The Committee will receive a presentation on the structure of the Scrutiny function in Tower Hamlets.

Afazul Hoque, (Head of Corporate Strategy & Policy) gave a presentation on proposed changes to the scrutiny function, following feedback from the scrutiny away day held on 16 March 2019.  This presentation had been circulated as a supplementary agenda.

He outlined the main conclusions from the away day, focusing on the perceived issues with the present system around: overloaded agendas, limited engagement with non - executive Councillors, the need to consider a wider range of issues, the frequency of scrutiny sub – committee meetings and the the size and broad remit of the scrutiny lead’s portfolios, amongst other issues.  Consequently to address the issues, it was suggested that: the Scrutiny Lead Portfolios be revised to facilitate a greater oversight of their portfolio.  It was also proposed that the existing sub – committees would be replaced by three new sub – committee, each meeting 6 times a year, (instead of 5). There would also be in-depth finance and resources reviews and education and children’s services reviews (led by the relevant Scrutiny Lead) with a focus on post Ofsted issues.

Benefits of the new system should include: improved flexibility to deal with topical issues and more in – in depth and outcome based reviews. 

In terms of setting the work programme, there would be two work programming sessions (Members and stakeholders). There would also be a Communication and Development Programme. Subject to the Committee’s approval of the proposals, the proposals would be submitted to the new Committee to agree.

The Committee asked a number of questions about the proposals and the points raised are summarised below:

·         The Committee discussed and generally agreed that there should be five scrutiny leads and they should be about equal in size in terms of the work covered.  Support was also expressed for the creation of three subcommittees, meeting at a greater frequency with Scrutiny Lead reviews, reporting back to the OSC. This would allow for more in-depth reviews and more effective scrutiny.

·         It was suggested that consideration could be given to shorting the length of OSC meetings and reallocating the time to the sub – committees, as a way of distributing the work load and enabling more focused reviews.

·         Members were mindful of the issues around Officer’s time and resource constraints. It was noted that this issue would need to be taken into account in taking any future arrangements forward.

·         The Committee noted the need for the work programming session to be carefully planned and managed given the potential number of participants. It was emphasised that this exercise should be outcome focused.

·         Members also noted the need to reserve space in the work plan for unplanned items that arise during the year, such as call – ins and agreed that the new system needed to be flexible enough to accommodate such issues.

·         Support was also expressed for raising the profile and facilitating greater public engagement at scrutiny meetings at the OSC and also at the sub - committees through receiving petitions or resident’s survey feedback.

·         The Committee received a brief update on the development of short social media films on scrutiny activities. They were also reminded of plans to facilitate more long term forward planning through the development of a 12 month Executive Forward Plan.

·         Members also raised the issues of Committee Member attendance, particularly at scrutiny sub – committee meetings.

·         It was also suggested there was a greater need to focus on the scrutiny process in particular how meetings are run as this was important to help effectiveness of scrutiny.

·         The Committee agreed to support the changes as proposed and noted that they would be kept under review.

As a result of discussions on the report the Chair moved and it was RESOLVED that:

1.         That the proposed changes to the scrutiny structure as set out in the presentation be agreed and presented to the new Committee in the new municipal year for approval.