The legal backdrop
Overview and scrutiny committees were established in English and Welsh local authorities by the Local Government Act 2000. They were intended as a counterweight to the new executive structures created by that Act (elected mayors or leaders and cabinets). Their role was to develop and review policy and make recommendations to the council.
Today, the legislative provisions for overview and scrutiny committees for England can be found in the Localism Act 2011. Local authorities also manage processes of ‘external scrutiny’, where their committees look at issues which lie outside the council’s responsibilities, with specific powers to scrutinise health bodies, community safety partnerships, and Police and Crime Commissioners.
The powers and functions of overview and scrutiny committees, include:
- Any member of an overview and scrutiny committee has the right to refer a relevant matter to the committee in England. This provision does not apply to matters concerned with planning and licensing, or to “any matter which is vexatious, discriminatory or not reasonable to be included in the agenda”; Overview and scrutiny committees may hold inquiries and produce reports. Meetings are subject to the normal rules for public admission;
- Overview and scrutiny committees have the power to ‘call in’ decisions made by their executives. They may then review a decision and recommend that the council reconsiders it. This power is normally defined to ‘key decisions’, which are defined in law. The Government guidance implies that call-in would be expected to be used as a last resort when other methods of engagement have failed. Councils will normally specify a window of time after a decision during which this power can be exercised, and a minimum number of councillors to exercise it (for example, five councillors from at least two political parties); Committees may require executive members and officers of the authority to appear before them. Individuals from outside the council can be invited, but not compelled, to attend;
- Overview and scrutiny reports must receive a response from the council executive within two months;
- Overview and scrutiny committees cannot oblige either the executive, the council or external bodies to act upon their findings;
- Each authority must appoint at least one ‘scrutiny officer’.
Source: Overview and Scrutiny in Local Government, House of Commons Briefing Paper, 27 June 2019.