish groups which will focus on particular topics or issues of local concern. Through these time-limited reviews of local issues and services, scrutiny activities will not be limited to the members of the Committee. Rather all non-cabinet M embers can and should participate. These scrutiny reviews will also create opportunities for a broad range of organisations, stakeholders and the public in Brent to get involved in the work of scrutiny. 
3.5       The Scrutiny Committee may undertake external scrutiny of other organisations that provide local services such as education. The council has a statutory power to scrutinise local health provision and also crime and disorder functions. This can be achieved by requesting information from other public  agencies or by asking them to attend a meeting of the Committee for questions. M embers can also investigate any issue that is affecting local communities or the borough. External scrutiny is an area in which real value can be added, enabling Members to explore issues of public concern and take the lead on behalf of their community. 
3.6       The Scrutiny Committee will therefore: 
develop an annual work programme based on genuine public participation and feed back from elected Members on local priorities.
work closely with other local bodies and groups charged with scrutiny functions
monitor and challenge performance and the use of resources both internally and externally
make evidence-based recommendations to improve the work of the Council and other partner organisations
scrutinise decisions and develop policy both in respect of the Council and external organisations
scrutinise the Council’s budget, particularly at the pre-decision stage
deal with call-in and pre-decision scrutiny
commission in-depth reviews to be carried out by task and finish groups and to be brought back to the Committee for consideration
produce an annual report on its work showing, in particular, the impact of the work of the Committee in improving outcomes for local people
bring different agencies together to broker solutions to seemingly intractable problems.

Effective scrutiny

3.7       Scrutiny provides councillors with the opportunity to question Cabinet Members, officers and others in order to gain knowledge around an issue and make effective, evidenced-based recommendations. It also enables Members to capture the views of their constituents to provide community leadership. 
The principles of effective scrutiny are: 

  being Member-led

The Scrutiny Committee determines its own work programme and decides what evidence to seek. Members take an active role in t he scrutiny process, for example by going on visits, taking part in consultation activities with service users, residents and discussions with local organisations. 

a consensual approach

Effective scrutiny works towards developing a consensus-based view of the service or issue under consideration, focused on the needs of service users and residents.

it is evidence based

Scrutiny should take evidence from a wide and balanced range of sources in order to develop a rounded view of the issues under consideration. 
Recommendations made by scrutiny should be firmly supported by the evidence gathered. 

provide constructive challenge

Good scrutiny should foster a style of constructive challenge with officers and other witnesses, enabling sharing of views in an open and positive manner.

2015-16 Work Programme LINK

2014-15 Key Comments, Recommendations and Actions LINK