Scrutiny
What is Scrutiny?
Scrutiny is an important role for Councillors, which helps to
ensure that local people receive high quality services that are
relevant to their needs. Scrutiny adds an entirely new dimension to
the Council’s decision-making process by examining the decisions
taken by the Executive (Cabinet) investigating the key
issues affecting the district and making recommendations for
improvements to current arrangements.
A scrutiny function has existed at Thanet Council since May
1999, when the Authority embarked on the Cabinet System in line
with the Government’s agenda to modernise local
democracy. On 12 May 2005 a revised scrutiny system
consisting of two panels was adopted.
How does Scrutiny work?
Two Scrutiny Panels maintain an overview of the work of the
Council's decision-takers - in effect, they keep a watching brief
on the members of Thanet's Cabinet.
They examine the decisions made by the Executive and council
officers, review the policies and actions of the council and
monitor overall performance.
The panels may require any member of the Executive, the Head of
Paid Service or any senior officer to explain matters within their
remit, or may also invite other people, such as residents and
stakeholders to discuss chosen topics. This helps to ensure that
the Council is in touch with the consensus of opinion within the
district and can make appropriate recommendations to change.
The Panels welcome contributions from members of the public and
organisations, however Scrutiny Panels are not complaints panels
and there is a separate procedure for this.
In order to maintain independence and clarity in decision
making, no member of the Cabinet may sit on a Scrutiny Panel.
The Panels are politically balanced, with 1 of the panels
chaired by the largest opposition party on the council with the
other being chaired by a member of the Majority Group.
The panels are:
Executive & Policy Scrutiny Panel
The primary function of the Executive & Policy Scrutiny
Panel, which is the only panel who can ‘call-in’ a
decision and can hold the Executive to account at a number of
different stages of the decision-making process:
- before decisions are made,
- before they are implemented and
- after they are implemented.
'Call-in'
When a decision is made by the Executive, the Executive &
Policy Scrutiny Panel can ‘call-in’ the decision to prevent it
taking immediate effect. The Panel can then review the decision and
make recommendations to the decision-maker and suggest
improvements.
This Panel can also conduct in-depth policy reviews into an
issue that affects the lives of local people. Reviews can take many
months to complete and result in the production of recommendations
to Cabinet as to how these policies can be developed.
Finance, Best Value & Performance Review Panel
The Scrutiny Panels are also involved in the Council’s Best Value Process, reviewing
the Improvement Plans to ensure they are being implemented
sufficiently to improve the service to customers. This is within
the remit of the Finance, Best Value and Performance Review Panel.
This panel also has the opportunity to scrutinise the Budget and
make recommendations on the content.
Similarly, the panels can also examine key Council documents
such as the Local Plan and Corporate
Plan.
To find out who is on the panel see Committee
Membership
Get involved with Scrutiny
Is there an issue that you feel should be raised and wish to
comment on?
The panel meetings are open to the public and the panels welcome
suggestions for areas of Council business for future scrutiny.
If you would like to make a suggestion for a new review, or
comment upon an existing review, then complete our
Scrutiny review
form (106kb PDF).
Please ensure that you contact a
Council Member to support your suggestion.
You can also contact Scrutiny by e-mail: committee@thanet.gov.uk
Individual Scrutiny Panels will ask for input from the public
regarding certain issues.
Meetings are normally held at the Council offices from 7pm.
Please contact us on 01843 577500 or by e-mail: committee@thanet.gov.uk to
confirm that the meeting is going ahead.