Agenda item

To receive and consider any outstanding minutes or referrals from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Executive Panels etc. since the last meeting of the Executive Committee, other than as detailed in the items above.

The Executive Committee considered the following recommendation that had been proposed at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 8^th July 2024:

“The Executive Committee further review the Council’s constitution with a further check on policy to enable past Executive Members to participate in Overview and Scrutiny when they were previously involved in Executive decisions.”

Clarification was provided that this recommendation had been made by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee in a context in which the Committee had been discussing the overview and scrutiny work programme for the 2024/25 municipal year.  Concerns had been raised about the Overview and Scrutiny Procedural Rules in the Council’s constitution, which did not permit Members to scrutinise a decision in which he or she had been directly involved.

During consideration of this item, legal guidance was requested from the Council’s Principal Solicitor for Governance in respect of this matter.  The Executive Committee was advised that there was no specific rule contained within the legislation on this subject.  However, statutory guidance published by the Government in April 2024 in respect of Overview and Scrutiny required Councils to clarify in their constitutions how conflicts of interest between Executive and Scrutiny responsibilities should be managed, including where Members stood down from the Executive and moved to a Scrutiny role.  The Overview and Scrutiny Procedural Rules in the Council’s constitution addressed this through reference to restrictions placed on Members not being permitted to scrutinise decisions with which they had been previously involved.  There was the potential to refer these rules to the Constitutional Review Working Party (CRWP) for review.  However, there would remain a need to demonstrate that Members of Overview and Scrutiny were impartial and that potential conflicts of interest were managed.

Advice had also been requested from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS), which was the lead organisation nationally with expertise in the field of Overview and Scrutiny.  The CfGS had advised that it would not be appropriate for Members to be involved in scrutiny relating to implementation of a decision made when they were an Executive Committee member.

Members discussed the advice that had been received in respect of this recommendation and in so doing commented on how Overview and Scrutiny was a valued part of the local democratic process.  The Committee noted that there was a need to be open and transparent when making decisions and for this to be subject to scrutiny by Members acting as critical friends.  Whilst Members expressed sympathy with the difficulties that some former Executive Committee Members might encounter scrutinising some decisions, Members also commented that it was important to comply with best practice and to have robust governance procedures in place.  For these reasons, the Committee agreed that it would not be appropriate to approve this recommendation from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

However, in reaching this position, the Executive Committee noted that any Members particularly impacted by this requirement in the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules could arrange for the substitutes to attend meetings on their behalf.  Furthermore, it was noted that former Executive Committee Members might not have been present when particular decisions were taken meaning that they could potentially participate in scrutiny of some subjects that had recently been considered by the Executive Committee.  Therefore any restrictions on participation would need to be assessed on a case by case basis. 

To ensure that the reasons why the Executive Committee had reached these conclusions were clear, Members requested that their decision and the rationale for their decision in respect of this matter should be reported as soon as possible for the consideration of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED that

based on legal advice and requirements in the Statutory Guidance for Overview and Scrutiny, the current Overview and Scrutiny Procedural Rules in respect of scrutiny of Executive decisions with which Members have previously been involved be noted.