4.2  Scrutiny

 

Councillors are required to provide strategic leadership and oversight. This involves:

• setting strategy and policy

• scrutinising performance against strategic aims

• making major or complex decisions that affect the Council as a whole.

Councillors are not responsible for operational management, which involves planning, organising, and carrying out day‑to‑day activities and service delivery. Operational management is the responsibility of officers. If you, as a councillor, become too involved in operational matters, you may lose focus on your strategic responsibilities.

It is recognised, however, that councillors are also required to be involved in certain operational matters when:

• undertaking advocacy work, including any lobbying or campaigning

• assisting local groups with community engagement and capacity-building

• representing constituents and undertaking casework

• making decisions on quasi‑judicial or regulatory applications as a member of a regulatory, licensing, planning or appeals and appointments committee.

If a decision involves purely operational or administrative issues, with expenditure within existing budgets, it will usually be made by an officer without reference to elected members. Some decisions may include both operational and strategic elements. In such cases, officers may consult certain elected members (such as the Leader or Deputy Leader, committee chairs, or ward members) to ensure that they have appropriate engagement before making the decision.

Responding to a press enquiry on behalf of the Council will normally be a matter for officers, although they may consult certain elected members if, for example, a quote is required.

While elected members may be on appointments committees that recruit and appoint senior officers, this does not mean they have any day‑to‑day line management responsibilities or a role in instructing or carrying out the work of senior officers.