Herefordshire
Council’s Health and Social Care Overview & Scrutiny
Committee
History of this
Committee
Council on 28 September 2012 decided that the
former Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which had sole
responsibility for all the Council’s scrutiny functions, be
replaced by two committees namely: this Health and Social Care
Overview & Scrutiny Committee and a General Overview and
Scrutiny Committee.
Current and previous Committees can be
accessed by returning to the ‘Browse Meetings’ page and
selecting an appropriate year in the drop down box and then
selecting the committee from the refreshed list.
Remit of this
Committee
This Committee will discharge the
Council’s statutory health scrutiny powers including the
review and scrutiny of any matter relating to the planning
provision and operation of health services affecting the area and
to make reports and recommendations on those matters.
The Committee will also discharge the overview
and scrutiny of:
·
Children and Adult Safeguarding
·
Social care functions relating to children
·
The Health and Wellbeing Board,
·
Other health bodies and organisations such as Wye Valley NHS
Trust
·
Any other matters relating to health and social care.
Purpose of this
Committee
The purpose of this Committee is to ensure the
accountability and transparency of the Council’s decision
making process.
The principal roles of Overview & Scrutiny
Committees are to:
·
Help in developing Council policy;
·
Probe, investigate, test the options and ask the difficult
questions before and after decisions are taken;
·
Look in more detail at areas of concern which may have been raised
by the Cabinet itself, by other Councillors or by members of the
public;
·
“call-in” decisions – this is a statutory power
which gives Scrutiny Committees the right to place a decision on
hold pending further scrutiny (see also protocol below);
·
Review performance of the Council; and
·
Undertake external scrutiny work engaging partners and the
public.
Formal meetings of the Committee are held in
public.
Call-in protocol for scrutiny meetings
Purpose:
The call-in meeting gives
scrutiny members a chance to test the merits of a decision taken by
the cabinet or a cabinet member. It also provides the opportunity
to ask the decision-maker to reconsider their decision – if
the committee thinks this is necessary.
Possible outcomes:
Having considered the reasons
for call-in and the decision-maker’s response to any
questions, the committee may agree to:
·
Make no recommendations (in which case the decision
will stand and may be implemented with immediate effect);
or
·
Refer the matter back to the decision maker with a
recommendation that the decision-maker: changes aspects of the
decision; reconsiders the decision in light of the
committee’s views; or does something else before the final
decision is made.
If the committee is of the view
that the decision taken was contrary to one of the key council
plans or strategies (the policy framework), or was contrary to or
not wholly consistent with the budget agreed by Council, the matter
is referred back to the decision-maker who will be advised by the
council’s statutory officers (the chief executive, director
of resources and monitoring officer) who may refer the matter to
Council.
The process is not:
·
A judicial or quasi-judicial process or a public
inquiry
·
An extended examination of areas only remotely
connected to the actual decision
·
An open house for anyone to attend and make
representations
Meeting procedure:
It is the responsibility of the
chairman to manage the meeting and the timings below are given for
guidance. The questioning and debate should focus on the reasons
stated in the call-in rather than be a wider exploration of the
decision taken.
1.
If any public questions have been received in
relation to the call-in these will be taken first.
2.
The chair explains the purpose of the item, i.e. to
review the decision that has been called-in in light of the stated
grounds for call-in.
3.
The monitoring officer outlines the ground rules as
listed above.
4.
The decision-maker provides a brief summary of the
decision taken – 3 minutes.
5.
The call-in members present the reasons for the
call-in. The lead call-in member may speak for 5 minutes; the
remaining two call-in members may contribute to the lead call-in
member’s presentation – 5 minutes per
member.
6.
The decision-maker (cabinet member) responds to all
points raised, and may ask relevant officers present to explain any
technical issues or respond to specific questions.
7.
Committee members may ask questions of call-in
members, decision-maker or officers in clarification – 30
minutes total time.
8.
The decision-maker may sum up – 5
minutes.
9.
The lead call-in member may sum-up – 5
minutes.
10.
Scrutiny members may then discuss the issues around
the call-in. Any committee member may
propose a recommendation which, if seconded, will be voted on by
the scrutiny committee – there can be debate prior to voting
unless the chairman feels that all arguments have been
exhausted.
11.
If a second member proposes an amendment to the
proposed recommendation the amendment, if seconded, must be voted
on first.
12.
At the close of the meeting the chairman summarises
any recommendations agreed by the committee for the clarification
of all present.