The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services presented a report, the purpose of which, was to present Council with a review of work undertaken by the Overview and Scrutiny Unit during the period September 2015 – September 2016.

He reminded Members that the Overview and Scrutiny Committees oversee the decision making of the Cabinet as a whole, and Cabinet Members, as well as supporting their work and Council also. The Scrutiny function allowed citizens to have a greater say in Council matters by holding public meetings into matters of local concern. This process led to reports being compiled and recommendations which advised the Cabinet and the Council on its policies, budget and service delivery.

Paragraph 3.2 of the report confirmed that in 2012/13, BCBC took an active role in a WAO Improvement Study in respect of Scrutiny, and as a result of this, the Authority had been considered ‘excellent’ in terms of the way it approached scrutiny and was a lead for other neighbouring authorities to follow in this regard.

Paragraph 3.2.2 of the report, then advised that in the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2014-15, it was identified that 3 developments required further work and improvement. These were detailed in this part of the report, and were important in terms of making further progress in these areas, as they were linked to the Corporate Assessment and the Corporate Priorities of the Council.

The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services, then gave a resume for the benefit of Members on the current situation/proposals, and in particular, the within the following areas:-

·         Impact Monitoring (of Scrutiny and the scrutiny process)

·         Key outcomes and achievements

·         Webcasting (of Scrutiny & other Committee meetings)

·         A review of Scrutiny, and

·         Further development of Scrutiny

He referred Members to the reports Appendices, one of which was as a result of Scrutiny Officers undertaking an assessment of the scrutiny function using the “Characteristics of Good Scrutiny” to determine performance during 2015-16 (Appendix A to the report referred). In addition to this, Members attended a series of workshops to enable Overview and Scrutiny Committees to carry out a review and forward planning exercise in terms of the work and service areas it should scrutinise. Members as part of this exercise, were also provided with an opportunity to look back over the past 12 months and consider what worked in Scrutiny, as well as areas that could be improved. Some of the main key points raised and suggestions for change, were shown in Appendix B of the report.

Council commended the report and supporting information, and recognised that the support of Overview and Scrutiny within the Authority had been in the past and still was strong and proactive. However, it was noted that there were cuts proposed as part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy that would affect staffing levels in the Scrutiny Section. To this end, Members asked for an assurance from the Leader, that if these were realised, they would not impact in a detrimental way on the good progress that had been made in this area of the Authority, since the introduction of the Local Government Act 2000.

The Leader advised that he recognised the importance of Overview and Scrutiny and its role in looking at service and performance areas of the Council, as well as holding decisions made by the Cabinet to account, through the call-in process. He assured Members that whilst all areas of the Authority had to be examined in order to ascertain where savings could and indeed, were required to be made, he would also ensure that its role would continue to be proactive and robust and maintained as a key part of the Democratic Services Section of BCBC.

RESOLVED:                    That Members noted the content of the report and attached Appendices A and B.