The Council is required by law to establish a Scrutiny Committee and has been operating scrutiny arrangements since 1999. The Scrutiny process is led by your Borough Councillors but the public can also directly influence the agenda by calling for matters to be debated. The main roles of the council's Scrutiny Committee are:
- to monitor the decisions made by the Cabinet and, where appropriate, to advise the Council on matters of policy or service delivery affecting citizens
- to consider matters of importance to the Council in order to contribute to policy development
- to encourage involvement in the scrutiny process by local residents, users of services, community organisations and, where relevant, local businesses by allowing them to ask for matters of public concern within the Committees terms of reference to be reviewed.
Scrutiny Committees are influencing bodies not decision making bodies. The role of scrutiny at Amber Valley, therefore, is to be a "critcal friend" of the Council who makes suggestions designed to improve services for the community.
Scrutiny allows the key decisions made by the Council's Cabinet and officers to be questioned by other Borough Councillors. It's a common sense approach to reviewing Council decisions and policies and considering whether they are right for the Borough. Not only does it provide a means to review the Council's own achievements against planned targets but also enables reviews to be carried out in relation to services provided by other public organisations and bodies on issues affecting the public.
Accessing Scrutiny
By Councillors using the "call-in" mechanism:
Under this system, members can ask the Committee to have another look at a decision made by Cabinet, to examine the reasonsing for the decision and to consider an alternative solution if one has been suggested. Amber Valley Borough Council holds Cabinet meetings every six weeks. It makes decisions on a wide range of local issues such as public health and the environment, community safety, leisure and regeneration. Decisions made by Cabinet are normally published within two working days of the meeting and can be found on this website. Any decision can be "called-in" by a Borough Councillor in the two working days following publication.
The Scrutiny function allows for Borough Councillors to call-in decisions made by Cabinet prior to implementation. This is to ensure transparency of the decision making process of the Cabinet and Officers and demonstrates the Council's commitment to involving local people in decisions that affect the community. As part of this commitment the Council is keen to promote greater public awareness of the role and responsibilities of local Borough Councillors and how they can help local people or groups. Under the call-in process, residents, businesses or voluntary groups, if they are not content with a recent decision of the Cabinet, may ask their local Borough Councillor (or any other Borough Councillor if they are unable to act) to be their advocate and have a decision called-in for examination.
To ask a Borough Councillor to call-in a decision of the Cabinet you must either be:
- A resident of the Borough;
- A local business situated in the Borough (ie a business paying business rates to the Council); or
- A Voluntary Organisation with an interest in the Borough. (A Voluntary Group is defined as a body, the activities of which are carried on otherwise than for profit, such as a registered charity, a corporated or unincorporated body, ie they have a constitution and keep accounts, those registered with the Amber Valley Council or Voluntary Services, but excluding those established for political purposes).
- Remember, if you wish to request a call-in you must contact your local Borough Councillor promptly. The contact details of the Borough Councillors are published on this website and a Guide to Councillors is available at the Town Hall, Ripley and at Town Centre Offices. Alternatively contact the Public Scrutiny Office.
By local resident, voluntary groups and/or businesses in the Borough
Following changes introduced by the Committee in October 2005 designed to improve public access to scrutiny, local residents, voluntary groups and/or businesses in the Borough can now request the Committee to review a subject or matter of concern in the Borough.
A separate booklet entitled 'Your Local Guide to Scrutiny' explaining the procedure for submitting requests for scrutiny reviews is available on this page or from the Public Scrutiny Office.
