What is Overview and Scrutiny

‘Overview & Scrutiny’ is a relatively new concept in Local Government.

Scrutiny committees came into being under the Local Government Act 2000 that created cabinet government in place of committees. Scrutiny was to provide a challenge to the executive and a channel for policy review.  It was to be modelled to an extent on Parliamentary Select Committees.

There have been a number of Acts since then that have brought mostly small changes. These have been concerned with for example the handling of petitions, Councillor’s calls for action, and the right to call outside organisations to appear before committee. The 2011 Localism Bill allows Councils to change back to the committee system and some have done so.

The 2000 Act gave Councils considerable freedom in the way they could set up the function.  At second tier level, some authorities set up one all-embracing O&S committee. Others have separated policy review from scrutiny. Others again have created review panels linked to particular services.  O&S committees have developed a number of different models of working with the cabinet and involving non-executive members of Full Council.

The O&S function in principle offers a flexible mechanism for testing and developing new ways of providing services, and a responsive vehicle for holding the providers of services to account.

The test of effectiveness of an O&S function is whether it makes any real difference to the way a local authority conducts itself and whether it is seen to make any difference. It needs to challenge accepted practice and lead the way in new solutions.