Question from Malcolm Robertson to 22 July Full Council Meeting: Cabinet Scrutiny [Updated with answer]

4.16.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 16th Jul 2010

Question by Mr M Robertson to the Chairman of Cabinet Scrutiny Committee:

Will the Chairman of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee say what lessons have been learned during the last year of the Committee's operation?

Answer given in writing after Full Council meeting, 22 July:

"On my appointment as Chairman of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee I asked the Conservative/Labour Group Spokesmen and the Independent Member to serve as my Vice Chairmen. This has worked well as we share the responsibility and operation of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee.

"Scrutiny is the main tool available to all back bench members to examine and improve the decisions made by Cabinet and Cabinet members on behalf of the residents of Kent.

"We have been pleased to see the latest improvement in quality of response from Cabinet to the recommendations made by Cabinet Scrutiny Committee.

"However, what continues to cause concern to the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee and across the whole suite of Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees is the information available to back bench Members to perform their role and serve the people of Kent more effectively.

"There needs to be a fundamental change in the culture of the whole organisation to see Cabinet Scrutiny Committee as the "constructive critical friend". The Cabinet Scrutiny Committee has worked hard to lobby for more information to be included in the Forward Plan and the provision of quality and timely information.

"Information requests need to be responded to promptly to avoid unnecessary call-in. Likewise recommendations for items to be considered by the appropriate Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee have been ignored. Recommendations from the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee which have been agreed by Cabinet have on occasions been delayed in their implementation. (In the interest of expediency I have set out specific examples at the end of the formal written answer).

"I look forward to a period of improved communication with staff and the members of Cabinet Scrutiny Committee, and scrutiny work being increasingly focused on the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committees, leaving Cabinet Scrutiny Committee to pick up pre scrutiny, cross cutting and major decisions."

Examples:

• Commonly long delays in responding to questions: in a recent example five weeks elapsed before the officer responsible for making a decision was identified by the Children, Families & Education Department. Questions raised on gulley emptying in December 2008 remain outstanding. As a result scrutiny meetings have been held which could have been avoided had these questions been answered promptly.

• Delays have also been experienced in following up recommendations accepted by Cabinet: a report on Kent Design Guide Parking Standards has taken over seven months to be presented; and three months for a satisfactory report on Kent Digital Service; we still await review of the 15% Chief Officer Bonus scheme which remains outstanding since April 2009; so far there has been no review of the members feedback forms required as part of the Chief Officer appraisal process as requested in September 2010.

• The information were incomplete: The Future of Older Peoples Provision had neither the number of clients, or the number of staff affected detailed.

• The decision as written was unintelligible: such as a report on school maintenance contracts, or the report was unrelated to the decision being made as in the case of Community Wardens scheme called in yesterday.

• Would have been best dealt with by the specialist Policy Overview Scrutiny Committees but did not appear on their agendas: The Cabinet Member decision on the revision of Community Warden deployment was signed off two days before the Communities Policy Overview Scrutiny Committee but did not appear on its agenda. The £4.1m cuts in Integrated Transport Schemes do not appear on the agenda for Environment Highways and Waste Policy Overview Scrutiny Committee for 29TH July. Yet these are both issues in which there is likely to be intense public interest.