Making a Difference: Scrutiny at Staffordshire County Council

Overview and Scrutiny was introduced by the Local Government Act 2000 and forms part of the political management arrangements at Staffordshire County Council.

A number of other legislative documents contribute to the powers that Overview and Scrutiny has, for example:

Health and Social Care Act 2001 - which provides Health Scrutiny Committees with the powers to scrutinise external health bodies;

Police and Justice Bill 2006 - which includes strengthened accountability of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and the extension of Scrutiny powers to cover crime reduction and community safety issues;

Strong and Prosperous Communities 2006 and the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill 2007 - which extend the powers of Scrutiny to request evidence from partner organisations under a 'duty to cooperate', provide an enhanced role for Scrutiny in strategic issues by monitoring the Local Area Agreement, Sustainable Community Strategy and other Strategic Plans, and place a duty of Scrutiny to copy reports and recommendations to partner organisations affected and a duty on partners and the Executive to provide a response to these recommendations outlining what action will be taken.

Staffordshire County Council operates under a Leader and Cabinet Model which consists of a Council Leader and a Cabinet of Councillors. Each Cabinet Member has an individual area of responsibility.

The role of the Cabinet is to lead in the preparation of the Councils strategic and operational policies, oversee and determine how the budget is spent and performance management.

What role does Scrutiny play?

At Staffordshire County Council our Scrutiny arrangements have recently been revised to performance manage/monitor the delivery of Staffordshire's Local Area Agreement.

Our Scrutiny and Performance Panels and Committees are now aligned with the themes of the Local Area Agreement to support the work of the Cabinet and the Council as a whole and our performance reporting arrangements have been revised to enable the Corporate Policy Scrutiny and Performance Committee to act as a co-ordinating body which may refer issues for consideration to other Scrutiny and Performance Panels and Committees.

We have the following Scrutiny and Performance Panels and Committees:

Children and Young People Scrutiny and Performance Panel
Corporate Policy Scrutiny and Performance Committee
Economic Prosperity and Sustainable Communities Scrutiny and Performance Panel
Healthier Communities and Older People Scrutiny and Performance Panel
Partnerships Scrutiny and Performance Panel
Staffordshire Health Scrutiny Committee

Scrutiny and Performance Panels and Committees consist of Elected Members and Co-opted Members.

Scrutiny is not a decision making body and can only make recommendations to Cabinet, Council and the Directorates who will then use the findings of a Scrutiny review to inform their discussions around a specific decision to be made and will accept or reject the recommendations made by Scrutiny.

The key roles for Overview and Scrutiny are:

• Holding the Cabinet to account by monitoring decisions that they make, checking whether they are successfully implemented and exercising right to 'call in' (link) a decision which they feel needs to be reviewed

• Contributing to the Council's Improvement Agenda by raising performance as part of the Corporate Performance Management Framework

• Monitoring progress towards achieving corporate priorities and Local Area Agreement objectives to ensure that they are being delivered/achieved

• Undertaking policy reviews and making recommendations for policy change and development to the Cabinet/Council and Directorates

• Engaging with the public, the County Council's partners and media to ensure that Scrutiny and Performance Panel/Committee Work Programmes are focused on matters that are important to the communities of Staffordshire

• Reviewing health and health services, including the impact of policies/practices/initiatives upon the provision of health care to the residents of Staffordshire

Overview and Scrutiny rules are outlined within the County Council's Constitution, Article 8.

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Last Modified: 23/08/2007 10:40:40
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