Issue - meetings

Report and appendix attached

The report before Members detailed how Overview & Scrutiny could support the Council’s transition from lockdown, following the Covid-19 pandemic, through an emphasis on pre-scrutiny of forthcoming executive decisions. To facilitate this, a pre-decision protocol was proposed for adoption.

Overview and Scrutiny had the potential to play a significant role in assisting in the Council’s recovery from the pandemic in the months ahead and to provide a critical friend in identifying areas for improvement should there be further spikes in the virus which required additional periods of lockdown.

Pre-decision scrutiny should feature as part of Overview & Scrutiny Board’s work programme with regular monitoring of forthcoming decisions via the Leader’s Forward Plan of key decisions. The Council was required to give 28 days’ notice of a planned key executive decision.

Similar to arrangements for the administration of call-in, responsibility for considering requests for pre-decision scrutiny rested with the Overview & Scrutiny Board.

Historically, there had been an absence of engagement in pre-decision scrutiny with post-scrutiny call-in being the option of choice. 

Appended to the report was a protocol on how pre-scrutiny would work going forward. The aim of the protocol was to set out an agreed way of working with the Cabinet, in line with the Council’s Constitution, to facilitate the proper role of Overview and Scrutiny in respect of pre-decision scrutiny.

Pre-decision scrutiny allowed Members the opportunity to provide comment or alternative recommendations.

The Forward Plan would become a standing item for the Board which was a common practice across many local authorities.

Any items that Members wished to undertake pre-decision scrutiny on would be added to the Board’s work programme and would be earmarked for particular scheduled meetings or if necessary, additional meetings to allow decision making to be carried out in a timely manner.

When pre-decision scrutiny took place it was likely to remove the opportunity for call-in at a later date.

In response to a question relating to how pre-decision scrutiny would work in practice alongside Cabinet deadlines, officers responded by advising the Forward Plan was regularly monitored and updated and that items added to the plan were emailed to all Members.

If Members highlighted a particular decision that they wished to scrutinise and the majority of the Board also agreed then an additional meeting of the Board would be convened to allow for consideration of the item before decision by Cabinet or the designated officer.

Members felt it would be useful if there was some more clarity around the timetabling of the pre-decision scrutiny process particularly around timescales that Members would need to adhere to when requesting pre-decision scrutiny. One suggestion was the creation of a flow chart or decision tree detailing timescales etc.

The Board adopted  the Protocol on Pre-Decision Scrutiny subject to the creation of a flowchart/decision tree document to sit alongside the protocol.