Overview and Scrutiny Committee consists of 12 District
Councillors, who are appointed each year by Full
Council.
It is important that a council can be held to
account and stand up to close scrutiny by you, the people the
council represents.
That is why South Hams District Council has a
Scrutiny Committee to make sure that a robust process is firmly in
place and procedures are being properly monitored on your
behalf.
South Hams District Council aims to have a
scrutiny function that adheres to the Centre for Public
Scrutiny’s four principles of good scrutiny:
·
Provides critical challenge to executive policymakers and decision
makers
·
Enables the voice and concerns of the public to be heard
·
Is carried out by ‘independent-minded governors’ who
lead and own the scrutiny role
·
Drives improvement in public services
The Committee meets 8 times a year but can
meet more often if needed. The meetings are held on a Thursday at
Follaton House, Totnes.
What
does the Committee do?
Reports and recommendations from this
committee are put to the Executive and Full Council to advise on
policy, budget and service delivery.
The Scrutiny Committee also monitors the
decisions of the Executive and have the ability to
‘call-in’ decisions made by the Executive which are
still to be implemented. This enables the Scrutiny Committee to
consider whether the decision made was appropriate and if it should
recommend that the Executive or Full Council reconsider the
decision. Scrutiny may also be consulted by the Executive or the
Council on forthcoming decisions and the development of policy.
Members of the public may raise issues and ask
questions at meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in
relation to items on the agenda. For more information on this
procedure, please see Public
Questions.
Policy Development and Review
In this role, Scrutiny Committee can review
the Council’s policies to assess whether the intended policy
outcomes have been achieved. It can also assist the Council during
the early development of new policies and the formulation of key
plans. Very often policy review can lead to recommendations to
develop new policy. This work can be carried out by Scrutiny
Committee, or it may assign this task to a smaller number of
members in the form of a Task and Finish Group. Carefully choosing
which topics to review can help the Council focus on the issues
that matter most to local people and derive real outcomes for
them.
New
Standards Functions
Under the Localism Act, the new Standards
functions (which include responsibility for the new Code of Conduct
and consideration of Standards Complaints) have been delegated to
the Overview and Scrutiny Panel.