Agenda item

Derbyn adroddiad gan y Cyfarwyddwr Gwasanaeth, Gwasanaethau Democrataidd a Chyfathrebu sy'n amlinellu'r newidiadau diweddar i'r trefniadau Craffu

The Service Director Democratic Services & Communications presented his report and advised that with the permission of the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs, he would deal with the first two items on the agenda together as they covered similar points but would refer to two items from the report in isolation i.e. information reports and consultation links.

The Service Director referred Members to the information reports which would feature on the Scrutiny agendas in the future and had already been evidenced in meetings of the Finance & Performance and Children & Young People Scrutiny Committees. He explained that the information reports were simply that, information reports for reference only and accessed via a link. This would ensure that the agendas would be more focussed on those items which would require challenge and produce significant outcomes.

It was suggested by the Service Director that perhaps the information reports  could be considered as the first item on the agenda which may allow opportunity for the Chairs to provide more context around the reports. This would enable Members to understand their purpose and whilst not considering them in detail, acknowledge their content and relevance to the Committee.

The Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee suggested that a synopsis of the content of the information reports for Members could be provided to note. He reiterated that the information reports are not for discussion at the meeting but there is a process to follow should members require further information about the reports.

In respect of the consultation links, the Service Director Democratic Services & Communications stated that the Scrutiny Graduate Officer would continue to circulate the information on a monthly basis which would provide Members with details of open consultations run by Welsh Government. This would flag up any specific items for possible response by the relevant Scrutiny Committees and presented a real opportunity for Scrutiny to become engaged with Policy development and changes such as the opportunity for consultation with the Local Government Bill.

Power Point Presentation

The Service Director Democratic Services & Communications presented a power point presentation highlighting the development of Scrutiny within RCT, particularly the links with the senior leadership team (SLT) which enhance the lines of communication with the scrutiny function, the improving relations with the Council's communications team and the open door policy between Cabinet and Scrutiny. The Service Director referred to the good relationship Members have with Council officers and the improved reporting mechanism as identified in the   recent opportunity to undertake pre scrutiny of the Council's Corporate Plan, which had demonstrated real engagement and realised genuine engagement.

The Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs were reminded that the public engagement protocol had been successfully utilised in the recent Call-In meeting and that together with more developed web pages is enabling scrutiny to be more accessible to the public.

It was suggested that in the longer term, pre scrutiny could be further developed by identifying opportunities at an earlier stage so as to produce meaningful outcomes with increased frequency.

The Service Director Democratic Services & Communications discussed the introduction of pre meetings to the current scrutiny arrangements. He reminded Chairs and Vice Chairs that this practice had been undertaken in the past and could be revisited by holding formal pre meetings where key themes of the meeting ahead could be addressed and discussed, a practice used in Westminster's select committees. It was stated that other local authorities have agreed that the practice does support the meeting as it can reduce repetition amongst questions.

The Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee suggested that in the first instance officers reports should be better informed and more user friendly for the benefit of the public. The Chair felt that some reports to Scrutiny had not been informative and of benefit to Members or the public.

Some Members raised concern in respect of pre meetings where in some cases questions may be pre prepared and some Members recalled previous experiences of pre meetings which had not brought value to the outcome of the Committee. The Service Director stated that the it was proposed that the pre meetings commence at 5pm with the Committee at 5.30pm, they would provide opportunity for a particular questioning strategy to be undertaken which would achieve real challenge and more efficient meetings.

Following consideration of the matter it was RESOLVED to revisit the practice of pre meetings at a later date and in the meantime emphasise the need for Officer reports to be more concise and user friendly.