Introduction
In a bid to improve governance and decision-making, the Council recently approved a new structure for overview and scrutiny (O&S). This restructuring aimed to provide fresh approaches and new opportunities for Council members to actively participate in governance.
Concurrently, the issuing a Best Value Notice on the Council, based on the government’s assurance report and an assurance review carried out by the Council’s own Chief Executive highlighted the need for a scrutiny function with a broader focus, noting that scrutiny had largely been internally focused and heavily centered on pre-scrutiny of Cabinet decisions.
The report also emphasised the necessity to reset the culture of the council and improve relationships between officers and members, which had had an impact on the effectiveness of scrutiny meetings.
This case study explores the challenges faced, the initiatives implemented, and the outcomes achieved as the Council sought to enhance its overview and scrutiny functions.
Background
The Council had faced challenges in its overview and scrutiny processes since its establishment as a new entity in 2019. There was a pressing need to shift from a predominantly pre-decision scrutiny approach to one that also emphasised proactive policy development. The Council’s scrutiny function had, at times, become akin to a “shadow cabinet,” leading to a desire for more impactful and meaningful scrutiny work that could contribute more effectively to the Council’s broader aims. To address these challenges, the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) provided support to BCP Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Board and the Environment & Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee. This support focused on refining work programming and enhancing the focus and impact of scrutiny activities.
Key Objectives
The key objectives for the Council’s initiative to enhance overview and scrutiny included:
- Applied learning: Increase Council members’ knowledge and understanding of the work programming process through action learning methodologies, including effective topic selection.
- Scrutiny focus: Assist the Overview and Scrutiny Board and the Environment & Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee in prioritising areas where scrutiny could add the most value, moving beyond pre-Cabinet scrutiny to include policy development and other areas.
- Scrutiny impact: Strengthen members’ abilities to plan and gather necessary information, form key lines of inquiry, and focus on outcomes for policy development.
Challenges and opportunties
Several challenges were identified in the existing scrutiny process:
- High level of pre-decision scrutiny: The existing focus was heavily skewed towards pre-decision scrutiny, limiting the work plan capacity for proactive policy development.
- Heavy workload: The scrutiny function was burdened with a heavy work plan, long meetings, and additional meetings, creating a need for clearer work programming mechanisms.
- Cultural and behavioural reset: There was a recognised need to reset the culture and behaviours associated with scrutiny to foster better governance.
Despite these challenges, there were also significant opportunities:
- Establishing good practices: An opportunity existed to implement good practices and enhance the impact of the scrutiny function across the Council.
- Improving relationships: The initiative aimed to improve relationships between officers and members, and among members themselves, through a more effective scrutiny process.
Initiatives and Actions Taken
To address the challenges and seize the opportunities, the Council, with support from CfGS, implemented several initiatives:
- Practical workshops: Informal workshops were held to build initial buy-in from Council members. These workshops aimed to refresh good practices and introduce a new lens for selecting and approaching topics.
- Development of a work programming framework: A new framework was established to guide the selection of scrutiny topics, categorising them into proactive, reactive, and pre-decision scrutiny. This framework helped in filtering potential topics and agreeing on a focused work program, realistically matched to the meeting capacity available.
- Emphasis on proactive work: The new approach placed greater emphasis on proactive, policy development-based scrutiny, moving away from the previous focus on pre-decision scrutiny.
Impact and Learning
Outcomes and Impact
The initiatives led to several tangible outcomes:
Enhanced work programming
The establishment of a clear framework for selecting scrutiny topics resulted in a more structured and effective work program. The use of colour coding provided a visual breakdown of work, ensuring a more uniform approach across all committees.
Increased understanding and engagement
Council officers and members now have a clearer understanding of which work adds value and which does not. This has freed up space for impactful work, reducing the amount of “info-only” content on the programs.
Building blocks for better Scrutiny
The new processes have laid the foundation for better scrutiny practices, with a greater focus on outcomes and policy development.
Lessons Learned
Several key lessons emerged from the process:
Building consensus takes time
It took several sessions to build consensus among committee members on scrutiny topics. It became evident that consensus was more easily achieved on the approach or “lens” to be used rather than on specific topics.
Diverse views require effort
The diversity of views within the “rainbow council” meant that establishing a work programme that addressed different perspectives required considerable effort and facilitation.
Importance of an evidence base
The new work programming approach has since been refined further to be underpinned by survey results rather than consensus, highlighting the importance of having a strong evidence base to guide scrutiny work.
Future Directions
Looking ahead, the Council aims to build on the progress made:
Sustaining good practices: There is a need to ensure that the good practices and frameworks established are maintained over time, and across all committees, even as political leadership and scrutiny leads change.
Focusing on culture and training: Future efforts will focus on the cultural elements of scrutiny, including officer training and fostering good practices among executive members.
Addressing barriers to good scrutiny: The Council plans to explore barriers to effective scrutiny and develop strategies to overcome them, potentially including the creation of an executive overview and scrutiny protocol.
The Council’s experience highlights the importance of going back to basics, focusing on good practices, and simplifying the approach to overview and scrutiny. By doing so, the Council has been able to enhance its scrutiny function, contribute more effectively to its governance aims, and improve relationships among officers and members. Other councils facing similar challenges can learn from this experience and consider adopting similar approaches to enhance their own scrutiny functions.
CfGS’s support to local government improvement brings with it a contractual requirement to produce case studies of recent improvement activity funded by Government. The content of these case studies has been developed by CfGS and councils’ jointly. They should not be taken as reflecting a formal evaluation of the impact of the work described, but as a way of highlighting and describing to other authorities lessons learned from these projects that might have wider application for the sector.
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