Overview & Scrutiny

Welcome to Breckland Council's Overview and Scrutiny web pages. The Council's Overview & Scrutiny Commission aim to improve the services that you use by monitoring, questioning and making recommendations on the way services are provided and decisions taken.

Overview & Scrutiny has four key roles

To hold the Executive to account
Policy Review and Development
Performance Management
External scrutiny, (i.e. of bodies who affect the community well-being of Breckland residents)

It can "call-in" decisions for reconsideration, hold inquiries into matters of local concern, review Council services, policies and performance and recommend improvements.

Importantly it also gives local citizens the opportunity to get involved.

The Council carried out a review of the Overview & Scrutiny arrangements in 2008 and agreed a new structure which should enable a more effective approach.

The Overview & Scrutiny Commission (OSC), consists of 16 members, and is responsible for use of the call-in procedure to challenge decisions, rolling performance management, and external scrutiny.

The OSC has set up a number of task and finish groups to examine specific issues in great depth. These groups help inform policy review and service provision across the Council. As these tasks are completed the reports generated will be added to this section of the web site.

Task and finish topics are presently underway covering the following subjects: Local Development Framework, Parking in Breckland, Affordable Housing Policy. Others in the pipeline include Sickness Absence review, Review of Community Fora, and IT Systems Review.