Westminster Scrutiny Commission
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is the overarching body which is responsible for the management and coordination of our Policy and Scrutiny function. The Members are Chairs of the respective committees, alongside opposition nominees (currently 3).
This committee scrutinises cross-cutting or corporate areas of policy and/or service delivery, including but not limited to:
- corporate strategy
- crime and disorder
- emergency planning
- the local economy
- Overall Local Development Framework (Planning Policy)
- overall licensing policy
- overall financial management (to the extent that this is not handled by the Audit and Performance Committee)
- corporate Property
- commercial Services and Procurement
- staffing/HR
- legal
The Commission also has oversight of the work programmes of all Policy and Scrutiny Committees and has the responsibility of resolving any issues identified in the delivery of their statutory duties.
The Committee also takes responsibility for discharging the Council’s statutory responsibilities under Section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006, to act as the Council’s crime and disorder committee.
Budget Scrutiny Task Group
The Budget Scrutiny Task Group is a standing task group that meets every year to scrutinise the proposed annual Budget.
The Budget Scrutiny Task Group has the following Terms of Reference:
- to consider, on behalf of the Policy and Scrutiny Committees, budget options and draft business plans and estimates at the appropriate stages in the business planning cycle and to submit recommendations or comments to the cabinet and/or cabinet members.
Cabinet must take into account and give due regard to any views and recommendations from the Budget Scrutiny Task Group in drawing up firm budget proposals for submission to the council. The report to the council must reflect those comments (and those of other Task Groups and Committees, if any) as well as the Cabinet’s response.
For more information, please contact our scrutiny team by emailing [email protected]
View upcoming and previous committee meeting papers including agendas, reports and minutes.