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CfPS Evaluation of Oxfordshire County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Function

CfPS Evaluation of Oxfordshire County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Function. Completed April 2005. “Critical friend” challenge. Reflect the voice and concerns of the public. Lead and own the process. Making an impact on service delivery. Capacity and capability. Knowledge.

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CfPS Evaluation of Oxfordshire County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Function

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  1. CfPS Evaluation of Oxfordshire County Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Function Completed April 2005

  2. “Critical friend” challenge. Reflect the voice and concerns of the public. Lead and own the process. Making an impact on service delivery. Capacity and capability. Knowledge. Joint working. Community involvement and engagement. Relationships. How the Evaluation was Conducted General Scrutiny Health Scrutiny

  3. “…developing into a mature and respected component of the new constitutional arrangements…” Strengths of the General Scrutiny Function • Committee structure linked to Cabinet portfolios creates clear accountability relationships. • Constructive relationship between Scrutiny and the Cabinet, senior management and departmental officers. • Perception of low political influence on the Scrutiny process. • Reviews trying to be evidence based. • Review groups proactive in bringing the public into their activities - site visits, witness interviews. • Pre-Cabinet meetings when presenting reviews give Scrutiny more influence. • Strong policy formulation activities. • Strong and adequately resourced dedicated officer support. • Good availability of information.

  4. General Scrutiny – Areas for Improvement • Scrutiny not integrated with corporate planning cycle: commenting on service plans and budget, but not pro-active. • Excessive focus on policy development, rather than scrutinising Cabinet decision-making. • Work programme needs better balance between strategic direction and reactivity. • Agendas involve too much feedback on reports and looking at items for approval. • Procedure for tracking recommendations is inconsistently implemented. • Limited scrutiny of issues and organisations outside the Council. • Public and stakeholders don’t know how they can feed into the Scrutiny process. • No unified communications strategy. • Scrutiny not seen or promoted as an “attractive political career”.

  5. Next Step: Taking the Evaluation Forward…

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