Overview and scrutiny reviews the council and its partners’ work in public. This makes sure that we are transparent in our decision making and hold decision makers to account.
Overview and Scrutiny Commission
The Overview and Scrutiny Commission co-ordinates the work of 3 Overview and Scrutiny Panels:
- Education, Skills and Growth
- Environment and Communities
- Health and Care
The commission and the panels are made up of elected non-executive members of the council. They may also include other representatives such as church and parent governor representatives.
Their co-ordination role includes:
- appointing panel members
- agreeing a work programme
The commission is also:
- the council’s statutory Crime and Disorder Committee
- responsible for health scrutiny
- there to scrutinise budget proposals and performance
The commission undertakes its own cross-cutting reviews when required.
View the commission’s terms of reference and membership.
Overview and Scrutiny Panels
The panels carry out in-depth reviews and support focused policy development.
Their activity focuses on delivering the themes of the Council Plan. Council officers, expert witnesses, partners and service users take part in these reviews. We may carry out site visits and consider independent research.
Previous panels
You can view the archived details of the previous panels:
- Adult Social Care, Health and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel
- Children, Young People and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Panel
- Environment, Culture and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Panel
- Joint East Berkshire Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee
- Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel
- Adult Social Care and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Panel
Call in procedure
The commission can scrutinise executive decisions that have been made but not yet implemented.
They can do this by using ‘call in’, an approach which pauses the implementation of the decision. If the commission remains concerned, they can refer the issue for reconsideration. The decision maker will then reconsider the matter and either amend the decision, or not, before adopting a final decision.
Annual report
The annual report outlines the work undertaken by the commission and panels.
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