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Home Page > Your Council > Overview & Scrutiny

Overview & Scrutiny Committees

 

Welcome to OSC at Maidstone Borough Council

 

Overview & ScrutinyOur Overview and Scrutiny Committees aim to improve the services that you use by monitoring the work of the Council and making recommendations on the way services are provided.   They plays a vital role in the decision-making and policy development processes at Maidstone Borough Council.


There are four Overview and Scrutiny Committees which correspond to the portfolios held by the Cabinet.

 

The Overview and Scrutiny Committees have two roles: to hold the Executive to account and to help develop new policies. They therefore monitor decisions taken by Cabinet Members and examine the provision of services supplied by Council departments, contractors, and external agencies within the Borough.

 

Operating rather like Select Committees in the House of Commons, the Committees’ work falls into four broad areas:

  1. Call-in: The Overview and Scrutiny Committees are charged with ensuring that the decisions taken by the Executive are appropriate and within the Council’s policy framework. If two members of a Committee feel that the decision is inappropriate they can ‘call the decision in’ after it has been made to prevent the decision taking immediate effect. They can then interview the Cabinet Member or Council Officers and make recommendations to the decision-maker suggesting improvements to the decision.
  2. Policy Reviews: The Committees carry out detailed, evidence-based assessments of Council services or issues which affect the lives of local people. At the end of the inquiry the Committee produce reports making recommendations to the Executive and other partner agencies as to how things could be improved. During the course of reviews Councillors speak to Council Officers and external witnesses to assist them in their information gathering.
  3. One-Off Reviews: In addition to conducting in-depth policy reviews Committees often want conduct a quick, one-off review of a topic. Typically the Committee will ask Council Officers to come and speak to them about a service or issue before making recommendations to the Cabinet.
  4. Scrutiny of Council Documents: Much of the Scrutiny Committees’ work involves the detailed examination of key Council documents. The Budget, the Corporate Plan, the Best Value Performance Plan and the Asset Management Plan have all come under scrutiny in the last year and this process will be expanded over the coming year.

 

Suggest a Review!

 

Download our Review Suggestion Form to suggest a topic for the Committees to review in 2008/09.  If you need this form in a different format, contact the OSC Team using the details below.

 

 

Contact the OSC team

 

Email: ku.vog.enotsdiam@REMOVEMEcso

Phone: 01622 602620

Fax: 01622 692246