[Jackie Sayers]

Hi Karen

You don't even need a cover report surely? The scrutiny report speaks for itself. Yes, you need to get away from the chief officer's response-on-a-plate. Has that chief officer been involved in the review and the scrutiny report? In which case his/her views are already incorporated in the report. Here's some ideas:

Make sure your recommendations are SMART - say what needs to be done, by whom, by when. Then the Exec's answer to each is basically yes or no.

Perhaps even draft your own action plan to go with the report, for Exec to endorse. That way you save the chief officer a job, and make sure the Exec signs up to do what the scrutiny members intended.

Enforce para 19.3 of the Overview and Scrutiny Procedure Rules in your constitution at http://www.southwark.gov.uk/download/204...dure_rules

By the way, para 19.4 looks like a recipe for the Cabinet to set the scrutiny agenda...

Jackie

[Earl Piggott-Smith]

Hi Karen, getting early sign from cabinet/chief officer(s) up to the review aims is critical in getting recommendations taken up and perhaps more challenging is getting them implemented ( but that is another debate!!)

There is debate about the extent to which scrutiny recommendations should be aimed at supporting the delivery of the council priorities or highlighting areas of poor policy or practice. Depending on how thiese issues are presented in the report then it can have a impact on the willingness or otherwise of the executive and chief officers to accept recommendations .

I think that if a report can help cabinet and officers to solve a problem or support a policy position then it stands more chance of them being taken up - recommendations which add to the workload at a time when questions are being asked about the value of work which does not help deal with problems facing the authority and the need to do more or the same with a lot less resources, is unlikely to get much support.

It might be an idea to limit to the number of recommendations which would make it easier to track and also show the value of the work of members and officers.

Hope this helps.