Invitees:

Kelly Watson -Head of Legal and Regulatory Services

Gregory Lane - Head of Democratic Services

The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services presented a report to the Committee on the completed Wales Audit Office report in respect of the Overview and Scrutiny – Fit for the Future review. She explained that the review explored how fit for the future scrutiny functions were within the Authority.

The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services explained that the review concluded that Bridgend’s overview and scrutiny function was well run but needed to adapt to meet future challenges and should consider opportunities to work differently. The review proposed 5 areas for improvement as detailed in the report. She added that the report, including the proposals for improvement and how they could be addressed, had been considered by Audit Committee on 6^th September 2018. 

A Member raised concerns that the proposals for improvement and the methods to improve scrutiny activity all had financial implications. She asked if there would be money from Welsh Government to support the activity and asked if Welsh Government were aware of the reductions to the number of staff in Scrutiny. The Deputy Leader stated that he made that case regularly and any extra funds would be gratefully received. The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services explained that that was the position and as such, the authority had to be more innovative and efficient with the resources it had. The Member accepted the explanation but if scrutiny were to hold its meetings outside of the Civic Offices, it would cost money for venue hire, translators etc. The Local Government – Performance Audit Manager, Wales Audit Office explained that they had been realistic about the resources within the authority and that the traditional way of scrutiny via committee already took a lot of resources. They had found that the impact from traditional scrutiny was limited across most authorities. If the authority thought about available resources and capacity across the organisation, it could reconsider the way it did scrutiny.

A Member raised the issue of scrutiny of Public Service Boards and that it had not been considered. He asked what the rationale was if it had not met since October 2017 and how could it be effective. The Committee voiced their own concerns due to the lack of meetings the Public Service Board Overview and Scrutiny Panel had undertaken in the last year and recommended that the rationale for the Panel should be explored and queried why the Panel had made such little progress.

A Member highlighted the lack of synergy between Cabinet, Officers and Members and recommended that the quarterly meetings between Cabinet, Corporate Management Board and Scrutiny Chairs be further developed.  The Committee also requested that the outcomes from these meetings be cascaded to all other Members. The Local Government – Performance Audit Manager, Wales Audit Office added that synergy had not been there in the past but now meetings were in place to facilitate this. The Deputy Leader explained that there were quarterly meetings with Scrutiny Chairs where they looked at the Forward Work Programme and they were keen to engage with the back benchers as much as possible.

A Member referred to the proposal that timelines for providing information to scrutiny committees should be improved to enable them to undertake their work more effectivelyand said that scrutiny support had reduced and it was not possible to scrutinise the way they had before. If engagement with the public had to be improved then it had to be resourced properly. He added that the process had changed following the last election and was due to be reviewed in April 2018. The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services stated that it would be helpful if information/report requests were more tailored eg the current Procurement and Contract report request consisted of 12 to 15 bullet points which could produce a 50 page document. If the request was tailored to reflect the issues raised by the committee, information could be provided in a timely manner.

A Member stated that effective scrutiny was required to bring the public on board. He believed scrutiny meetings should be taking place in other buildings at different times of the day. He had looked at the archive of webcast meetings and before 2 meetings in August/September, the last webcast meeting was in March 2018. He had been advised that there had been procurement issues but he believed that was unacceptable. The Member also noted that Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Scrutiny Committee 1 had never been webcast. The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services explained that there was a contract in place and hours would be allocated to committees.  She added that the viewing figures were quite low even when there was an item of interest. The contract had now been renewed and there would shortly be a report presented to Democratic Services Committee to decide which meetings would be webcast. The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services explained that there had been a change in personnel and there had been a delay renewing the contract. The number of hours and level of coverage remained the same but would be available for use over a shorter period. Members noted that a programme of scrutiny meetings for webcasting was being prepared and recommended that officers ensured the planned webcasts covered a wide range of topics and were allocated across all Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

A Member referred to Task and Finish Groups which had been effective in BCBC in the past. He acknowledged that there was a slimmed down scrutiny team and budget but asked if it was something they could realistically consider doing again. The Performance Officer – Wales Audit Office reported that some authorities had operated Task and Finish Groups and they often generated more impact and tangible benefits.  The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services welcomed the WAO comments on what worked well elsewhere. A member commented that these groups could also provide an opportunity for authorities to work together looking at individual topics and share best practice. The Committee recommended that the introduction of a Scrutiny Chair Research Group be explored, to take the opportunity to research best practice on a topic prior to the item being brought into Committee for scrutiny.  Members requested that the Research Group be added for further discussion at the next Scrutiny Chairs meeting and that the Chair of BREP, Group Leaders and the Leader be invited for that item

 Wales Audit Office – Overview and Scrutiny – Fit for the Future?

Recommendations

1          While discussing the proposals for improvement provided by the Wales Audit Office the Committee highlighted the lack of synergy between Cabinet, Officers and Members and recommend that the quarterly meetings between Cabinet, Corporate Management Board and Scrutiny Chairs be further developed to be more attentive to timeliness.  The Committee also request that the outcomes from these meetings are cascaded to all other Members.

2          Members note that the development of a programme of scrutiny meetings for webcasting had already been proposed for future review activity and recommend that officers ensure the planned webcasts cover a wide range of topics and are allocated across all Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

3          With reference to the Wales Audit Report questioning how the Council undertake scrutiny of the Public Service Board, the Committee voiced their own concerns due to the lack of meetings the Public Service Board Overview and Scrutiny Panel have undertaken in the last year and recommend that the rationale for the Panel is explored and query why the Panel has made such little progression.

4          The Committee recommend that the introduction of a Scrutiny Chair Research Group be explored, to take the opportunity to research best practice on a topic prior to the item being brought into Committee for Scrutinising.  Members request that the Research Group be added for further discussion at the next Scrutiny Chairs meeting and that the Chair of BREP, Group Leaders and the Leader be invitees for the item.