Call For Evidence
Announcement Of Committee Inquiry: Local Government Scrutiny And Overview
The Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee has agreed to undertake an inquiry into the progress made in the area of local government scrutiny and overview in Wales and is calling for those with an interest or expertise in this area to submit written evidence.
Background
In 2004 the former Local Government and Public Services Committee (LGPS) Committee produced a Report on The Operation of the New Political Management Structures in Local Government
which contained recommendations for the Assembly Government and Local Government about strengthening the scrutiny role of non-executive councillors.
The Health, Wellbeing and Local Government Committee will be reviewing the progress made in implementing the recommendations of the 2004 report, and will be assessing what further developments are necessary to improve the quality of scrutiny and overview in local government.
The recommendations of the 2004 report can be accessed via the following link: http://www.assemblywales.org/N0000000000000000000000000021314.pdf
Terms of Reference
The Committee has agreed the following terms of reference for the inquiry:
To review the extent to which the recommendations made by the former Local Government and Public Services Committee in respect of overview and scrutiny have been acted on by the Welsh Assembly Government, local authorities and the WLGA.
To assess the extent to which the overview and scrutiny function has developed in Welsh local authorities since 2004;
In the light of recommendations made by Sir Jeremy Beecham, to assess the extent to which the scrutiny process in Welsh local authorities is inclusive; collaborative and engages with the citizen.
To make recommendations on the future development of the overview and scrutiny function in Local Government.
Some of the core issues that the Committee will want to consider are:
How the Welsh Assembly Government, the WLGA and local authorities have responded to the recommendations made by the Local Government and Public Services Committee in 2004?
In what ways the Overview and Scrutiny function has changed and developed within local authorities in Wales since 2004?
Which local authorities are demonstrating best practice in their conduct of overview and scrutiny?
Is best practice being successfully shared between local authorities? If so, how?
How local authorities are developing an inclusive scrutiny process, as identified by Sir Jeremy Beecham?
What progress has been made by local authorities in developing collaborative scrutiny arrangements?
Interested parties are invited to submit written evidence to the Clerk of the Committee at the address below, to arrive no later than Friday 28 November 2008. If possible, please supply an electronic version in MS Word or Rich Text format, either by e mail to health.wellbeing.localgovt.comm@wales.gsi.gov.uk or on a disk. Further guidance on the submission of evidence is attached. I would be grateful if you could share this request with other interested parties or, where appropriate, any of your member organisations.
The Committee may call on those who have submitted written evidence to supplement it in oral evidence to the Committee. Please indicate in your response whether you would be prepared to give evidence in person.
Witnesses should be aware that once written evidence has been submitted to the Committee it is treated as the property of the Committee. It is the Committee’s intention to place written papers on its website, and they may subsequently be printed with the report.
It is normal practice for the National Assembly to publish evidence provided to a committee. Consequently your response may appear in a report or in supplementary evidence to a report. The National Assembly will not publish information which it considers to be personal data.
In the event of a request for information submitted under UK legislation, it may be necessary to disclose the information that you provide. This may include information which has previously been removed by the National Assembly for publication purposes.
If you are providing any information, other than personal data, which you feel is not suitable for public disclosure, it is up to you to stipulate which parts should not be published, and to provide a reasoned argument to support this. The National Assembly will take this into account when publishing information or responding to requests for information.
Membership of the Committee: Jonathan Morgan AM (Chair), Lorraine Barrett AM, Irene James AM, Ann Jones AM, Helen Mary Jones AM, Dai Lloyd AM, Val Lloyd AM, Nick Ramsey AM, Jenny Randerson AM