Overview and Scrutiny is vital to the work of Leicester City Council and its partners. It helps to develop policy, improve the performance of the Council, and hold the City Mayor and Executive to account for their decisions.
Overview and Scrutiny can look at Council services as well as services provided by other local agencies and organisations, including the NHS and Safer Leicester, the city’s Community Safety Partnership.
Information about legislation relating to Overview and Scrutiny can be found in a publication called Pulling It All Together written by the Centre for Public Scrutiny (as well as in this legislative framework update released following the introduction of the Localism Act), and on Wikipedia.
Leicester City Council has eight Scrutiny Commissions:
The scrutiny commissions are made up of non-executive councillors and co-opted members who meet in order to gather evidence from officers, the Executive, service users, expert witnesses, the public and external partners on particular issues and topics. The commissions then make recommendations to the City Mayor and Executive about how to improve services for local people.
Further information on Overview and Scrutiny in Leicester can be found in the Leicester City Council Scrutiny User Guide, the Overview and Scrutiny Handbook (which was published in 2011, after the mayoral election, to reflect the new scrutiny arrangements), and in the relevant sections of the City Council Constitution.
For more information on any aspect of the scrutiny process please call the Members Support Team on 0116 229 8898 or email scrutiny@leicester.gov.uk
