This in from Cllr Geoff Lumley, in his own words. Ed
Between March 2006 and May 2007 the IW Council had an opposition-majority Scrutiny Committee, chaired by an opposition group councillor (myself).
Although the opposition-majority was removed by the Conservative Ruling Group in May 2007 and the chair consequently resigned, the re-constituted committee (chaired by an experienced independent councillor, Muriel Miller) continued until May 2009 along the lines established during that initial 14 months, including:
- The use of co-opted, voting members of the committee;
- The use of small ‘task and finish’ groups to undertake focused scrutiny enquiries;
- The invitation to stakeholders to assist scrutiny enquiries, eg. Chamber of Commerce;
- A high media profile promoted by a pro-active Chair;
- Scrutiny enquiries suggested by members of the public;
- Compilation of an Annual Report;
- Production of scrutiny reports of completed enquiries, then referred to Cabinet;
- Reasonable attendances from members of the public at formal scrutiny committee meetings;
- Rigorous questioning of Cabinet members by scrutiny members at committee meetings
“Current committee an indictment”
We now have for the 27 October 2011 Overview & Scrutiny Committee an internal audit report reviewing the Council’s current scrutiny arrangements, which frankly is an indictment of the 18 months since May 2009.
Under the chairmanship of various independent group councillors and with a Ruling Group-majority, every single one of the above bullet points is notable for its absence in the way the committee and its three scrutiny panels work.
Indeed anyone interested in how scrutiny of this Council would do well to read the report, which is embedded below for your convenience.
