The Director of Law, Governance and Strategy has submitted a report which seeks the Committee’s agreement to the adoption of a set of Scrutiny Operating Principles for the 2025/26 Council year, the establishment of standing working groups and review groups, the appointment of standing working group and review group chairs and a proposed work plan to September 2025.

The Scrutiny Committee are recommended to:

1.    Agree the proposed Committee Operating Principles for the 2025/26 municipal year, as set out at Appendix 1;

2.    Recommend to Council to amalgamate the Operating Principles into Part 13 (Scrutiny Committee Procedures) of the Council’s Constitution

3.    Agree to establish the following working groups for the 2025/26 municipal year with the following remits:

a)             Finance and Performance Working Group – finance and budgetary issues and decisions, annual review of the Council’s budget, quarterly monitoring of finance and performance (including performance of the Council’s companies), executive decisions made in relation to any companies wholly or partly owned by the Council.  

b)             Housing and Homelessness Working Group – strategic housing and landlord issues and decisions, homelessness, housing services performance and interaction with the Tenant’s Forum.

c)             Climate and Environment Working Group – climate and environmental issues and decisions, progress and performance monitoring, monitoring delivery of existing strategies, policies and projects. 

4.    Agree to appoint members and chairs of the Finance and Performance, Housing and Homelessness, and Climate and Environment Working Groups or any other working groups as agreed by the Committee in accordance with nominations made by political groups.

a)             Finance and Performance: Cllrs James Fry, Christopher Smowton, Chris Jarvis and Ian Yeatman

b)             Housing and Homelessness: Cllrs Lizzy Diggins, Theodore Jupp, Rosie Rawle, Anne Stares and Edward Mundy

c)             Climate and Environment: Cllrs Jemima Hunt, Katherine Miles, Kate Robinson and Judith Harley

5.    Agree to establish a Budget Review Group, comprising the membership of the Finance and Performance Working Group, noting that the proposed scope will be agreed at a future Scrutiny Committee meeting.

6.    Agree the schedule of meetings as presented within the report;

7.    Agree: 

a)             The preliminary Work Plan covering the period to September 2025 as detailed at Appendix 2; and

b)             That Committee members will send additional ideas for topics for Scrutiny-commissioned reports to the Scrutiny and Governance Advisor by e-mail for consideration at future Committee meetings.

8.    Delegate authority to the Scrutiny and Governance Advisor, in consultation with the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, to endorse and forward Working Group recommendations to the Shareholder and Joint Venture Groups and be reported back to the Scrutiny Committee at the next meeting.

The Director of Law, Governance and Strategy had submitted a report seeking the Committee’s agreement to the adoption of a set of Scrutiny Operating Principles for the 2025/26 Council year, the establishment of standing working groups and review groups, the appointment of standing working group and review group chairs and a proposed work plan to September 2025.  

The Scrutiny and Governance Advisor summarised the report and individually outlined the recommendations that the Committee were required to consider.  

The Chair invited questions from the Committee. 

Councillor Jarvis, in relation to recommendation 4, queried the disparity noted in the report between the number of names listed for the Housing and Homelessness working group and the number of members outlined for each working group in the guidance. The Committee and Member Services Manager explained that as best practice, four members are recommended for each working group however more can be assigned and the number extended in line with political proportionality of one member of each political group per working group. It was also clarified that this can also be extended to other independent groups through discussion.  

Councillor Miles noted feedback that the Housing and Homelessness working group often focuses on financial information and therefore asked whether some of the content could be reassigned within the scope of the Finance and Performance working group going forward to manage workload and ensure due attention is given to the matter of homelessness. The Chair committed to taking account of this when considering the terms of reference. 

The Chair proposed to consider the recommendations in the report. 

The Committee first considered recommendation 1. The Chair proposed, and Councillor Ottino seconded for the Committee to agree the proposed operating principles for the 2025/26 municipal year, as set out in appendix 1. The Committee agreed. Councillor Altaf-Khan abstained. 

The Committee considered recommendation 3. Councillor Miles noted her concern about the assignment of work to the Housing and Homelessness working group but did not propose a formal alteration to the recommendation. The Scrutiny and Governance Advisor clarified that the Committee has the power to delegate work to the working groups and to alter plans. The Chair proposed and Councillor Jarvis seconded that the Committee agreeto establish the working groups for the 2025/26 municipal year with remits as outlined in the report. The Committee agreed. Councillor Altaf-Khan abstained. 

The Committee considered recommendation 9. The Chair proposed, and Councillor Rowley seconded, that the Committee agree the Terms of Reference for the Climate and Environment Working Group, the Finance and Performance Working Group, and the Housing and Homelessness Working Group. The Committee agreed. Councillor Altaf-Khan abstained. 

The Committee considered recommendation 4. 

• In regard the Finance and Performance working group, the Chair proposed to adopt the membership as set out in the report and Councillor Ottino seconded. Members voted unanimously in agreement.  The Chair invited nominations for Chair. Councillor Qayyum proposed Councillor Fry; Councillor Jarvis seconded. No further nominations were received. The Committee voted to appoint Councillor Fry as Chair.  

• In regard the Housing and Homelessness working group, the Chair proposed to adopt the membership as set out in the report and Councillor Ottino seconded. Members voted unanimously in agreement. The Chair invited nominations for Chair. Councillor Qayyum proposed Councillor Diggins; Councillor Ottino seconded. Councillor Mundy proposed Councillor Jupp; Councillor Miles seconded. The nominations were put to a vote, and by 6 votes to 4, the Committee voted to appoint Councillor Jupp as Chair.  

• In regard the Climate and Environment working group, the Chair proposed to adopt the membership as set out in the report and Councillor Latif seconded. Members voted unanimously in agreement. The Chair invited nominations for Chair. Councillor Qayyum proposed Councillor Hunt; Councillor Ottino seconded. Councillor Jarvis proposed Councillor Miles; Councillor Altaf-Khan seconded. The nominations were put to a vote, and by 6 votes to 3, the Committee voted to appoint Councillor Miles as Chair.  

The Committee considered recommendation 5. The Chair proposed, and Councillor Latif seconded, that the Committee agree establish a Budget Review Group, comprising the membership of the Finance and Performance Working Group, noting that the proposed scope will be agreed at a future Scrutiny Committee meeting. The Committee agreed. Councillor Altaf-Khan abstained. 

The Committee considered recommendation 6. The Chair proposed, and Councillor Miles seconded that the Committee agree the scheduled of meetings as set out in the report. The Committee agreed.  

The Committee considered recommendation 7. The Chair proposed and Councillor Rowley seconded that the Committee agree the preliminary work plan to September 2025 as set out in the revised appendix 2 of the report, and that Committee members will send additional ideas for topics for Scrutiny-commissioned reports to the Scrutiny and Governance Advisor by e-mail for consideration at future Committee meetings. The Committee agreed. 

The Committee considered recommendation 8. The Chair proposed, and Councillor Ottino seconded that the Committee delegate authority to the Scrutiny and Governance Advisor, in consultation with the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee, to endorse and forward Working Group recommendations to the Shareholder and Joint Venture Groups and be reported back to the Scrutiny Committee at the next meeting. The Committee agreed. 

The Committee considered recommendation 2. The Chair proposed and Councillor Miles seconded that the Committee recommend to Council to amalgamate the Operating Principles into Part 13 (Scrutiny Committee Procedures) of the Council’s Constitution. The Committee agreed.