Meeting documents

CDC Scrutiny Training
Tuesday, 10th July, 2001

2001.07.10 - Scrutiny Training, Minutes
 

CHILTERN DISTRICT COUNCIL
 

 
 

MINUTES of the Meeting of the SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
 

 
 

held on 10 JULY 2001
 

 
 

 
 

PRESENT:

Councillor

A Campbell

- Chairman

 

"

Ms J E Bramwell

- Vice Chairman

 

 

 

 

 

Councillor

Miss P A Appleby

 

 

"

B M Curson

 

 

"

J E Ford

 

 

"

Mrs V Head

 

 

"

L A Hodgkinson

 

 

"

Sir John Horsbrugh-Porter

 

 

"

D J Lacey

 

 

"

P T Lole

 

 

"

D G Meacock

 

 

"

M A Peters

 

 

"

C Spruytenburg

 

 

"

Mrs E P Stacey (alternate for Councillor G E Sussum)

 

"

R T Young

 
 

 
 

           
 

IN ATTENDANCE Councillors R Abraham, Mrs D I Allen, M Z Bhatti, Mrs D J Brackley, N Brentnall,      N L Brown, Mrs G A Cotterell, T Dodd, I T Gomm, Mrs M A Hamilton, Mrs M Harker, Mrs S M Howkins,              P M Jones, Mrs P R Lindsley, D W Phillips, Mrs L M Smith, J F Warder and Miss M J White.
 

 
 

 
 

13.     SCRUTINY TRAINING 
 

 
 

Further to Minute No 8 of the Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 13 June 2001, an informal training session had been organised.
 

 
 

The Chairman introduced Councillors Ray Melvin and Keith Scarff from Mid Suffolk District Council.    
 

 
 

Councillor Melvin was Chairman of the Scrutiny Committee and Councillor Scarff his Vice-Chairman. Supporting paperwork had been provided for this session by Mid Suffolk District Council, which had been previously circulated.
 

 
 

Mid Suffolk District Council had been operating under the new system for 18 months and as a smaller Council were able to choose 'Option 4'. Councillor Melvin outlined the geographical area covered and the make up of the Members of the Council.
 

 
 

The Scrutiny Committee in Mid Suffolk had 10 Members and was politically balanced with the position of Chair held by the opposition.
 

 
 

The process for call-in was set out in the supporting papers and Councillor Melvin added that 3 Members could agree to 'abandon' a call-in.
 

 
 

Mid Suffolk District Council were looking at the possibility of delegating some Executive decisions to Policy Panels.  
 

 
 

The presentation ended and Councillor Melvin and Councillor Scarff answered questions from
 

Members -
 

¨

Mid Suffolk, as a small Council, did not have dedicated officer support for Scrutiny Committee
 

¨

The larger Executive did allow for a fuller debate
 

¨

The only change that had been made to the original Scrutiny process had been to minimise the paperwork and produce more concise reports
 

¨

Future plans would be to look at items that were not in the normal run of business
 

¨

Ordinary Members may put questions regarding their Ward to any meeting including Executive meetings.
 

¨

There were plans to make the Scrutiny Committee more pro-active and to become more deeply involved in Policy Development.
 

¨

Outside bodies such as Health Authorities, the Police and the County Council would also be scrutinised in due course.
 

¨

The Scrutiny Committee did not currently have a budget of its own, although a bid for a modest budget of £1,000 was currently under consideration. If further resources were required to scrutinise external bodies they did not doubt that this would be made available.
 

¨

That holding a Council meeting immediately after an Executive meeting might delay decision making as the Scrutiny Committee could still call in a decision after the Council had deliberated on it.
 

¨

The new system had not given Members more time to spend in their wards as envisaged
 

¨

There was no area/geographical alignment for Members on committees
 

 
 

 
 

The Chairman thanked Councillor Melvin and Councillor Scarff for their time.
 

 
 

Note: Councillors Mrs D I Allen and Mrs E P Stacey entered the meeting at 6.45pm and 6.54pm respectively.
 

 
 

 
 

 
 

The meeting ended at 7.52pm.