Scrutiny Commission and committees

The Overview and scrutiny function of the council scrutinises the council’s decisions and performance. It also assists in research and policy review and development, mainly through the work of Scrutiny Review Panels.

Committees

There are six Overview and Scrutiny committees. You can attend all Overview and Scrutiny meetings and can submit questions and present petitions at these meetings.

Scrutiny Commission

This is the chief Overview and Scrutiny body. The Chairman, Councillor Michael Mullaney, is the leader of the main opposition group – the Liberal Democrats.

The Scrutiny Commission is responsible for:

  • Coordinating the work of the Overview and Scrutiny committees
  • Looking into issues which aren’t covered by any other Overview and Scrutiny committee, or which are covered by more than one committee
  • Resolving disagreements between Overview and Scrutiny committees
  • Allocating specific issues on an ad-hoc basis
  • Looking at the council’s plan for capital investment, budget, property, information and technology
  • Acting as the Crime and Disorder Committee
  • Monitoring the activities of partnerships

You can explore the latest agendas and minutes of the meetings.

Annual Scrutiny reports

Other Overview and Scrutiny committees

The other Overview and Scrutiny committees, scrutinise the activities of the services of the council. These are:

In addition to the committee-based work they carry out, Overview and Scrutiny committees can also initiate task and finish work to look at a particular issue in more detail.

Scrutiny Review Panels, as they are known, are made up of usually five members and their recommendations, which may suggest a change in policy or service provision, are submitted to the relevant parent committee prior to consideration by the Cabinet.

Previous reviews can be found on the Scrutiny Review Panels page.