PAPER C
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CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE- 2 MARCH 2005 OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY - DEVELOPMENT OF MEMBERS' ROLES JOINT REPORT OF THE HEAD OF SELECT COMMITTEE AND REVIEW TEAM AND THE
HEAD OF LEGAL AND DEMOCRATIC SERVICES |
REASON FOR SELECT
COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
To consider the development of Members’ roles and responsibilities with
regard to overview and scrutiny functions and to make recommendations to Full
Council to amend the Constitution.
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ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE (i)
To receive information and analysis about the potential to develop
new and existing roles for Elected Members. (ii)
To recommend, for adoption by Full Council, job profiles for
inclusion in the Constitution of the Council. |
BACKGROUND
Select Committees have at various times utilised the following roles :
This role has proved useful when a particular item in the work
programme of the Select Committee is particularly technical or time
consuming. The lead member assists the Chair
of the Committee in delivering that piece of work. The draft job profile set out below reflects this role.
An example of the role in action was the work undertaken by the Social
Services, Housing and Benefits Select Committee in relation to the HealthFit
proposals.
In many ways this is a similar role to that of lead member and the
draft job profile reflects this. The
role is particularly useful in delivering short focused pieces of work, again relieving
the burden on the Chair of the Select Committee.
The device also gives an enhanced role to a member with a particular
interest or expertise in an area of work.
One task and finish group in the recent past has been that in relation
to special education needs.
Reviews to best value principles are undertaken sufficiently rarely to
allow for a methodology, including the roles of Members, to be developed for
each review. A generic job profile is
not therefore proposed.
Although the label Member Champion has been used in connection with
Select Committee work (for example in relation to Fire and Rescue Service
modernisation) the term has tended to be used interchangeably with the Lead
Member or Task Group Chair roles.
The role of Member Champion, as distinct from those other roles, has
been used in other authorities and is acknowledged by the IDeA as being of
value in many circumstances.
The distinctive nature of the role is that the Member Champion takes a
particular interest in an issue or stakeholder group with the objective of
ensuring that select committee work programmes, agendas and reports (in both
scrutiny and in policy development) take into account that issue or group.
To have value, it is suggested that the subject or group championed
should have an interest or effect across the whole area of relevance to the
Select Committee terms of reference.
Examples of issues or interests which could benefit from a champion
role may include :
·
Delivering
Efficiency.
·
Economically or
geographically isolated communities.
·
Those with
physical and/or learning disabilities.
·
Ethnically
diverse communities.
It can be seen that these themes or groups cut across the work of the Select Committee. Such themes or groups also avoid the risk (which is inevitable if specific service areas or projects are championed) that the respective roles of the Select Committee and the Executive, or the respective roles of Elected Members and Service Managers, are blurred.
The draft job profile attached aims to shape a new positive role for
Select Committee members.
Some local authorities have developed a role for Members outside of the
Executive to support Portfolio Holders within their Executive roles.
This may be a valuable role but it is suggested that it is one outside
of, and separate to, overview and scrutiny.
Here indeed, although a member supporting a portfolio holder may still
wish to participate in select committee activity, it is suggested that they
should not do so on the select committee which has principal responsibility for
overview and scrutiny of the areas in which Executive support is given.
A job profile is not offered for this role, not because there is no
merit in developing the idea of Executive support, but because developing the
Executive, and support to it, is beyond the scope of this paper.
All of the roles discussed above, particularly those where draft job profiles are offered, are designed to assist Select Committee Chairs in their role. The draft job profile for the Select Committee Chairman forms the basis for each of the other roles.
RELEVANT PLANS,
POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
The proposed job profiles represent an addition to the existing
Constitution of the Council designed to deliver best value services through
effective overview and scrutiny.
CONSULTATION
PROCESS
Developing roles for elected members is a matter for elected members and
wider consultation is not taking place.
FINANCIAL, LEGAL,
CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS
There is no proposal to pay additional special responsibility
allowances. The job profiles, if
adopted, will therefore be at no additional cost.
APPENDICES ATTACHED
Appendix
1 - Additional Job Profiles.
Contact Point : Alistair Drain, Head of Select Committee And
Review Team, F 823801, e-mail alistair.drain@iow.gov.uk
and John Lawson, Head Of Legal And Democratic Services, F 823203, e-mail john.lawson@iow.gov.uk.
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John Lawson |
Alistair Drain |
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Head of Legal and Democratic Services |
Head of Select Committee and Review Team |
(i) To take the chair at meetings of the Select Committee and to ensure effective conduct of business.
(ii) To lead the development of a work programme for the Select Committee designed to assist in the delivery of continually improving services.
(iii) To lead (in collaboration with portfolio holders, report authors, support staff and advisors) the development and delivery of agendas, reports and the presentation of information to deliver the work programme.
(iv) To ensure the delivery of clear, evidence based and time bound recommendations, directed to named individuals or organisations.
(v) To raise the profile of select committee overview and scrutiny activity within the Council, on the Island, regionally and nationally.
To support and deputise for the Chairman in delivering their responsibilities.
To take a particular interest in identified issues or stakeholder groups (but not in areas of service or project delivery) and to take all available opportunities to ensure that issue or stakeholder group is considered in the setting of select committee work programmes and agendas and in the conduct of individual lines of enquiry.
To assist and deputise for the Chairman of the Select Committee in ensuring the efficient delivery of a particular area of the select committee work programme.
To lead the delivery of time limited task and finish exercises as part of the select committee work programme and to take on a role similar to that of the Select Committee Chair in relation to the task in hand.