[Nick Beale]

Steve Sienkiewicz Wrote:The requirement for upper tier Councils to appoint a 'Scrutiny Officer' would appear to be coming into being on 1st April 2010. See attached link:

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20093318_en_1

It will be interesting to hear from colleagues how this is being dealt with; who is being appointed, level of seniority, independence, etc.

Thanks, Steve.

In Devon we've added my name to the section of the constitution seeting out the management structure. Amongst the functions listed under the Office of the Chief Executive is "Scrutiny Officer: N Beale." For authorities with an existing Scrutiny Officer, no more seems to be required. The legislation doesn't specifiy any degree of seniority or reporting relationship; nor does the S.O. have the dismissal safeguards that the other statutory posts have.

The roles the Act lists for the S.O. were in my job description already, as luck (or great foresight on a former boss's part circa 2002) would have it.

[Kate Spencer]

I'd also be interested to hear which level of officer is being put forward as the statutory scrutiny officer. Are most authorities appointing their scrutiny managers or is it a more senior officer?

[Ed Hammond]

From what I've heard, it seems to be mainly scrutiny officers or scrutiny managers who have been given the designation.

I'm not aware of any instances where a more senior officer has been so designated to be a "scrutiny champion" sitting at the top table, as some of us thought might happen, but I suspect that this is because CLG did clarify their position on what they considered to be the appropriate place in the organisation for such a post.

I would advise those with an interest in this subject (who wouldn't?) to have a look at proposals for Wales from the Welsh Assembly Government which will put in place something far stronger. (They're also proposing to ban the whipping of scrutiny committees in Wales, which is interesting).

[David Moran]

Ehammond Wrote:From what I've heard, it seems to be mainly scrutiny officers or scrutiny managers who have been given the designation.

I'm not aware of any instances where a more senior officer has been so designated to be a "scrutiny champion" sitting at the top table, as some of us thought might happen, but I suspect that this is because CLG did clarify their position on what they considered to be the appropriate place in the organisation for such a post.

I would advise those with an interest in this subject (who wouldn't?) to have a look at proposals for Wales from the Welsh Assembly Government which will put in place something far stronger. (They're also proposing to ban the whipping of scrutiny committees in Wales, which is interesting).

Ed,

Where did CLG clarify their position on what they considered to be the appropriate place in the organisation for such a post?

[Ed Hammond]

It was discussed at the last meeting of the County and Unitary Councils' Scrutiny Network, which was attended by officers from CLG. I think I have also got an e-mail from either Helen Moores or Danny Fairbrass somewhere which confirms the position but I will have to have a bit of a dig around for it.

But at the meeting, CLG certainly confirmed their view that their view of the stat scrutiny officer role was that it was a designation for a practitioner rather than a high level "officer champion".

[Josh Mynott]

Ed

I'd appreciate if you could dig out that email - the evidence would be useful in our discussions about this.

Thanks

[Madeleine Shopland]

if you do find a copy of the email I too would really appreciate a copy to assit us in our discussions.

Thanks

Madeleine Shopland

Senior Democratic Services Officer, Wokingham Borough Council

[Simon Evans]

Parliament's Explanatory Notes to the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 provide a clue as to the intention of Section 31. Paragraph 82 of the Explanatory Notes states: -

"Typically, a scrutiny officer will promote the scrutiny function generally within the authority and local government partners more widely, and provide advice and support to members of the authority's committee(s) in undertaking their work. This may include the provision, or management, of committee secretariat services, research, analysis of data and report preparation for example."

I guess this falls short of statutory guidance, but it may help.

Simon Evans, Scrutiny Officer, Lincolnshire County Council.