Agenda item

Report of the Director of Strategy and Design.

Scrutiny plays an important role in improving outcomes for residents – making sure services meet resident needs, exploring issues which impact the wellbeing of the borough and providing improvement recommendations to the Council.

The scrutiny function has a democratic mandate to monitor decisions affecting local residents, contribute to the formation of policy and hold the executive to account.

The Joint Chairs of Scrutiny Committee was established to enable closer working relationships across the scrutiny function. Its terms of reference state that the Committee will discuss the Leader's Annual Statement and other relevant cross cutting matters arising from the business of the Cabinet or as advised by the Chief Executive.

This report sets out the work programmes of the individual committees during the municipal year so far, upcoming issues planned for scrutiny by each committee, and current plans for scrutiny panels. It also provides a brief overview of the emerging programme of work in response to cost of living crisis for joint chairs to consider how this can best be supported and scrutinised across their committees. 

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Strategy and Design that set out the work programmes of the individual committees during this municipal year so far. The report included the upcoming issues planned for each of the scrutiny committees and the current plans for their scrutiny panels. A brief overview of the emerging programme of work in response to the cost of living crisis was also provided for the joint chairs to consider how this could best be supported and scrutinised across their committees. 

During consideration of the report the Scrutiny Committee Chairs discussed the following points:

·       That the Health and Adult Social Scrutiny Committee would welcome opportunities to hear from residents at their meetings. It was important to capture their experiences, the reality of their lives and their views about the services offered in the borough. Themed meetings with a specific focus was an option that could be explored. 

·       Analysing data that measured resident engagement levels and who used services would be a useful source of information. 

·       That the Housing Scrutiny Committee would welcome the opportunity to hear from residents and have more engagement from them at meetings.   

·       There were some concerns from the scrutiny committee chairs about the training for new Councillors and questions about what measures were in place to support and assist members in their scrutiny roles.   

·       That the scrutiny committee chairs valued the attendance and contributions of the Executive Directors and directors at their meetings  

·       What was Camden doing as a Council on a list of issues - the Cost of Living Crisis; rising energy prices/providing warm spaces; retro fitting homes; food security for residents struggling to feed themselves and their families. Could we be working more closely with local businesses on these issues?  What work was taking place with Transport for London for people struggling with the cost of fares? That all of the scrutiny committees should be considering how the Cost of Living Crisis was impacting the areas within the remit of their committees. 

The following information was provided in response to the points raised by the  Scrutiny Committee Chairs:  

The Peer review of Camden had identified that, there was more that could be done corporately to hear from residents and about their experience of life in the borough. A wide range of work was taking place to address this and bring the voice of residents into decision making. This included work on the Citizen Assembly, Data Charter and a programme of engagement was planned to hear from residents about their experiences of Cost of Living issues. Scrutiny Committee Chairs would need to look at their works plans and how the voice of residents could be incorporated into the work of their committees. There would need to be further consideration of how the committee chairs had oversight of this work.  

Work as committee members was a continuing learning experience through case work and there was much to learn about the complexities of the borough and the Council as a large organisation. Refreshing the buddy system that had been put in place for new members could be helpful for members. Also it would be useful to hear from new Members about what further support they needed in their scrutiny committee roles.  

With regard to specific questions on retrofitting homes, the cost of living and Transport for London - the last meeting of the Housing Scrutiny Committee had considered a report on the retrofitting of the Council residential properties and officers would be responding to the issues that had been raised. A brief overview of the emerging programme of work in response to the Cost of Living Crisis had been included in the report to Joint Chairs and the Cost of Living Crisis would be the themed debate at the next Full Council meeting. The Culture and Environment Committee had scrutinised a great deal of Transport for London’s work (TFL) in Camden and holding them to account on road and transport issues across the borough had been a  large part of the committee’s work programme.  

Having reflected on the scrutiny committee activity in 2022/23 to date -  

RESOLVED –

THAT the forward plans set out in Table 1 of the report be noted, and that the scrutiny committee chairs would further consider their joint working outside of this meeting on areas for development or training.