Issue - meetings

To review the current Work Programme (attached).

The Committee considered its Work Programme which had been reviewed and updated by the Chairman and Vice Chairman, together with the Scrutiny Officer. 

The Committee was advised of the proposed timetable for setting the Work Programme, as agreed at the Scrutiny Chairman’s Group.  It was proposed that 1:1 meetings with Portfolio Holders take place between the Scrutiny Chairman and Vice Chairman and Portfolio Holder, this would enable the Portfolio Holder to highlight any future issues.  It was then proposed that an informal meeting of the Committee take place to give detailed consideration to items raised at these 1:1 meetings, together with items on the existing Work Programme and any items raised by members.

This would then enable a Work Programme to be formulated for discussion with Corporate Management Team (CMT) and Cabinet around Autumn.  The intention behind involving CMT and Cabinet in a two way process to formulate the majority of the work programme was to ensure that resources were made available to Overview and Scrutiny Committees from Service Heads to complete reviews and to enable the committees to focus on Corporate priorities.

An issue had also been referred from the Children and Families Scrutiny Committee in relation to health and Cared for Children; this had arisen during a Scrutiny Review on Fostering Services.   Councillor Flude, who had chaired the Scrutiny Review, outlined the findings and why it was felt that some scrutiny work specifically on health and cared for children would be useful.

RESOLVED:  that

(a) an informal meeting of the Committee be held on Thursday 8 September at 10.00 am to enable Members to give full consideration to the Committee’s Work Programme, with support from all relevant officers; and

(b) a report on the main issues in relation to health and Cared for Children be submitted to the Scrutiny Chairmen’s Group for initial consideration and agreement as to how to progress the issue.