Our review sought to answer the question: How effective are scrutiny arrangements at the council?

Overall, we found that: The council is missing opportunities for scrutiny to maximise its impact, influence and effectiveness in holding cabinet to account, shaping council policies and reviewing performance.

We reached this conclusion because:

• the council’s current scrutiny model is not fulfilling many important aspects of its role, which increases the risk that members do not make informed decisions in a timely manner;
• the scrutiny model is not citizen focused and does not provide easy opportunities for public involvement and participation in scrutiny;
• the scrutiny model is compromising its ability to use its time effectively to independently plan and strategically prioritise its own work;
• the council’s scrutiny support arrangements are focused on maintaining the current scrutiny model and ways of working and do not encourage scrutiny to explore its wider role and potential; and
• while the council has put in place some arrangements to evaluate scrutiny activity, these arrangements are limited.