Overview and Scrutiny - Legislation
ListenLocal Government Act 2000
Overview and scrutiny is a relatively new function for local councils and was introduced as part of the modernisation of local government via Section 21 of the Local Government Act 2000 which requires every local authority to have at least one overview and scrutiny committee. The purpose of the committee is to hold the executive to account; undertake policy development and review; monitor and improve performance; investigate issues of public concern; and external scrutiny including the National Health Service (NHS).
Health and Social Care Act 2001
Section 7 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 gives statutory functions in relation to the reviewing and scrutinising of local health service matters to overview and scrutiny committees of local authorities that hold responsibility for social services. The powers of overview and scrutiny of the NHS enable committees to review any matter relating to the planning, provision and operation of health services in the area of its local authority. Health bodies have a statutory duty to provide the overview and scrutiny committee with any reasonable information about the planning and operation of health services in its area and regulations require chief executives of local NHS bodies to come before the committee to answer questions if requested.
The Act also imposes a duty on NHS bodies to consult the local health overview and scrutiny committee on substantial developments of, or variations to, the health service in the council’s area as well as their annual statement to the Care Quality Commission on how they have complied with the NHS core standards. Should overview and scrutiny committees consider that the process of an NHS body’s consultation on any significant changes to services has been inadequate it will have the right to refer it to the Secretary of State.
Section 7 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 is now Section 244 of the NHS Act 2006, which consolidated much of the current legislation concerning the health service, and the wording of the 2001 Act and the associated regulations remains the same.
Local Government Act 2003
The above Act modifies the Local Government Act 2000 so as to provide local authorities in England with a power to grant voting rights to co-opted members of overview and scrutiny committees who are not elected members of the authority. This power may only be used in accordance with a scheme made by the local authority and the Secretary of State is empowered to make regulations in relation to the exercise by authorities of this power.
Police and Justice Act 2006
The Police and Justice Act amends the Local Government Act 2000 and introduces the 'Community Call for Action' arising from the Government's ‘Respect’ agenda which covers a wide range of preventative and punitive measures in areas such as parenting, schools, housing, community and local public services. This allows unresolved issues of concern to communities to be notified to, and reviewed by, overview and scrutiny committees. The Act states that every local authority shall ensure that it has a crime and disorder overview and scrutiny committee with power to review or scrutinise decisions made, or other action taken, in connection with the discharge of crime and disorder functions and to make reports or recommendations to the local authority or its executive with respect to the discharge of those functions. The Act enables the Secretary of State to make an order requiring councils for the local government areas in question to appoint a joint crime and disorder overview and scrutiny committee of those councils to exercise crime and disorder scrutiny functions in relation to any, or all, of them where Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership mergers between local authorities have taken place.
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007
This wide ranging Act includes the process called a "Councillor Call for Action". It requires each local authority operating executive arrangements to ensure its overview and scrutiny arrangements enable any member of the authority to refer a local government matter to the relevant overview and scrutiny committee. (Section 21 of the Local Government Act 2000 empowers overview and scrutiny committees to review or scrutinise decisions made, and to make reports and recommendations about matters whether or not they are the responsibility of the Executive; and to make reports or recommendations on matters which affect the authority's area.) The purpose of section 237 is to ensure transparency and accountability by allowing records of decisions or actions taken as a result of a Councillor Call for Action to be made available to the public.
By virtue of section 236 of the Act, an authority can make arrangements for individual members to exercise functions of the authority in relation to the electoral division or ward for which the member is elected. Section 120 inserts a provision in section 21 of the Local Government Act 2000 allowing overview and scrutiny committees to require such members to appear before the committee to answer questions in relation to any functions that they exercise.
Powers to require information from partner authorities are in section 121 of the Act which provides for the Secretary of State to make regulations which determine what information relevant partner authorities must provide, or may not disclose, to relevant overview and scrutiny committees.
Section 122 applies in relation to the submission of overview and scrutiny reports or recommendations to the Council, the Executive or relevant partner authorities and stipulates how these should be responded to. The treatment of confidential information in reports is also addressed.
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009
With effect from 1 April 2010, sections 31 and 32 of this diverse Act extend scrutiny by requiring all authorities (except district councils in two-tier areas) to designate one of its officers, subject to some exclusions, as its scrutiny officer and sets out a number of functions to be carried out by that officer. Bracknell Forest’s Scrutiny Officer is the Director of Corporate Services.
The Act also enables the Secretary of State to make provision for any two or more authorities in England to appoint a joint overview and scrutiny committee to make reports or recommendations to the appointing authorities in relation to any local government matter other than a crime and disorder matter. This replaces the clause in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 which limited the nature and scope of joint committees to issues relating to Local Area Agreement targets under the auspices of a county council joint committee with a district in its area.
Sections 10 - 22 of the Act place duties on local authorities in relation to petitions signed by those who live, work or study in the local area. It requires authorities to make, publicise and comply with a scheme for handling both paper and electronic petitions and sets out the type of petition to which the scheme applies. The petition scheme must specify that the steps which may be taken by the authority in response to the petition include referring the petition to an overview and scrutiny committee. Where petitions requesting officers to be called to account are received, the overview and scrutiny committee shall require the relevant officer to attend a public meeting of the committee to respond to questions. Afterwards the committee must produce a report or recommendations to the authority, a copy of which will be sent to the petition organiser. Section 17 gives the petition organiser the power to ask an overview and scrutiny committee to review the authority’s response to their petition in the event that the organiser is not satisfied with the steps taken by the authority. The committee may arrange for the full council to carry out this function. The local authority must inform the petition organiser of the outcome of this review and publish the results on its website unless it considers that in all circumstances it would be inappropriate to do so.
The above legislation together with regulations made thereunder can be viewed on the Office of Public Sector Information Website.
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