Present at the meeting:
- Councillor J Moodie (Chairman)
- Councillor J D O’Brien
- Councillor N D Ash
- Councillor Mrs J Prescott
- Councillor N A Bradbury
- Councillor C Rigby
- Councillor Ms P L Holland
- Councillor R Winkworth
- Councillor B J Fagan
Co-opted Members
Officers in attendance
- Peter Hassett – Principal Solicitor
- Gary Finch – Principal Officer – Scrutiny
- Nick Lamper – Democratic Services Manager
- Michael Williamson – Committee Services Officer
43 Apologies for absence: Councillors P Thompson, P A Tushingham, Mrs M J Whiteside, N R Whittingham and G Wilkes and Mr D Barber, Rev R Buckley, Mrs K A Stokes and Mr G R Wolstenholme (Co-opted Members).
44 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting of this Committee held on 17 August 2009 were approved as a correct record.
45 Whipping declarations: The Principal Solicitor, Peter Hassett reminded the Committee that government guidance expected Members of Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee not to act in accordance with party whipping and that, if they did, they were to declare it.
There were no declarations made.
46 Questions (if any) on the business of the Cabinet: There were none.
47 Questions (if any) on the business of the forward plan – monthly update (September 2009): The Principal Solicitor, Peter Hassett, informed the Committee of a further item that would be included on the Forward Plan. The item related to the construction of a link road in Platt Bridge.
48 Forward plan for October 2009 to January 2010: The Committee Services Officer, Michael Williamson, reported that, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2000, the Executive Leader was required to publish a forward plan of key decisions that the Council expected to make in the following four months.
Each plan would be submitted to this Committee for comment at least fourteen days before its publication. The Committee considered the plan that was to be published in October 2009.
Resolved: The Committee notes the forthcoming key decisions on the forward plan.
49 Consultation on strengthening local democracy: The Principal Officer – Scrutiny, Gary Finch, presented a report, which informed Members of the recent government consultation paper on strengthening local democracy. The paper set out a range of measures to promote democratic renewal and strengthen the power and responsibility of local government.
The chairman indicated to the committee that the response would include a reference to the work Wigan had already done to adapt its Scrutiny function to prepare for the proposals.
Members asked a number of questions, which included the following salient points:-
- The potential misuse use of petitions;
- The need for the Council’s partners to be fully supportive of the proposals;
- How was the process of involving members of the public in scrutiny going to be managed?
- Did members of the public actually want to be involved in scrutiny?
- Would the Council be able to view other partners’ responses to the consultation before it was submitted to government?
The Committee agreed that reference as to how the government intended to increase the public’s role around scrutiny should be included in the response to the consultation paper. It was also suggested that the response should address any potential training on scrutiny that members of the public would require in order to fulfil their role.
Resolved: The Committee –
- endorses the proposed response to the consultation paper;
- requests that the Principal Officer – Scrutiny incorporate reference as to how the government intends to increase the public’s role around scrutiny before the response is submitted; and
- thanks the Principal Officer – Scrutiny for the report.
50 Scrutiny Select Committee memberships: The Committee Services Officer, presented a report, which informed Members of the proposed membership of the two Scrutiny Select Committees. The proposed Membership had been approved by the Chief Executive in consultation with the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Co-ordinating Committee.
Resolved: The Committee –
- endorses the membership of the two Scrutiny Select Committees as detailed in the report now submitted;
- thanks the Committee Services Officer for the report.
51 Evaluation of the new scrutiny process: The Chairman of the Committee led a discussion on Members’ views as to how the new scrutiny process had operated so far.
Overall Members felt that the new scrutiny process was working well; however, it was agreed that it was possibly too early to form an accurate view as to the longer term effectiveness of the new process.
During the discussion Members raised the following salient points:-
- The remit of some of the Scrutiny Committees was extensive;
- There may not be enough meetings to address all potential issues identified from the work plans;
- Greater support may needed in relation to health scrutiny;
- Progress on issues addressed by the Scrutiny Committees were not always being reported back to Committees as requested;
- The nature of any process to feed appropriate items into the corporate scrutiny arena where these arose from scrutiny of local issues by Township Forums.
- The previously-stated aim to establish task and finish groups where appropriate to support the work of the Scrutiny Committees.
With regard to progress reporting, the Democratic Services Manager advised the committee that regular reports would be presented to the committees to track progress against their recommendations; this would enable the committees to focus on any areas where they believed progress was inadequate and request appropriate action and/or further information, including attendance by the relevant officers.
Resolved: The Committee –
- notes the progress made so far and the future challenges;
- agrees to evaluate the scrutiny process again later in the Municipal year; and
- requests that Officers pursue the issues raised with the relevant departments.
Chairman
The meeting concluded at 7:20 p.m.
