Agenda item

Discussion Item

The Chairman reminded Members of the discussion had at the previous meeting regarding the effectiveness of scrutiny and that the Leader of the Council, Councillor R Blunt was in attendance to discuss the matter with the Committee as requested.  The Chairman invited Councillor R Blunt to address the committee.

Councillor R Blunt thanked the Committee for his invitation as he believed scrutiny was a very important issue.  He went on to say that the scrutiny needed to be Member lead and it was for the committee to decide what to scrutinise rather than being told by officers, that way Members would get more from it.  He explained that after he was made aware of the concerns from the Committee he took a number of steps to address them.  He introduced Andrew Hunkin, the interim Director of Resources who would be the single point of contact for the Policy Development Group and had direct responsibility.  He also explained that after discussion with the Labour Group Leader, it was decided to appoint Councillor J Geary as their Scrutiny Lead Member, who would work with the Chairman and the Interim Director of Resources to move things forward.

Councillor J Geary explained that he raised the issue at the previous meeting because he had read an article about the role of scrutiny and it referred to it as being ‘a talking shop’ and ‘toothless’.  He felt that it sounded familiar and that the Cabinet did not listen to the views of the Committee.  He gave a number of examples of matters that he believed should have been scrutinised but were missed including the closure of Snibston Discovery Park and the Council Offices move that did not occur.  He concluded that it was imperative for the Council to have a good scrutiny system and he felt it was currently failing.  He was looking forward to seeing the outcomes of the initial changes made by the Leader to improve the process of scrutinising. 

Councillor R Blunt stressed that the article Councillor J Geary mentioned did not refer to North West Leicestershire.  He valued the time committed by Members to scrutiny and agreed that issues such as Snibston Discovery Park should have been scrutinised.  He added that if there was a particular issue that Members would like further information on, for example the proposed office move that did not come into fruition, he was happy for Members to contact him for further discussion and any information he could share, he would.  He believed the decisions made by Cabinet should be scrutinised and encouraged Members to do so.  He referred to Leicestershire County Council’s process as the Cabinet was scrutinised by all parties and he enjoyed it.  He referred to the role of Lead Scrutiny Member and assured that with regular briefings with the Interim Director of Resources improvements would be made.

Councillor J Clarke stressed that transparency was vital and he believed that the committee could work together without politics.  He added that the Coalville Project was an example of good cross party working and of what was achievable.  Councillor R Blunt agreed that transparency was crucial and that good communication was important.  As Members, they were there to represent the public and pass information on to them.  Working together across political parties was important to him.  He thanked Councillor J Clarke for his positivity.

Councillor R Blunt left the meeting at the conclusion of this item.