Scrutiny

Scrutiny Committees monitor the work of the Council, investigate specific issues and make recommendations on the way services are provided. Scrutiny enables non-executive councillors to influence decisions taken by the Cabinet and ensures the views and needs of local people are taken into account.

There are five Scrutiny Committees at Shropshire Council, made up from councillors who are not on the Cabinet (executive):

• Strategic Overview and Scrutiny
• Children and Young People Services
[Community Services
• Development Services
Health Overview and Crime Reduction

Scrutiny has considerable powers:

• Scrutinise service delivering organisations with Shropshire
• Holding decision makers to account
• Challenging and improving performance
• Supporting the achievement of value for money
• Challenging the way things are done
• Influencing decision makers with evidence based recommendations
• Bringing in the evidence and views of stakeholders,users and citizens

Scrutiny provides the opportunity for the public to become involved in the Council's activities. Members of the public, including service users, can be invited to attend scrutiny committees to assist scrutiny members in their work by giving evidence and taking part in the discussion and consideration of topics.

The work of scrutiny

Scrutiny is member led. As well as members leading on the review of
topics where they research issues and develop recommendations,
they are also involved in setting the work programme for their scrutiny
committee, bringing forward topics and issues, identifying who they
want to hear from to inform their work and what they want to know
and how they want it presented to them. Topics for scrutiny are
identified from a variety of sources.
These can include:

• Outcomes of public consultation (including LocalJoint Committees)
• Suggestions made by Council Members
• Suggestions made by Council Management Team
• Forward Plan for Cabinet
• Performance monitoring reports
• Suggestions made by Partners/Stakeholders
• The Council's Improvement Plan
• Directorate Service Plans
• Topics from budget monitoring reports/budget strategy
• Issues from audit and inspection reports

The following are different types of work that is undertaken by
scrutiny to ensure services improve and value for money is
achieved at Shropshire Council.

Policy Review – topic identified for scrutiny because of changes
to legislation/government guidance or a policy recognised as being
in need of updating / reviewing locally. Undertaken in line with
corporate priorities so as to add value to the work of the authority.
Performance Review – topic identified following consideration
of the Quarterly Corporate Performance Monitoring Report.
In addition topics can also be brought forward by members
either on under performing services in their local area or on
a countywide basis.
Value for Money Review – The Council undertakes value
for money reviews as identified by Cabinet using the Council's
Improvement Plan. These reviews will look at improving
performance, reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction
and the achievement of corporate priorities. Value for money
reviews will be key reviews in the Scrutiny work programmes.
Service Plans – Scrutiny sign off the service plans for their
relevant directorates after being satisfied that they will help
the council achieve its corporate priorities and continue to
develop and improve services. Scrutiny also scrutinise
progress against key service plan objectives on a six
monthly basis.
External Review – of topics that affect the people of
Shropshire but involve services that are delivered by
organisations and public sector bodies other than the
council such as flooding in Shropshire.
Local Scrutiny – Councillor Calls for Action – Scrutiny will
consider ‘calls for action’ generated by individual councillors or
by communities, for example via local joint committees. More
information on this topic is contained in guide 5 of this series of
booklets, A Practical Guide to Councillor Calls for Action.
Call-in – of decisions of Cabinet or officers with delegated
powers in line with the scrutiny procedure rules set out in
the Constitution.
Pre-decision Scrutiny – of topics on the Cabinet Forward
Plan to inform their decisions by making evidence
based recommendations.
Budget Scrutiny – Scrutiny plays an important role in holding
Cabinet to account and scrutinising the Budget Strategy to
assess whether it will support the delivery of the corporate
priorities. It also has a role in budget and financial monitoring
identifying issues for more in depth analysis. Scrutiny has a
role in exploring cost efficiencies and ensuring that value for
money is provided in all service areas.

There are five practical guides to scrutiny:
Guide 1 An overview of scrutiny
Guide 2 Setting the work programme
Guide 3 Setting the terms of reference of scrutiny reviews and undertaking scrutiny work
Guide 4 Making and monitoring recommendations
Guide 5 Councillor Calls for Action - Includes a pro forma for Ward Councillors to refer Councillor Calls for Action to Scrutiny Committee.

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