Director of Public Health/Head of Policy and Performance presented the Policy and Performance Committee Meeting Procedure Rules, under which the formal meetings of the Committee should be undertaken. The Coordinating Committee was responsible for determining the overview and scrutiny rules and operational protocols and at its meeting held on 3 July 2013 (minute 11 refers) an amendment was proposed to the procedure rules. As a result, they would be revised and re-circulated to Members, to reflect the views expressed by the Coordinating Committee.

The Chair commented also that at the Coordinating Committee, it was proposed that at future meetings of Policy and Performance Committees, Members should not sit in party groups, so as to avoid adversarial politics in the scrutiny function. However, the proposal was not intended to be prescriptive, but to promote improved cross-party working and to reignite scrutiny in Wirral.

Members agreed to the need to raise the profile of scrutiny, in order to have a positive influence on the Cabinet and to provide an effective and informed challenge, where necessary. Key to this however was to ensure that the work undertaken by scrutiny was meaningful and that it was progressed and acted upon. In response to questions from Members in relation to the budget available to the Policy and Performance Committees, the Scrutiny Support Officer indicated that, although there was not a specific budget allocation, requests for funding associated with scrutiny work would be considered on a case by case basis.

Resolved – That the report and the Procedure Rules be noted.