North West Scrutiny Support Officers' Network Meeting

19th March 2010

Date: Friday, 19th March 2010
Time: 10.00am (for a 10.30am start)
Venue: Committee Room 1, Council Offices, Wellington Road, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 6DL

Agenda

1. Notes of the Last Meeting

To receive for information, the notes of the last meeting of the Network held on 13th November 2009.

2. Regional Select Committees

Presentation by Mr David Crausby, MP on the system of regional select committees and the work of the North West Committee. (Please note that this item is subject to the timetabling of a General Election).

3. City Region Scrutiny – AGMA

Presentation by Steve Callender (Stockport MBC).

4. Joint Roles Of Scrutiny And Democratic Services And Adso

Presentation by Laura Latham and Mark Towers (Blackpool Council).

5. Items For Future Agendas

Members are requested to suggest items for the next and future agendas. Items already submitted include:

• CCfAs
  (Submitted by Samuel Martin – Trafford MBC)
  Most people have been running CCfAs for about a year, and although the Network did discuss them a few times at the start, is it time to take a step back and learn from each others' experiences and successes?
  
  To be discussed at the next meeting. (If Item 2 is cancelled and time allows, this can be discussed at the 19th March meeting).
   
• The Future and Shape of Scrutiny
  (Submitted by John Addison – Bolton MBC)
  As a scrutiny support network, we should be looking at the future and shape of scrutiny both post general election and following the implementation of the new Executive arrangements with the all powerful Leader and Deputy Leader.
  
  For example, in Bolton they have a Leader and Deputy Leader plus 8 Executive Members. This structure could be collapsed to say a Leader and Deputy Leader and 2 Executive Members with wide ranging portfolios.
   
  It might be useful if we could have a debate at a future Network meeting as to whether colleagues had given any thought to structures post may 2010.
  
  To be discussed at the next meeting
   
• Value and Cost of Inspection Regimes
  (Submitted by John Addison – Bolton MBC)
  There has been much publicity around the value and cost of the inspection regimes including the future of PIs/CQC/Ofsted. It would be useful to have a debate as to what impact scrutiny could have should the inspection regime be drastically cut/reduced.
  
  To be discussed at the next meeting

6. Any Other Business

7. Arrangements For The Next Meeting

It is suggested that future meeting take place on the third Friday of every four months. The following timetable is suggested for the forthcoming Network meetings:

• 16th July 2010
• 19th November 2010
• 18th March 2011
• 15th July 2011
• 18th November 2011
• 16th March 2012

If any authority is willing to host a Network meeting, please can they notify Gina Murphy, which of the above dates is most suitable for them.