Scrutiny is an essential part of ensuring that local government remains effective and accountable. It is led by local Councillors who examine how services are meeting the needs of residents, making evidence-based improvement recommendations as required, similar to the Parliamentary Select Committee system.
In Telford & Wrekin nine Councillors ("members") sit on the Cabinet ("the Executive") and are responsible for the day-to-day decision making of the Council. This places a lot of responsibility with a relatively small number of members. Members who are not on the Cabinet are Scrutiny ("non-Executive") members and it is their role to hold decision makers to account and to ensure local services meet the needs of local residents.
Scrutiny has several key roles:
to hold decision makers to account
to engage in policy development
to carry out policy reviews
to challenge and monitor the performance of the Council or in some cases other organisations operating in the borough
to scrutinise in public the Council’s budget strategy and budget proposals.
Scrutiny also has a statutory role in scrutinising health services used by people living in the borough. These services are commissioned by Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS England and provided by GPs, hospital and community trusts, the ambulance trust and the healthcare trust which provides mental health services.
