Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny  Board meeting held on 10 April 2024  were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Chair welcomed the Head of Legal Services (People) and invited her to deliver her presentation and invited all Members in attendance to express their views on the proposals contained in the report. 

The Head of Legal Services provided a summary of the report and explained it was driven by Democratic Services and supported by Managers. The intention of the report’s proposals was to streamline and enhance the Scrutiny process. It was explained the structure in Democratic Services carried a vacancy that would be recruited to but was also experiencing instances of long-term sickness.

The report suggested changing the scrutiny structure from Overview and Scrutiny Board and five thematic panels to Overview and Scrutiny Board and two thematic panels, namely a People scrutiny panel and a Place scrutiny panel.  It was also proposed that each panel would be supported by two Democratic Services Officers. It was emphasised the intention of the report was to enhance the quality of the support provided to the scrutiny function.

As part of the proposed structure there was scope to introduce new methodologies of conducting scrutiny reviews such as Task and Finish groups and enquiry days.

The Board was advised that all Members had been invited to provide their comments on the proposals before the meeting. Those comments had been collated and would be shown to the Board along with the relevant responses during the presentation. 

An overview of how the scrutiny structure had previously operated was provided. Under that structure Democratic Services Officers provided support to their relevant scrutiny panel along with other committees and associated duties. This had the effect of reducing the time commitment from Democratic Services Officers. The proposals required two Democratic Services Officers supporting OSB and each panel. It was intended this would help to share workload more effectively, increase resilience within Democratic Services and therefore enhance the support provided to scrutiny.

It was clarified that all scrutiny meetings would continue to take place in open forums and officers would still be expected to attend to face questions from Members.

The Board was provided with the comments submitted by Members and their respective responses. 

Members expressed concerns the proposed structure would increase the workloads of Executive. It was clarified the frequency of Executive Member attendance at Scrutiny was not expected to change.

It was emphasised the new structure would provide a level of operational resilience that had not been experienced previously.

Members suggested that a reduction from five thematic panels to four would provide a more effective solution than the proposals in the report. It was commented that such a reduction would have no marked difference to the existing structure.

It was suggested an increase in staff in Democratic Services would alleviate the issues being faced operationally. It was commented the proposals in the report were transformative and allowed Democratic Services to offer increased support within existing resources. Members expressed concern that the proposed panel structure would result in longer scrutiny meetings which may not allow all members to participate.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23/88

The Chair announced his resignation as Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Board as he had been recently elected as Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Chair thanked all Members for their involvement in the scrutiny process during his chairmanship.

NOTED