Scrutiny: A Point Of View

I was elected to the Council in 1998.  In 2002, the Executive & Scrutiny system was introduced under the terms laid down by the Local Government Act 2000.  At this time, Lewisham also adopted the directly elected Mayoral system.  So, from this date Lewisham has been governed by a Mayor & Cabinet system.  That is, we have had an Executive comprising a directly elected Mayor supported by a Cabinet of between 7 and 11 elected Councillors, with the majority of members forming the Scrutiny body of the Council.  During the past 20 years I have spent 8 years as a Cabinet member and 12 on the Scrutiny side.  For 3 of these 12 years, I was the Chair of a Scrutiny Committee and for 1 year, this last year, I was Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee and Chair of the Business Panel.

In my experience, Scrutiny is something that Councillors, especially new ones, find challenging to understand and consequently, this is a role that they find difficult to adequately fulfil. I hope that this summary along with wider induction sessions will assist members in this regard.  In this introduction, I hope to lay out a few guiding principles that I feel drive effective scrutiny.  I hope that my principles will have some general application.

Before I lay out my guidance, I would want to encourage all Scrutiny members to read the Council’s Executive/Scrutiny protocol.  This is something that the Full Council agreed be appended to the constitution as guidance to help both Executive & Scrutiny members to better understand the two different roles and how they should interact.

Cooperation not Competition

In Lewisham, the Mayor, by virtue of being directly elected, has a mandate to implement their policies.  The Mayor is supported to accomplish this by the Cabinet and their Group colleagues who ran on the Mayor’s manifesto at the election.  Therefore, the Mayor has a legitimate expectation that Scrutiny members, when approaching their role of scrutinising the Executive and holding it to account, will be fundamentally driven by a desire to cooperate with it to deliver the Corporate Strategy priorities.  The job of Scrutiny, therefore, is principally to help not hinder.

Respectful Challenge not Committed Opposition

Just because we need to cooperate with the Executive to achieve common aims rather than compete with them for power and status, this does not mean that we should shy away from robust challenge.  If policy is not working, if policy implementation has been poor, if policy is not addressing a particular need or issue, then we need to say so clearly and in public.  However, this must always be done with courtesy and respect.

To borrow a phrase, it can be argued that Scrutiny is an ‘exorbitant privilege’.  Scrutiny Councillors can be remorselessly critical on principle about everything the Executive does and seeks to do.  This can become a mindset.  But we must remember that we are in a privileged position.  Arguably, we mark other people’s homework without having to submit any of our own.  We must remember that in order to gain credibility and therefore to be effective, we need to wield our influence with care and in such a way as to earn respect.

To Compliment not To Undermine

The role of Scrutiny is to come alongside the Executive to compliment its role and, therefore, the work of the Council and to build public confidence, not to undermine it.  Organisations work better when they have a culture that encourages people to own up to mistakes and identify problems and failings at an early stage.  To do this, people need to be confident that they will not be blamed and will not be punished for being honest.  It is only in these circumstances that an organisation can reap the benefits of corporate learning.  Organisations that successfully build this culture can then move on to build a culture of continuous improvement.  Scrutiny has a crucial role to play here as its function is to inhabit this space and to identify weaknesses and strategies for improvement.  The way it performs this function will very much set the tone for how the Council deals with these issues.  Scrutiny should lead the way in creating a ‘safe space’ culture for staff so that they can report problems and deal with difficult and potentially damaging issues with confidence.

Leading not merely Shadowing

The Business Panel is charged with scrutinising all decisions made by the Mayor & Cabinet, although there is flexibility as to how it chooses to discharge this responsibility.  However, there is no prescription as to how the rest of Scrutiny has to fulfil its function.  That is, there is no requirement for Scrutiny to restrict its work to merely shadowing the work of the Mayor & Cabinet and ‘man to man marking’ the Mayor and individual Cabinet Members.  The Full Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the individual Scrutiny Committees and the new Task & Finish Groups are free to set their own agendas and to look at what they want to look at, led by their Chairs, providing that it is relevant to the work of the Council.  Thus, Scrutiny has great leeway and, therefore, opportunity to pursue the interests and priorities of members in such ways as to add value to the work of the Council and assist in the delivery of the Mayor’s priorities and the Council’s Corporate Strategy.  My advice would be not to squander the opportunities that Scrutiny affords by becoming fixated on the work of the Mayor & Cabinet.  And to try to be guided by a desire to compliment their work when deciding on your work programmes.

Evidence Based nor Opinion Driven

The work of Scrutiny is very much about reviewing policy to assess its effectiveness and developing policy to improve the lives of residents.  People often come on to the Council with strong political and ideological views.  However, the most important thing that Councillors must bring to this process is an open mind.  Scrutiny Councillors should see themselves as impartial members of a residents’ jury, charged with the objective and dispassionate examination of the evidence and under an obligation to come to a balanced and rational judgment which is in the public interest.  They should not behave like lobbyists who come to a matter with a predetermined opinion of what the outcome should be.  Put all opinions to one side and let the evidence be your guide.

The Officers are Your Friends

The Officers’ role is to support members, not to thwart them.  Do not see them as enemies or subscribe to conspiracy theories about them.  In my experience, they all want to help members to achieve their aims and objectives.  Take them into your confidence.  Treat them with respect.  I have found that Officers are hardworking, professional, experienced and knew a lot more about things than I did.  Based on my experience, you will benefit from listening very carefully to their advice.

Parity of Esteem

This is a phrase that we hear from time to time.  It refers to the aspiration that there should be parity of esteem between the two sections of the Council’s governance.  It means that the Council, in the way it functions, should demonstrate that it holds both branches of the Membership body, Mayor & Cabinet, or the Executive, and Overview & Scrutiny, in equal regard.  This is a challenging aspiration.  However, I believe that nevertheless it is right and proper.  There are a number of ways in which the goal of parity of esteem can be pursued.  One is for Scrutiny members to demand it as a right.  Another is for Overview & Scrutiny to aim to conduct itself in such a way that it earns the respect of the Executive, Council Officers and our residents.  I prefer the latter.  Indeed, one of my aims as Chair of Overview & Scrutiny this last year was to work in such a way as to so raise the esteem in which the Scrutiny function was widely held, such that the Executive felt that it needed to raise its game in order to maintain parity. I think that this is a healthy way of mutually raising standards.

‘Salus Populi Suprema Lex’

This is the motto of Lewisham Council which roughly translates as ‘the welfare of the people is the highest law’.  I have always taken this to mean ‘put the people first’.  This should be your guiding principle in all you do.  It is important to remember that relatively very few residents know who you are, even if you have been on the Council for many years.  You were elected not for your abilities and experience.  You were elected because of the party banner under which you fought the election.  Your election should not be viewed, therefore, as a personal endorsement.  Your elected office should be worn lightly.  Remember that in carrying out your duties on the Council as a Scrutiny member you have to represent all residents, whether they voted for you or not.  Turnout and geographical mobility being what it is, they probably did not.  It is important to be a voice for all the people.

Conclusion

I hope these principles will be of use to you, especially new Councillors, as you seek to carry out your duties as a Scrutiny member of Lewisham Council.  The holding of public office is a great privilege, a sacred trust, but also a heavy burden.  Every resident relies on the Council for something.  Some rely on it very much indeed to provide them with a decent quality of life.  For some, this really is a matter of life and death.  So I wish you all every success as you work for our residents to make Lewisham the best place to live, work and learn.