Written evidence submitted by Councillor James Dawson, Erewash Borough Council [OSG 016]

 

  1. I write in relation to the above inquiry as an individual member of Erewash Borough Council’s Scrutiny Committee. I have been an elected councillor since May 2011 and Leader of the Council Opposition since May 2015.

 

Background Context of the Area

 

  1. Erewash Borough is a Tier 2 authority created under the Local Government Act 1972 from the amalgamation of Ilkeston Borough Council, Long Eaton Urban District Council and South East Derbyshire Rural District Council. Erewash lies between the cities of Derby and Nottingham and there is good access to its major towns of Ilkeston and Long Eaton.

 

  1. Both are within easy reach of the M1 (junctions 25 and 26) and have excellent connections with the East and West Midlands. Erewash also benefits from its proximity to East Midlands Airport. Within an area of 42 square miles (or 26,955 acres), Erewash had a population of 112,081in 48,692 households at the 2011 Census (114,500 estimated population in June 2015).

 

  1. The majority of our citizens live in close proximity to the borough’s eastern boundary, in Ilkeston and Long Eaton (both circa 37,000). The remaining residents live in the rural or semi-rural villages within relatively easy commuting distance of the two towns, as well as Nottingham and Derby.

 

  1. Manufacturing industry still provides more than 30% of jobs and accounts for one in five of the area’s 2,400 firms. Areas of employment growth have occurred in engineering, furniture-making, packaging, electronics and distribution. In some respects our local economy is stronger as a result of this diversification.

 

  1. Life expectancy for the borough, in 2015 is higher than the average for Derbyshire and England, with women expected to live until an average of 83.5 years and men to 79.9 years.

 

  1. In 2015, Erewash does have the lowest rate of road traffic casualties, the fewest emergency admissions (child injury) and the least travel time to the nearest GP in the county.

 

  1. Currently the council consists of 47 members using a leader and cabinet model. The Conservative party is in overall control with 30 councillors and The Labour Party in opposition with 17 councillors. The Borough of Erewash is covered by the two parliamentary constituencies of Erewash and Mid-Derbyshire (Maggie Throup MP (Con) adn Pauline Latham MP (Con)).

 

  1. The Scrutiny Committee of Erewash Borough Council consists of 17 non-executive members of the council, with the controlling Conservative group having the political balance on the committee with 11 members and the Labour group six members. The Scrutiny Committee arrangements are governed under the Part 3 of the Council Constitution, Part D and its remit is set out below:

 

“Part 3 of the Constitution – Part D

 

Matters for the Scrutiny Committee

 

(1)              To review and investigate issues of public interest affecting the residents of the borough including developments in outside organisations and inviting representatives to address the Scrutiny Committee in relation to their impact and performance on the people of Erewash.  For the Scrutiny Committee to report and make recommendations to the Council Executive or Council, as appropriate;

 

(2)              To exercise the Councillor Call for Action on behalf of the council;

 

(3)              To scrutinise the performance of the council in relation to the Corporate Plan, its policy objectives, performance targets and/or particular services;

 

(4)              To make recommendations to Council Executive and/or Council on issues arising from scrutiny of Council Executive recommendations, decisions and performance and exercise the function of call-in on behalf of the council;

 

(5)              To commission reviews to be carried out by Task and Finish Groups including approving the membership, scope of the review and time scales to report back on issues impacting on the residents of the borough;

 

(6)              To make recommendations to Council Executive and/or Council on matters identified and considered by the committee; 

 

(7)              To provide detailed consideration of issues, as requested by the Council Executive or Council; 

 

(8)              The Committee will be requested, whenever practicable and appropriate, to consider consultative documents received from other agencies and to make recommendations to the Council Executive, subject to the time allowed by the agency for a response;

 

(9)              The Council Executive may refer relevant consultation documents and determine that the Committee provide a response directly to the agency on its behalf, in consultation with the relevant Lead Member, subject to the time allowed by the agency for a response;

 

(10)          The Committee may invite representatives of agencies to attend meetings in order to make presentations on their work or discuss specific consultative reports; and

 

(11)               Cross-cutting issues may be referred or considered by joint Scrutiny Committee meetings, as appropriate”.

 

Part 4 A – 13.3 of the Council Constitution sets out:

 

Scope 13.3 Motions must be about matters for which the Council has a responsibility or which affect the Borough.

 

  1. This last part of the constitution however does limit some controlling group members from looking at matters outside of the council’s remit including on scrutiny.

 

  1. Some of the questions posed by the Select Committees call for action, at present are not relevant to our authority, so I will concentrate on the questions that are.

 

Are scrutiny committees in local authorities in England are effective in holding decision-makers to account?

 

  1. The current scrutiny arrangements for my own local authority, I feel are below adequate, currently it is very rare that we have an executive member attend or indeed questioned by the scrutiny committee, there have been a couple of examples within the past 18 months where an executive member has attended, but this was only as a result of a call in request from the opposition group, there is a reluctance from the controlling group members who hold majority of the seats on the committee, to invite executive members and question them.

 

What is the extent to which scrutiny committees operate with political impartiality and independence from executives?

 

  1. Linked to my previous answer in regards to reluctance there seems to be very little independence from the Scrutiny Committee, indeed some members seem reluctant or scared to actively make recommendations that go against the Executive. At present, the only items of scrutiny investigations that work well are non-controversial issues. Any controversial issues that are debated by the Scrutiny Committee, there always seems to be an underlining party line running through, at one particular call-in request from the opposition, a controlling group member of the committee exclaimed that:

 

  1. “We were wasting our time, as the decision had already been taken within their political group and wouldn’t be changed.”

 

  1. Hence to say recommendations that were suggested were voted down by the controlling group members of the committee. There have been various other incidences over the years where controlling group members have made very valid arguments points and suggestions, only to vote against them when they were formally proposed, instead continuing to align with the controlling group’s policy manifesto.

 

  1. Until very recently the vice-chair of the committee was the controlling group Chief Whip, while this member has now relinquished this role, the new Chief Whip of the controlling group also sits on the committee.

 

Are scrutiny officers independent of and separate from those being scrutinised?

 

  1. This also encompasses the question about the support given to the scrutiny function by political leaders and senior officers, including the resources allocated (for example whether there is a designated officer team).

 

  1. Currently we have one dedicated scrutiny officer who is the Committee, Scrutiny and Civic Affairs Manager. This person is the head of the Democratic Services office, which consists of two Committee and Scrutiny officers, and one Civic and Members Officer. The latter dealing primarily with the Civic Office. The other two officers and the manager are responsible for all the work in relation to every committee of the council which includes Council Executive meetings. We do not have a particular officer who is solely responsible for the Scrutiny Committee. Due to financial restrictions on local authority budgets the expanding of a separate office or officers to deal solely with scrutiny seems unlikely.  Politically scrutiny is seen as a means to an end and something which can keep “backbench councillors busy and give them something to do” and sometimes is seen as more of a hindrance by the Executive instead of a vehicle that can be used to improve policy and decisions.

 

How are chairs and members selected?

 

  1. Members are nominated to the committee, at annual council, I can only speak on behalf of my own group, but our members are selected to the committee at our Annual General Meeting once a year.

 

  1. In respect of how the chairs and vice-chairs are chosen, they are chosen usually by the committee, in my time as a councillor (since 2011) it has always been a member of the controlling group, and has never once been offered to the opposition. Out of the 15 committees that the council has, the controlling group hold all the chairs and vice-chairs and the controlling group holds the political balance on all council committees.

 

Are powers to summon witnesses adequate?

 

  1. In my time serving on the Scrutiny Committee, it has never once had any witnesses be interviewed, from either external organisations or internally. The only senior officers that attend are the Director of Community Services and the Head of Service for Environmental & Housing Services who deliver quarterly reports. Members are either unaware of the powers to summon witnesses or again are reluctant to do so. The only time Executive members have attended the committee is if there has been a ‘call-in’ request of a specific decision relating to their portfolio area. At these meetings the opposition have been dissuaded from questioning the Executive member, and the Executive member has taken a passive role within the meeting.

 

What is the potential for local authority scrutiny to act as a voice for local service users?

 

  1. In my view this is and should be scrutiny’s greatest role. However as mentioned previously only non-controversial issues are ever looked at, and the committee’s work mostly always focuses on internal council matters rather than outside bodies such as the police, fire service, social housing providers or the NHS. I would like to see the council create an external Scrutiny Committee to look at issues outside of the council’s remit, but this suggestion has been met with little enthusiasm.  This may be in part due to the constitution change in Part 4 which states that the council should only debate matters on which the council has a responsibility.

 

  1. At present there are very few ways in which members of the public could suggest topics for the Scrutiny Committee to examine.  One way in which they could would be for a petition to the council who then choose to send the item to scrutiny to be investigated, however this option requires 5,000 signatures before it will be debated by council.

 

How are topics for scrutiny selected?

 

  1. Topics for scrutiny are selected by members themselves and then voted on, or at the express wish of the Executive if there is a particular issue that the Executive want the committee to look at. The only other option we have to look at a particular issue is a call-in request, which is then debated in one meeting with no follow-up. Councillors do have the opportunity to suggest items be considered for the Scrutiny Committee but the overall decision remains with the member’s committee.

 

What use is made of specialist external advisers and the effectiveness and importance of local authority scrutiny of external organisations?

 

  1. Our authority rarely uses specialist external advisers and this can have an effect on the Scrutiny Committee’s overall function. The committee rarely (as already stated) scrutinises external organisations, and indeed the legislation for the power to summon external providers before a committee means we can only request.  If an external provider refuses to work with the local authority Scrutiny Committee there is very little it can do, although generally external organisations would work with authorities.

 

  1. The Scrutiny Committee holds one ‘Crime and Disorder’ Scrutiny meeting once a year where the council officer with responsibility for community safety addresses the meeting, no one from the police is ever invited.

 

Conclusion

 

  1. Robust scrutiny of decision making is a crucial component of good governance.  It is vital to have a mechanism for effectively holding decision-makers to account for their decisions and the services received by citizens as a result of those decisions. It is always going to be difficult for scrutiny to be truly independent from the Executive in a relatively small organisation such as a district or borough local authority.  This is made even more difficult when the vast majority of scrutiny councillors are from the same political party as the Executive and who they are working closely with on a day-to-day in other aspects of their councillor role.  Conducting Overview and Scrutiny with complete independence without a small ‘P’ politics would seem to be very hard within small local authorities where the controlling group has a large majority, which often leads to smaller opposition parties feeling they have no influence over the process.

 

If the Select Committee requires any further information then please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

Councillor James Dawson

Member for the Awsworth Road Ward

Leader of the Labour Group

Shadow Executive Member for Strategic Lead, Policy & Resources

Erewash Borough Council

 

 

March 2017