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Our Overview and Scrutiny Committee examines all areas of the council's business.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee has a number of roles within the council. These include:

• Holding the Executive Board to account by thoroughly scrutinising their decisions to ensure that the Council continues to provide the best services possible for Wychavon residents. As part of this role, the Committee has the power to ‘call-in' decisions made by the Executive Board and request that they consider them again, taking into account the issues raised by the Committee. Alternatively, the Committee can ask full Council to review or scrutinise the decision or ask full Council to decide whether or not to recommend the decision be reconsidered.
• Acting as a ‘critical friend' to the Executive Board by reviewing Council policies and strategy, making recommendations where appropriate.
• Overviews of work areas or topics of interest to the Committee and Members of the Council
  Receiving overviews enables the Committee and Members of the Council to obtain a greater level of understanding of items being considered by the Executive or areas of concern they may have.
• Efficiency and Performance monitoring, to ensure the Council services are sustainable and to the highest possible standard.
• Commissioning reviews of services/topics that impact on the Council or on the lives of Wychavon Residents.
• Pre-Scrutiny of items prior to their consideration by the Executive Board.
  This enables the Committee's views and comments to be taken into consideration during the decision-making process, allowing the Committee to influence the work and direction of the Council.

The committee meets two weeks after the Executive Board on Wednesday evenings. Meetings are usually held at the Civic Centre in Pershore. The committee has in the past held meetings in public venues when the issue being discussed has a high level of public interest and remains open to the possibility of doing something similar in the future.

You can read the full Overview and Scrutiny Committee Terms of Reference further down this page.

Suggest a topic for scrutiny

The public are welcome to suggest topics for the committee to consider investigating.

If you have an area you would like the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to look into then please fill in the online Overview and Scrutiny Topic Proposal Form.

Scrutiny reports, agendas and meetings

The Wychavon Scrutiny Library contains a variety of information from detailed scrutiny reports, to meetings dates, agendas and minutes. The Committee's current and previous work programmes are also available.

Please access the information you require by clicking on one of the links below:

• View meeting dates, agendas, minutes and work plans
• Review Overview and Scrutiny Committee Annual Reports
• Read Scrutiny Reports

Overview and Scrutiny Committee Terms of Reference

1. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is made up of 11 Councillors, politically balanced with representatives from each political group on the Council. Each member of the committee has a vote. Members of the Executive Board may not be Members of Overview and Scrutiny.
   
   
2. The Committee is responsible for: 
   
   • Reviewing the work of the Executive
   • “calling in” decisions of the Executive Board which have been made but not carried out, so that the decision may be looked at again; this will be done by either the Council and/or the Executive Board. (A decision not called-in by the Committee can be implemented 5 working days after the Board made it).
   • Reviewing all areas of the Council’s work (although the Committee cannot change a decision made by another Committee or the Executive Board).
   • Monitoring and co-ordinating the work of the Scrutiny Teams and considering their reports before passing them on to the Executive Board or external bodies.
   • Carrying out work on any “one-off” projects that the Executive Board or Council asks it to do, or it identifies itself.
   • Considering any matter affecting Wychavon or its inhabitants, including reviewing and scrutinising the performance of other public bodies operating in the area.
   • Considering Councillor Calls for Action raised in accordance with the procedures agreed by the Committee from time to time.
   • Acting as the Crime and Disorder Committee to consider Calls for Action raised in accordance with procedures agreed by the Committee from time to time.
   • Working with other Local Authorities where appropriate, to review services jointly.
   • Making recommendations to the Executive/appropriate Committee/Council arising from the outcome of the overview and scrutiny process, including issuing public reports.
     
     
3. In carrying out its work, the Committee may ask Members of the Executive Board and Officers of the Council to appear before it and answer questions on particular subjects. 
   
   
4. The Committee may also ask other people to help it in its work. For example, undertaking public consultation, inviting other individuals/organisations to advise on and contribute to None of these people will be able to vote.
   
   
5. The Committee must make a report annually to the Council on what it has done, which may include recommendations for future working if appropriate. It may make reports to the Executive Board or Council on specific items. These will then be dealt with as outlined in paragraph 2 of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Procedure rules (see later in this chapter) and paragraph 10 of Chapter 12 (Access to Information) procedure rules.
   
   
6. The Committee usually holds its meetings in public at 15 pm in the Civic Centre, Pershore. On occasions it may meet elsewhere in Wychavon. For details of meetings please contact: The Member Support Team The Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive Pershore, Worcestershire, WR12 1PT. You can also call 01386 565428 or call in at our Customer Contact Centres in Droitwich and Evesham libraries.

These terms of reference were last reviewed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 21 April 2009 and updated by Council on 12 May 2009.

What is Overview and Scrutiny?

Overview and Scrutiny was introduced within the Local Government Act 2000 as part of the current political management arrangements, which replaced the previous Committee system.

The current executive political management model of ‘Strong Leader and Cabinet' requires the creation of an Overview and Scrutiny Committee to act as a ‘counter balance' to the executive function. Overview and Scrutiny is the way in which all non-executive Members of a local authority can hold its Executive Members (decision makers) to account.

The Centre for Public Scrutiny describes the role of scrutiny as an ‘essential' means of ensuring that government, whether at a national or local level, remains effective and accountable. 

View details about the Centre of Public Scrutiny

Overview: is carried out when the Committee looks at a service or function in a general way, finding out information about it.

Scrutiny: happens when the Committee or perhaps a small team of Councillors, examine a service or function in detail. The Councillors will seek information about the topic, ask basic and more searching questions about it and gather evidence to support any recommendations made as a result.

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is a powerful tool for checking that decisions made by the Executive Board are within policy and budget. The Committee also checks how current Council policies work by gathering evidence within and outside of the Council. Small teams of councillors carry out in-depth scrutiny of planned changes to policies, the impact of Council and other services and policies as well as helping to develop policies for the Council. All the reviews carried out in this way are published and can be found in the Scrutiny Library.

Powers were further expanded by the Police and Justice Act 2006, which provided powers to scrutinise the work of Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships.

The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 gave more powers to local government to scrutinise other partner organisations, including bodies such as the Environment Agency. It also brings in other provisions that affect how scrutiny committees work, including powers over the creation of joint committees, and powers to resolve local problems through the Councillor Call for Action.

In Wychavon, the Council operates the "Strong Leader and Cabinet" model, which gives executive power to a Council Leader with a small Board of other members having the power to make decisions collectively.

The overview and scrutiny functions act as a counter balance to this.

Overview and Scrutiny does not just look inside the Council. It can examine anything which affects the wellbeing of some or all of Wychavon's residents.

The Member Conduct Committee exists to promote and maintain high standards of conduct by District, Town and Parish Council Members (Councillors). It oversees the operation of the code of conduct and protocols, and assists compliance through the provision of training. It also deals with complaints about the conduct of Councillors. pdf Read code of conduct (367 KB)

• View details of Members of the Committee
• document Read terms of reference (25 KB)
• pdf Read procedure for dealing with alleged breaches - PDF (388 KB)
• View the Procedures for dealing with alleged breaches of member code of conduct
• document Read procedure for special hearing (30 KB)
• View Programme of Meetings and Agendas and Minutes
• pdf Read openness and transparency guide (92 KB)
• View Completed Register of Interest Forms - District Councillors
• View Completed Register of Interest Forms - Parish Councillors
• pdf Read the Member Conduct Committee Social Media Guide (2.24 MB)
• Code of Conduct recommended for adoption by Parish Councils in Wychavon in consequence of the Localism Act 2011

Complaints

If you want to complain about the conduct of a District Town or Parish Councillor, please complete the following Member Code of Conduct Complaint Form and this will be sent to the Monitoring Officer.

Member Code of Conduct Complaint Form

Under the procedure you can only complain about the behaviour of a councillor, it will not deal with complaints about things that are not covered by the members' Code of Conduct.

If you make a complaint to the Monitoring Officer, it must be about why you think a member has not followed the Code of Conduct.

To ensure your complaint can be properly assessed, you are responsible for providing sufficient information and any relevant evidence to substantiate the matters raised.  Please include all relevant information when submitting your complaint.  Copies of any relevant documents, correspondence, photographs, or other supporting material that could not be added to the online form should be sent by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., clearly quoting your complaint reference number.

If additional information becomes available after submission, this should also be forwarded by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., again quoting your complaint reference number.

Summary of the Complaint Process

• Submit your completed Code of Conduct complaint form – please include all relevant information and evidence.
• We will review the information and, where applicable, write to the Councillor concerned and invite their comments.
• Once their response is received, we will carry out an initial assessment in consultation with an Independent Member for Standards.
• After the assessment, one of the following will happen:
  • Formal investigation required: We will contact you (and others if necessary) to arrange meetings and gather further information.
  • No investigation required: The matter will be closed.
• We will write to you again to confirm the outcome of the initial assessment.

More details on the complaint/investigation process can be found in the Procedure for Dealing with Alleged Breaches document above.