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Scrutiny


Scrutiny and Performance Panels are made up of non-executive members (i.e. those not on cabinet) from across all political parties and they exist to provide accountability to the council. They have four key roles:

  • Holding the Executive to account for their decisions;
  • Scrutinising local partners (e.g. NHS Walsall and the Police);
  • Reviewing and developing policies and making recommendations to council on these; and
  • Carrying out service reviews to ensure services are providing value for money and meeting local needs.

In doing all this they also have a vital role in enabling the voice of local residents through community engagement. All meetings are open to the public to attend (except in exceptional circumstances where something has to be taken in private session) and the public can also suggest items for scrutiny panels to consider.

If there is something you think scrutiny should be looking at then please contact us (contact details below) with your suggestion.  We will pass your idea on to the relevant chair who will consider its inclusion at a future meeting.

At the start of each municipal year (May - April) a full council meeting takes place where the panels and membership are set along with the remits and dates for these panels.  Each panel will then develop a work programme for areas within their remit and may also establish working groups to carry out reviews of a service or to look at a particular issue in more depth.

Each panel will meet approximately once every six weeks and invites portfolio holders, key officers, and relevant partners along to provide information and answer questions. The panel can then make recommendations to the relevant body on what course of action they think should be taken. Most scrutiny activity takes place before a decision is taken, however scrutiny panels do have the power to "call in" a key decision of the cabinet.  This means the decision cannot be implemented until the panel have had the opportunity to consider and make recommendations on the issue (within set timescales).

Information on the remits and membership of the Scrutiny and Performance Panels (updated each year) are available from the links below to the council's committee information website (Link to the Committee Information Website). From here you can also find details, including papers and minutes of all meetings that have taken place and agendas for forthcoming meetings.

The panels are:

Contact us

Legal and Constitutional Services
2nd Floor Civic Centre
Darwall Street
Walsall
WS1 1TP

Telephone 01922 652018

This page was last updated on 19 January 2012