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Scrutiny Committees and the Scrutiny Steering Group

The day to day running of the Council is managed by Cabinet Members, who undertake key decisions. The decision makers are held to account by five Scrutiny Committees, each of which focuses on a specific remit, for example housing or children’s services. Scrutiny Committees can:

  • ask the Cabinet to think again about a decision, either through pre-decision scrutiny or call-in
  • summon Cabinet Members and senior council staff to account for what they have done or plan to do
  • put local services (for example the NHS) under the spotlight by undertaking in-depth reviews
  • make suggestions to the Cabinet or to full Council about alternative ways of delivering services
  • respond to Councillor Calls for Action
  • involve the public in any of the above activities

Membership of the Scrutiny Committees reflects the current political representation on the Council. The Chairman of each Scrutiny Committee also sits on the Scrutiny Steering Group, which helps to coordinate scrutiny work across all five committees.

Scrutiny reviews and the annual work programme

Each year, during September, Scrutiny Committees identify and agree a programme of work for the year, to ensure they are scrutinising the most important topics and issues falling under their remit. Residents, Councillors and Council Officers all participate in this. The programme is not final though and issues can, with the agreement of the Chairman, be added to it at any time. 

If you would like a Scrutiny Committee to consider something for the programme please visit the getting involved page.

Once the work programme is agreed, the Committees often establish time-limited working groups (usually made up of three of four Councillors drawn from that committee's membership) to look at the issues that have been identified. These working groups consider evidence and views from a wide range of stakeholders; professionals across a range of services, service users and academic experts, as well as studying national best practice and guidance. At the end of the evidence gathering phase, a report is produced containing a set of recommendations intended to resolve the issue or improve the way the Council operates. Previous reports can be found in our Scrutiny Library.