The Committee received and noted a report that reviewed the overview and scrutiny arrangements of the Council against the national, regional and local context to assess its effectiveness to date and identify areas for improvement.

The questions and comments from Members on the report may be summarised as follows:

The Committee

·         Noted that the report had made 14 recommendations intended to strengthen scrutiny in 2018-19 and outlined out how these will be implemented;

·         Noted the Communities and Local Government Committee (the Select Committee) carried out the first comprehensive assessment of scrutiny arrangements, since their introduction by the Local Government Act 2000, and published its final report in December 2017 (the Select Committee Report);

·         Was informed that the Select Committee Report, entitled ‘effectiveness of local authority overview and scrutiny committees’, makes 21 recommendations focusing on the themes of  organisational culture, parity of esteem between scrutiny and the executive, independence, member training and skills, role of the public and scrutinising public services delivered by external organisations; and

·         Was advised that in March 2018, the Government had published its response to the Select Committee Report and accepted most but not all of the recommendations aimed at the Government (Government Response);

·         Noted that the Government Response notes that scrutiny plays a vital role in ensuring local accountability on a wide range of local issues and comments that the Government is committed to ensuring that councils (i) are aware of the importance of scrutiny; (ii) understand the benefits of effective scrutiny; and (iii) have access to best practice to inform Councils’ thinking;

·         Indicated that it wished to see an increased focus on Air Quality and greater proliferation/maintenance of electric charging points has been specified by the Mayor in the coming year; and

·         Noted that the Mayor feels that there is a need to actively engage with both the younger and senior citizens in the community to create a greater sense of sport engagement.