I have received further details of the way Scrutiny is intended to operate under the new Brent Council arrangements from a reliable source. They seem to go beyond what is actually in the papers going to Full Council on Wednesday.
There will be 8 members of the Scrutiny Committee withs its work programme co-ordinated by a single Chair. The Chair will be empowered to form sub-committees and task groups to examine particular policy areas and developments.
The Chair will be able to invite any member of the Council, apart from the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, and who are not in the Cabinet, and 'notable citizens' outside the Council to sit on the sub-committees and task groups.
The seven other members of the Scrutiny Committee will serve as chairs of the sub-committees and task groups as well as contributing to the main Scrutiny Committee.
The claim is that this will give more members of the Council and the public an opportunity to get involved in scrutiny.
The Scrutiny committees will take place on a monthly basis rather than the present quarterly meetings and the full committee will meet the week after Cabinet meetings.
I also understand that there are proposals for the creation of deputy cabinet positions so as to involve more of the large Labour group in policy making.
On the face of it this clarification (or is it a revision?), seems to go some way to addressing concerns about the lack of scrutiny in an 'almost one party' Council but the proposals still look rather vague and the method of choosing committee members unclear. It will be the detail, and the people on the committee/s, that will have to convince the sceptics.
There will be 8 members of the Scrutiny Committee withs its work programme co-ordinated by a single Chair. The Chair will be empowered to form sub-committees and task groups to examine particular policy areas and developments.
The Chair will be able to invite any member of the Council, apart from the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, and who are not in the Cabinet, and 'notable citizens' outside the Council to sit on the sub-committees and task groups.
The seven other members of the Scrutiny Committee will serve as chairs of the sub-committees and task groups as well as contributing to the main Scrutiny Committee.
The claim is that this will give more members of the Council and the public an opportunity to get involved in scrutiny.
The Scrutiny committees will take place on a monthly basis rather than the present quarterly meetings and the full committee will meet the week after Cabinet meetings.
I also understand that there are proposals for the creation of deputy cabinet positions so as to involve more of the large Labour group in policy making.
On the face of it this clarification (or is it a revision?), seems to go some way to addressing concerns about the lack of scrutiny in an 'almost one party' Council but the proposals still look rather vague and the method of choosing committee members unclear. It will be the detail, and the people on the committee/s, that will have to convince the sceptics.
