Cornwall Council asks residents to set its scrutiny agenda

Got something that has been bugging you about the way things get run in Cornwall? There is now a direct route to put it in front of the people whose job is to hold the council to account.

What the scrutiny committees do

Cornwall Council is asking residents to suggest topics for its Overview and Scrutiny Committees to look at. The committees exist to make council decision-making more open, accountable and responsive to what people actually need, and the process is meant to be constructive rather than a chance to point fingers when something goes wrong.

Any suggestion is checked against four principles of good scrutiny. It should offer constructive “critical friend” challenge, give a voice to public concerns, be led by people who take independent responsibility for the role, and help drive improvement in the services Cornwall Council‘s committees oversee.

The six committees

There are six scrutiny committees covering different parts of council business:

• Budget Development
• Community Wellbeing
• Corporate Finance and Performance
• Health and Adult Social Care
• Sustainable Growth and Place
• Together for Families

Each has its own work programme, meaning the topic you suggest will land with whichever committee’s remit it fits best.

How to suggest a topic

Residents and stakeholders can put forward an idea by filling in the webform to submit a potential work programme topic. There is also a separate route for asking a direct question at a meeting, which comes with its own rules on timing and word count.

Every topic suggestion goes to the chairman of the relevant committee and a senior responsible officer, who check it lines up with the four principles before it goes anywhere near an actual work programme. Whether an idea makes the cut depends on that test, but the point of the scheme is that someone with the power to put it on an agenda reads it first.

📷Credit: Cornwall Council