Scrutiny committees and panels are made up of councillors from all political parties on the council as well as co-optees from the community. Any decisions agreed about the council can be reviewed by the panel.
The Centre for Public Scrutiny describes the role of scrutiny as:
Providing a "critical friend" challenge;
Reflecting the voice and concerns of the public;
Taking the lead and owning the scrutiny process; and
Making an impact on the delivery of public services.
Independence of scrutiny
We feel it’s important that our process is independent and able to challenge decisions in an open and clear way by funding our scrutiny process separately.
Our process allows councillors to have independent officer support without the risk of advice being distorted by the interests of individual council departments, individual officers or other service providers.
Getting involved in scrutiny
We want scrutiny to be successful, so we invite local groups and residents to get involved and contribute to our work. You can suggest topics by raising an issue online or attending meetings.
Rights and powers of scrutiny
The most important powers:
a) require the council’s executive to reconsider its decisions; and
b) to refer changes to local health services to the Secretary of State for Health.
A detailed description of the rights and powers of Scrutiny can be found in the council’s constitution on this website.