Monday, May 30, 2011

How the Mayor's decisions could be held up to scrutiny

Mayor of Leicester Sir Peter Soulsby, his deputy and all six assistant mayors could come under more scrutiny than any city politician before them.

The Labour party is drawing up plans which may see individual scrutiny committees set up for each of the eight people making the city council's big decisions over the next four years.

A scrutiny committee is a panel of councillors which examines council policy and quizzes politicians and council executives on their decisions.

Patrick Kitterick, councillor for Castle ward and Labour group chairman, is charged with overhauling the system.

He said: "There are a couple of options on the table.

"We can have committees set up to look at particular areas of policy, as we have now, or create several different committees to shadow the mayor and each of his assistants individually.

"Over the next few weeks we'll have meetings with councillors from all parties and get everyone's views on what they believe is the best way to scrutinise council policy.

"But as well as holding power to account, I think scrutiny committees should also be able to help the mayor and his team to develop policy.

"For example, it would be good to see a situation where the mayor could come to a committee with an issue and for that issue to be considered in-depth and policies proposed."

Coun Kitterick said he had found the current scrutiny system useful during his time as a cabinet member.

He said: "Many brains are better than one and the more input you get on an issue the better."

Sir Peter said: "It's only right we have a proper procedure in place for holding power to account in the city.

"I'd like to see meaningful scrutiny similar to that of select committees in Parliament.

"It is only right that this is done independently of the executive so all councillors continue to have influence over how the city is run."

The selection of scrutiny committee members, which would have normally taken place at last week's annual meeting, was put back to next month by the council so the options can be considered.

The council's overview and scrutiny management board – the main scrutiny committee before the mayoral election – will continue to operate for another month, at Sir Peter's request.

He said: "After the 2007 local election committee decisions were deferred for a month, so this isn't new. I thought it was only right for the current scrutiny board to remain in place in the meantime."

Ross Grant, the city's only Conservative councillor, said: "I was surprised when the scrutiny issue was deferred for a month.

"Whenever the issue of scrutiny was brought up during the mayoral campaign, Peter Soulsby sounded like a man with a plan. He had a vision for how his decisions would be scrutinised.

"But it's only now that the meetings have started to decide how his power will be kept in check."



Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503348/s/156aa773/l/0L0Sthisisleicestershire0O0Cnews0CMayor0Es0Edecisions0Eheld0Escrutiny0Carticle0E360A76430Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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