Broadland District Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee summary of their annual report. Full report available to download from www.broadland.gov.uk/scrutiny

1. Annual Report
2013-14
Broadland Overview and Scrutiny

2. Balance
The Overview and Scrutiny function at the Council is based
around non-executive Members assessing how the Council is
performing, whether the Cabinet has made the right decisions
and influencing policy development.
The Committee have worked their way through a series of
reviews collectively, limiting the number of Time and Task
Limited Panels. Reviews have covered various topics, for
example Obesity; Council Partnerships, Grants Policy; and
Consultation Practices.

3. 2013-14 O&S Work
51%
28%
21%
2013-14 Scrutiny based 2013-14 Overview based 2013-14 O&S based

4. Partnerships Review
The Committee have convened a Time and Task Limited
Panel to undertake this review; the Panel have met since
September 2013 to progress the review.
The Review is broken down into four phases over 12
months and intends to meet with representatives from
various Council partnerships to understand best working
practices and where Broadland District Council could
improve as a partner.

5. Grants Policy
A Time and Task Limited Panel was formed to work with
Officers from the Economic Development Team, revising
the Grants Policy bringing it inline with the Council’s
budget for 2014/15, ensuring funding remains realistic and
accessible to community groups and bodies.
The revised Grants Scheme will be brought back for
review in late 2014.

6. Welfare Reform Monitoring
Committee began to receive quarterly updates from the Head of
Finance and Revenue Services. Those updates included
information on the likely financial impacts on the Council’s
budget but also what support streams were being implemented
to help effected residents.
Committee were also kept informed on the rate of affected
cases come forward after changes were implemented.
Committee effectively called into question the need for a
Hardship Fund, as well as challenging the how residents were
being informed about the changes

7. Obesity Review
Committee considered information presented to them and
decided to form a small working group to assess the level of
Obesity in Broadland and what steps were being taken to
reduce obesity trends.
Members identified some useful information and were able to
further promote the services offered by the Council, including
Broadly Active and similar referral programmes.
Committee lobbied several Secretary for States asking them to
further consider the impact of Obesity and to take action in
reducing the cost of healthy foods and adjusting supermarket
marketing of unhealthy foods

8. Consultation Approaches
Performance Management Sub Committee (PMSC)
commenced the review in November 2013 obtaining
information about past consultations; produced a public
survey to obtain views from customers about current
consultation practices and what would be desired for
future engagement activity; contacted parish and town
councils for their views; and obtained information about
local advertising costs. The Sub Committee aim to
produce guidance for future Council Consultation activity.
The Review is estimated to complete in April 2014

9. Scrutiny of Executive
Call-in: To cease the provision of Cesspool and Septic
Tank Emptying Services
The Environmental Excellence Portfolio Holder attended
the meeting to convey further information of why the
Council is taking the decision to cease the service.
The Committee were satisfied with the additional
information provided by the Environmental Excellence
Portfolio Holder and voted in favour to support his
decision

10. Scrutiny of the Executive
 Hardship Fund for Council Tax Reduction Scheme
2014/15
 Budget support to Parish and Town Councils
 Neighbourhood Plan Criteria for Funding
 Discharging Statutory Homelessness Duty Into The
Private Sector Policy

11. Performance Management Sub
Committee
 Waste Recycling Service
 Staff Survey Results
 Broadland Council Training Centre
 Review of Consultation Approaches and Customer
Feedback

12. Raising the Scrutiny Profile
This year the Overview and Scrutiny Committee decided to
investigate the uses of social media during reviews. A pilot has
been approved to run over the next two years, using social
media to engage with residents during scrutiny reviews and
report progress being made during reviews before a final report
is produced. In order to prepare for engaging on social media,
the Committee ran a workshop for all Councillors on how to use
Social Media safely and securely.

13. Join the conversation
Twitter: ScrutinyBDC (www.twitter.com/ScrutinyBDC)
Streetlife: Broadland Scrutiny and Broadland Council
(www.streetlife.com)
Norfolk Your Voice (www.norfolk.yourvoice.co.uk)
Email: scrutiny@broadland.gov.uk

14. Finally
To view the complete Annual Report for June 2013
to April 2014 head to the Council’s website:
www.broadland.gov.uk/scrutiny