Agenda item

To receive the Cabinet Scrutiny Protocol from Everton Roberts, Head of Scrutiny.

The committee then received the Cabinet Scrutiny Protocol from Everton Roberts, Head of Scrutiny covering the following points

·  Council’s Scrutiny Improvement Review, comment and feedback on protocol from Cabinet Members, Senior Officers and Committee Members in April 2025

·  The purpose of the protocol is to enable Cabinet members (and senior officers) and the Scrutiny function to have a clear understanding of the expectations and behaviours of members, officers, organisations, and individuals engaging in the various aspects of the scrutiny process and to foster good working relations

·  There will be processes that sit underneath the protocol to support agreed arrangements, detail to be established. The protocol was reviewed by CMT in October and further reviewed by CMT in April 2025. In addition, comments on the protocol have been sought from cabinet members and overview and scrutiny committee members in February and March 2025. The attached version of the protocol factors in comments received as part of that consultation process.

·  The effectiveness of the protocol will be kept under review and reported annually through the chair of overview and scrutiny committee annual report to council assembly.

The committee then asked questions on the following topics

• Pre-decision scrutiny within Education and Local Economy Scrutiny Commission meeting had very little impact in the development of the strategies going to Cabinet when compared annual scrutiny reports of the commission with recommendations – protocol seeks to involve officers at a greater level, receiving feedback earlier in the scrutiny review process in cases of contentious issues. Scrutiny members to clarify specific areas of concern in case of scrutiny and pre-scrutiny.
• Policy development areas to be discussed with Cabinet members and Senior Officers in detail.
• Process of co-opting members for Local Economy on the Education and Local Economy Scrutiny Commission- Provisions for co-opting non-voting members and in this case, local economy representatives exist in the council constitution. However, they must be identified upfront and justified by the work plan of the scrutiny commission for the year.  It also requires agreement from the Chair and Vice-Chair of OSC.
• Compliance with protocol and monitoring implementation of protocol – provision for changing processes in the protocol by the Chair of OSC, if issues arise throughout the year and warrant change. Following, that to be confirmed by council assembly.
• Cabinet Scrutiny protocol to be mentioned at opening statements at committee meetings.
• Different ways of working, conducting scrutiny meetings in the community, and task and finish groups to be considered for upcoming committee and commission meetings.

The Cabinet Scrutiny Protocol was agreed by the committee.