Welcome to Overview and Scrutiny at Nottingham City Council

Our Overview and Scrutiny Committees aim to improve the services that you use by monitoring the work of the Council and our partners making recommendations on the way services are provided.  They play a vital role in the decision-making and policy development processes at Nottingham City Council.

In Nottingham the Overview and Scrutiny Committee manages the overall scruitny function and is supported by the work of four Select Committees and up to three Task and Finish panels.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committees have two roles: to hold the Executive to account and to help develop new policies.  They therefore monitor decisions taken by Cabinet Members and examine the provision of services supplied by Council departments, NHS Trusts and other external agencies within the City.

The following is a brief review of the types of work the committees and task and finish panels undertake

Major Reviews

These are in depth reviews of specific Council services or policies, or of areas of concern in the wider City, and can take several months to complete. During a review Members will invite experts to attend meetings to give 'evidence', go on site visits and ask for reports from officers. The information they gather is then used to produce a report which makes recommendations for improvements to service delivery, policy or practice to the Executive or Full Council or to external organisations.

Spotlight Reviews

These are reviews which often arise from performance information and will usually be undertaken by examing further information at one meeting. Recommendations may well be made from this process.

Monitoring Activity

A significant part of the work of the panels consists of monitoring the performance and financial management of Council services. Members examine audit inspection reports and performance data and conduct spot checks on specific areas of Council spending. The implementation of accepted O&S recommendations is also monitored.

Call-In

If a decision is made by the Executive Board or an Executive Member which a certain number of Overview and Scrutiny Members are not entirely satisfied with, or feel there is a need for further information, they can call that decision in. This means that no action can be taken to implement the decision until a group of Overview and Scrutiny Councillors has met and considered the matter and the Executive Member responsible has looked again at the decision and any comments overview and scrutiny has made. Call-in has not yet been used in Nottingham.