Agenda item

The Committee had before it a report by the Executive Director of Corporate Services which sought feedback on proposals for improving elected members scrutiny as recommended by Audit Scotland in their thematic Best Value report on strategic priorities, prior to these being presented to Council in April as part of the Scheme of Governance annual review.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee -

(a)            note the progress made by the elected member Governance Reference Group on developing scrutiny improvements and thank the internal and external auditors for their input to date;

(b)            provide feedback on the approach being proposed by the Group to enhance the Council’s scrutiny approach as recommended by Audit Scotland; and

(c)            note that the Interim Chief Officer – Governance will, following feedback from this Committee, incorporate the proposals set out at paragraph 3.5 within the revised Scheme of Governance being presented to Council in April.

In response to a question relating to whether there was anything else that could be improved, the Chief Internal Auditor advised that he agreed with the recommendations contained in the report and that these would improve the current scrutiny route.

In response to a question relating to whether this Committee could look at issues where there was high public interest earlier in the process, the Interim Chief Officer – Governance advised that consideration on the wording of the current Term of Reference would form part of the Scheme of Governance Review.

In response to a question relating to scrutiny training and whether this would be a certification scheme, the Interim Chief Officer - Governance advised that it wouldn’t be a certification scheme however it would enable members to look at different types of scrutiny based on the committees.

The Convener, seconded by Councillor Ali, moved:-

that the Committee:

1.        Notes the report

2.        Agrees point 1 of paragraph 3.5;

3.        Agrees point 2 of paragraph 3.5;

4.        Agrees point 3 of paragraph 3.5 and that officers are included in these training opportunities;

5.        Agrees the following feedback on the proposals being submitted to Council in April:

a)       Agrees that, to ensure members can scrutinise effectively, officers must trust Elected Members who are the ultimate decision makers, by ensuring that written Legal advice is provided to Elected Members where reasonably requested, and, where it is relevant to a decision to be taken by elected members, that the conduct of elected members is governed by the Councillors Code of Conduct and that there are fixed processes in place where anyone believes a councillor is in breach, therefore it is not appropriate for officials to pre-emptively police the actions of elected members outside of the code of conduct;

b)       Agrees that providing Motions and Amendments for Council to all Elected Members one hour before the meeting is simply gerrymandering given often Council meetings mostly run on into other days;

c)        Agrees that officers must reflect on the powers categories of exempt information open to them such as within Schedule 7a of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 as amended when dealing with matters such as legal advice; and

d)        Agrees that as Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee should be non-political thereby acting in the best interests of the Council, the best way to achieve cross party working is for the Governance Reference Group to be abolished with the responsibility being transferred to this Committee and that this should form part of the proposals to Council when it reviews the Scheme of Governance in April.

Councillor Allard, seconded by Councillor Greig, moved as an amendment:-

that the Committee approve the recommendations contained within the report.

On a division, there voted:- for the motion (4) – the Convener, Vice Convener and Councillors Ali and Brooks; for the amendment (5) – Councillors Allard, Alphonse, Greig, McLellan and McRae.

The Committee resolved:-

to adopt the terms of the amendment.