The objective of the review was to provide assurance that arrangements for public scrutiny in committee were well placed to meet current and future challenges as well as to help consult effective scrutiny by elected members from the outset of this current election cycle.

Through a combination of reviewing internal and public documents, observing committees, conducting interviews and focus groups, we sought evidence that answered the following sub-questions, relating to environment, practice and the impact of scrutiny:

• Is the council creating a supportive environment to enable scrutiny to operate effectively?
• Is the implementation of the scrutiny function well designed, efficient, objective and based on evidence from a variety of sources?
• Does overview and scrutiny activity contribute to improvements in performance and decision making?

What we found

We found that the council has reviewed and introduced changes to oversight and scrutiny arrangements, with a higher status afforded to scrutiny within the democratic process. However, there are opportunities to strengthen the contribution, standing and impact of scrutiny further.