Annual survey 2007
The report and analysis for the 5th annual survey of overview and scrutiny in local government are now available. We are very grateful to all the officers and Members who took the time this year to complete the questionnaire.
The rate of responses to the 2007 survey has remained at a stable and healthy 63 per cent of all local authorities in England and Wales.
In terms of benchmarking information there have been some modest changes since 2006. Notably the overall average number of scrutiny officer posts per authority has dropped from 3.1 in 2006 to 2.9 in 2007. This gives some cause for concern given the increase in scrutiny's workload in relation to Local Area Agreements, crime and disorder, and Councillor Calls for Action.
The more general view of scrutiny’s roles and impact points to concern at the ability to effectively scrutinise partnerships, although the use of call-in and successful acceptance of scrutiny’s recommendations has remained relatively stable.
2008 promises to be an interesting and challenging year for those involved in overview and scrutiny, with the implementation of new roles likely in the Autumn, so we look forward to seeing how some of these viewpoints develop in next year’s survey.
Download your copy of the survey report and full data set:
- Survey Report 2007 (pdf file)
- Full data set (Excel workbook)