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Overview and scrutiny in local government

Inquiry

These committees were created by the Local Government Act 2000 to balance the increased powers of Leaders and Cabinets, but their performance has varied across councils.

We have found that the most significant factor in determining whether or not scrutiny committees are effective is the organisational culture of a particular council. Having a positive culture where it is universally recognised that scrutiny can play a productive part in the decision-making process is vital and such an approach is common in all of the examples of effective scrutiny that we identified.

Evidence received in the last Parliament.