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Overview & Scrutiny at Northamptonshire County Council

Overview & Scrutiny at Northamptonshire County Council. James Edmunds Democratic Services Assistant Manager & Statutory Scrutiny Officer jedmunds@northamptonshire.gov.uk. Northamptonshire. 692,000 population

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Overview & Scrutiny at Northamptonshire County Council

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  1. Overview & Scrutiny at Northamptonshire County Council James Edmunds Democratic Services Assistant Manager & Statutory Scrutiny Officer jedmunds@northamptonshire.gov.uk

  2. Northamptonshire 692,000 population 7 district / borough councils; 2 CCGs; 2 acute hospitals; Northamptonshire Police and Fire & Rescue services Not just “the county of spires and squires” Economy: logistics, food and drink, high-performance engineering

  3. Northamptonshire County Council 57 councillors (boundary review in 2012) Conservative majority (35), with Labour (11), Lib Dems (6), UKIP (3) and independents (2) £1,116m revenue budget (£489m DSG) 4,695 staff members Service partnerships: LGSS, Northamptonshire Highways, Olympus Care

  4. Overview & Scrutiny at NCC (1) 4 x O&S committees: - Children, Learning & Communities - Environment, Development & Transport - Finance & Resources - Health, Adult Care & Wellbeing 1 x Scrutiny Management Committee made up of Chairs and Deputy Chairs

  5. Overview & Scrutiny at NCC (2) 10 councillor members per O&S committee Additional voting and non-voting co-optees involved in education and health scrutiny Chairs and deputies allocated proportionally 4 x meetings of each O&S committee per year O&S reports presented to Cabinet Supported by Councillor Development activity

  6. Working Methods Scrutiny reviews Contributing to in-depth work led by Cabinet Members, service officers or partners Set-piece scrutiny of policy and performance Others: monitoring, off-agenda briefings, visits Co-operation: Healthwatch; Young Leaders; joint scrutiny Engagement: webcasting and social media

  7. Officer support Based in Democratic Services Now 2.5 FTE from 5 officers NCC support officers have always provided both ‘scrutiny’ and ‘committee’ support Good working relationships with directorates

  8. Scrutiny work in 2014/15 Scrutiny review of apprenticeships in progress Scrutiny review of bus services just reported Pre-decision scrutiny of key policies and projects: Care Act implementation; future provision of school transport Monitoring service performance: children’s social care; podiatry service changes; EMAS; education outcomes Budget Scrutiny Review

  9. Call-In Requires 8 councillors, from more than one group, including an O&S Chair or Deputy Call-ins go to Scrutiny Management Committee In numerical terms: - 1 call-in so far in 2014/15 - Average of 1.5 call-ins per year - 12 call-ins since 2004/05 resulting in 2 decisions being referred back

  10. O&S over the years (1) 2001-2006: 7 x O&S committees, with thematic remits 2006-2008: 4 x O&S committees, with remits aligned to Local Area Agreement blocks 2007/08: Cross-Party Review of O&S 2008-11: 4 x O&S committees, with (different) thematic remits 2011- : Current structure

  11. O&S over the years (2) Previous areas of debate and change: Finance scrutiny Central co-ordination Lead scrutiny councillor role Size of scrutiny committees No current drive to move to a smaller permanent committee structure.

  12. Current challenges May you live in interesting times: more issues meriting scrutiny requires more prioritisation Getting a good balance between wholly O&S-led work and joint work with decision-makers Looking at how O&S fits in effectively with other local oversight and inspection processes How O&S fits in with national developments concerning scrutiny of public services

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