The Director of Law, HR and Asset Management provided an update on the outcomes of the 2009 Annual Scrutiny Survey conducted by the Centre for Public Scrutiny (CfPS). The survey had taken place for seven years and invited participation from those involved in the delivery of scrutiny, both at an officer and Member level. The Democratic Services Manager had produced an officer response and, in addition, the Chairs of Overview and Scrutiny Committees had been invited to complete the survey form.

The Director had appended a copy of the CfPS report and he set out the major findings contained within it. He indicated that having received at least one response from 75% of all local authorities in England and Wales this year’s annual survey of overview and scrutiny was the most representative yet. The CfPS commented that “given the tough economic climate in local government the headline resource statistics from the survey are likely to be of particular interest to the reader. The picture is very much a mixed one with good news for districts and unitary authorities – who have seen significant rises in discretionary budgets and officer provision – and a concerning if not unanticipated decline in resourcing for other top tier authority types”.

The survey asked respondents for views about the perceptions with regard to scrutiny in their local authority and, whilst most scrutineers firmly believed that the scrutiny function added value in their authority, there was a consensus around the need to build a higher profile with the public. Respondents felt that scrutiny should be free from whipping and receive a ring-fenced budget and there was also agreement that there ought to be a minimum level of training for new scrutiny chairs with the need for more training being a strong theme generally in this year’s survey. There had also been a decisive shift towards scrutinising partnerships compared to the previous year.

Having regard to improving engagement with the public, Members referred to difficulties in navigating the Council’s new website and expressed concern that they had not been involved in the design process.

The Democratic Services Manager, in the light of the findings from the LGA/CfPS Conference (see minute 9 ante) and the CfPS survey, suggested that perhaps the Board could consider holding a workshop to look at how it could improve and strengthen the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny function, reflecting on emerging themes nationally and any work identified locally. This could also provide an opportunity to benchmark the Overview and Scrutiny function against the emerging national themes.

The Democratic Services Manager noted the following issues, activities and questions that the workshop could consider: -

·  The involvement of the Communications Team to raise the profile of Overview and Scrutiny.

·  Website improvements by the provision of attractive Overview and Scrutiny pages, to encourage the involvement of the public.

·  The Annual Report should promote the Overview and Scrutiny function.

·  Review and revise the Scrutiny Handbook and Toolkit in the light of current thinking.

·  Improve the Forward Plan, to ensure that Members are aware, well in advance, of the nature of executive decisions to be taken so that strategic policy overview and pre-scrutiny can be carried out if deemed appropriate.

·  In respect of Community Engagement, Special Interest Groups could be encouraged to feed into Scrutiny Reviews

·  Hold site visits and Committee meetings in the local community.

·  What support is required from Scrutiny Officers?

·  The importance of Overview and Scrutiny training for Members and officers.

·  What needs to change to make Overview and Scrutiny more effective?

·  What should we improve?

Resolved –

(1)  That the report be noted.

(2)  That an informal workshop be held comprising members of the Scrutiny Programme Board and representatives from each of the other Overview and Scrutiny Committees, with a view to raising the profile of the scrutiny function in Wirral.

(3)  That Members be encouraged to consider the ideas put forward by the Democratic Services Manager and discuss them at the workshop meeting.

(4)  That the workshop be held after the current cycle of overview and scrutiny committees, in order to have regard to their agreed work programmes.