COUNCILLORS met for the inaugural Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting last Thursday, and have set a programme of work which will take the council out of some comfort zones by severely examining its performance and direction in a number of key areas.
"I am keen for the Corporate committee to be a "doing" committee", reports back Cllr Shane Hebb, who is the recently elected chair of the committee, and the Conservative’s Financial and Corporate Services Spokesman. "One of the first expectations I have set is that if I see a report which says "Recommendation: To Note the Report", I shall rip it up and send it back to the author. We have much to do; we need a greater business sense and to do things with a greater speed of execution".
The Committee unilaterally agreed on a Work Programme which will scrutinise costs, quality and initiatives. Councillors will be scrutinising the performance of the Budget Review Panel which has been detailed by the three party leaders in Thurrock, and aims to rewrite the council’s stance to budgeting.
"Having a "Back to Basics" budget which looks at a) what we have to provide from a legal requirement, b) what isn’t legally required but is in the public interest, and c) lastly, what is in neither column, is critical. No longer will a "trimming the fat" budget do", notes Cllr Hebb.
The Committee will also review the amount of people employed by Thurrock Council on temporary or agency contracts, review the system in which councillors are elected, determine whether councillors are held to account enough, how we ensure services are easy to access, and the employment checks in place to ensure vulnerable people are safeguarded adequately.
"We are signed up to the fact that we have a lot to cover, but we all agree that this needs to be done, and needs to be done well", summarises Cllr Hebb. "The Committee will pride itself on making informed recommendations on all matters, and defining new standards to which our elected members and officers need to be working toward. Yesterday’s Gold Standard is now today’s Platinum Standard. The bar is raising".
