The Overview and Scrutiny Committees (known as Select Committees at this council) undertake detailed investigations into any matter within their remit. These investigations are the Select Committee reviews. They aim to secure improvements to a service through policy development or review.
The actual review work is normally undertaken by a small group of members with appropriate officer support. The review itself may well involve interviews with internal and external persons/organisations and site visits, as well as traditional evidence gathering from other authorities, organisations etc.
The main features of reviews are as follows:-
- the review topic will be chosen as a result of members' experience of the reality of life in South Gloucestershire where the Council has a role to play;
- the reviews will normally be based on developing and reviewing existing Council policy or a particular Council service (but can be on any matter affecting the well-being of persons living or working in the area;
- the current reviews may take 1-3 years to complete depending on the topic - in this way Members are not tied to the artificial restrictions of municipal years. Interim reports may be produced where appropriate. (When South Gloucestershire Select Committees were first established they tended to complete their reviews within one municipal year);
- individual reviews now follow PRIME project management principles to ensure a consistent management approach across all Select Committee reviews;
- all review reports are published to the web as part of the Select Committee agenda papers;
- the final reports of any review will be submitted to Cabinet . It is up to Cabinet to decide whether it agrees with some or any of the final recommendations of the Select Committee review reports - in this way real change can result from Select Committee reviews.
- at appropriate times, Select Committees monitor progress on the outcome of their reviews.
Current and Past Reviews
There are links to Select Reviews completed to date in the Read More box on the right of this page.Should you have any questions about any of the reviews, please contact Democratic Services on 01454 86 4117. Progress on current reviews is normally reported to the relevant Select Committees at every meeting. (See "Do it now - View Council agenda and reports)