Agenda item

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee is asked to:

1.  Receive and accept the findings of the CfGS Scrutiny Improvement Review,

2.  Agree that the recommendation will be incorporated into the Croydon Renewal Plan,

3.  Recommend to Council that the CfGS Scrutiny Improvement Review for noting,

4.  Agree that Recommendations 1, 5 & 6 are prioritised for delivery.

5.  Agree to commission the CfGS to develop a training programme for Scrutiny which will be incorporated into Council’s overall programme for Member Learning & Development to be overseen by the Ethics Committee.

6.  Work with the CfGS to develop a work programme that is focussed on the priorities of the Council and allows Scrutiny to add value to the ongoing improvement journey.

7.  Agree to set up a Scrutiny Co-ordination Group to monitor and steer the scrutiny work programme.

8.  Note that an overarching Information Protocol is being developed for Members taking into account the recommendations in the CFGS Scrutiny Improvement Plan and the Croydon Renewal Plan.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee considered a report from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) which presented the findings from their review of the scrutiny function in Croydon. Ed Hammond, the Deputy Chief Executive from CfGS, was in attendance at the meeting to introduce the report. During the introduction, the following points were noted:-

• CFGS was a charity that provided governance support and advice to both the public and private sector.
• CfGS had been commissioned to review the scrutiny function at Croydon in the spring of 2020 by the Scrutiny & Overview Committee. The review had been informed by evidence gathering in the summer of 2020, with a final report prepared in September.  However, following the publication of the Report in the Public Interest (RIPI) by the Council’s external auditors, it was considered important to ensure that the recommendations in the RIPI report were reflected in the Scrutiny Improvement Review and it was in line with the Councils improvement journey.
• It was proposed that immediate action was taken to implement recommendations 1, 5 and 6 set out in the Review, which would be supported by recommendation 8.  Recommendation 1 related to ensuring Scrutiny played an immediate role in the Council’s financial recovery. Recommendations 5 was aimed at ensuring Scrutiny was provided with the relevant evidence to carry out that role and recommendation 6 concerned the prioritisation of the work programme. Recommendation 8, which would support the other three recommendations as it concerned the delivery of training to improve scrutiny at the Council.
• CfGS, working with Members and officers, would create an action plan over the coming weeks for the delivery of all recommendations in the new municipal year. Reassurance was given that the support provided by CfGS was being met from a Central Improvement Fund which was available to the Local Government Association and CfGS to support councils.

Members of the Committee commended the quality of the report and agreed that the recommendations targeted the right areas for improvement. It was also agreed that the need for Scrutiny to have access the information it required to inform its work was essential. It was advised that as part of the improvement plan, CfGS would be working with Members and officers to establish what this meant in practice, with work to resolve long standing cultural issues also important to ensuring Scrutiny had the right tools to perform as expected.

It was suggested that prioritisation of the work programme sometimes suffered from a lack of understanding of the value of scrutiny by officers, with a need for a more strategic view to be taken on work planning. It was also difficult to define what Scrutiny should be focusing upon without having sight of any performance framework. Consideration also need to be given to how Scrutiny coordinated its work with that of the General Purposes and Audit Committee.

Although there would not be a cost to the Council for the ongoing support provided by the CfGS to implement the recommendations from the Scrutiny Improvement Review, the cost to commission the original review had been £4,600.

It was highlighted that improvement work had already started to be implemented, with the work programme focussed towards the covid response and the financial challenges facing the Council. As the pandemic had required the Council to hold remote meetings, the introduction of new technology had also helped scrutiny members to hold more frequent pre-meets, which helped with the coordination of the meetings.

It was questioned whether the recommendations should also include the creation of a Scrutiny - Executive Protocol, setting out the executive commitment to the parity of esteem. It was advised that in the medium term the Council will need to formulise its expectations for the relationship between scrutiny and the executive. However, in the short term early conversations had indicated that expectations would be met and the experience over the next few months would be able to inform the process. .

It was agreed that public engagement with Scrutiny could be improved. CfGS had worked with other authorities on this and experience indicated that a holistic approach to engagement was required. As part of the wider improvement journey, the Council needed to change its relationship with the public and this work was something that Scrutiny could feed into.

At the conclusion of this item the Chair of the Committee thanked Mr Hammond and his colleagues at CfGS for delivering the Scrutiny review. The Committee agreed to accept all eight recommendations set out in the covering report of item.

The Scrutiny & Overview Committee resolved to:

1.      Receive and accept the findings of the CfGS Scrutiny Improvement Review,

2.      Agree that the recommendations will be incorporated into the Croydon Renewal Plan,

3.      Recommend to Council the CfGS Scrutiny Improvement Review for noting,

4.      Agree that Recommendations 1, 5 & 6 are prioritised for delivery.

5.      Agree to commission the CfGS to develop a training programme for Scrutiny which will be incorporated into Council’s overall programme for Member Learning & Development to be overseen by the Ethics Committee.

6.      Work with the CfGS to develop a work programme that is focussed on the priorities of the Council and allows Scrutiny to add value to the ongoing improvement journey.

7.      Agree to set up a Scrutiny Co-ordination Group to monitor and steer the scrutiny work programme.

8.      Note that an overarching Information Protocol is being developed for Members taking into account the recommendations in the CFGS Scrutiny Improvement Plan and the Croydon Renewal Plan.