The Scrutiny Coordinating Committee was scheduled to meet to review the action and recommendation trackers, and to discuss the draft summary of committee activity to be included in the Scrutiny Annual Report. The committee was also expected to discuss the Corporate Peer Challenge action plan.

Corporate Peer Challenge

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the council’s Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC). In June 2024, Waltham Forest Council undertook a CPC co-ordinated by the Local Government Association (LGA). The peer team included local government officers and councillors from other local authorities.

Following the visit, the peer team shared a report, including 10 recommendations for how the council could develop and improve across various areas of corporate and resident priority.

In response, the council developed an action plan, which was brought to the Scrutiny Coordinating Committee in November 2024. Since the publication of the action plan, the council undertook a return visit by some members of the original peer team.

The return visit included preparing a progress review position statement, providing updates and next steps for each of the 10 recommendations. This document was developed in consultation with action plan named leads and shared with the LGA in advance of the return visit.

According to the report pack:

Verbal feedback during the wrap-up session indicated that the Peer Team were impressed with the progress made since their visit. Following the progress review, a report outlining the peer team’s findings will be shared with us. We expect to receive this report in May. We are required to publish this report no later than 23 June, after which the Peer Challenge process will be completed.

Scrutiny Annual Report

The committee was scheduled to review draft summaries of committee activity that will form a section in the Scrutiny Annual Report 2024-25. The co-ordination of the annual report is a key annual responsibility of the Scrutiny Coordinating Committee, outlining the work of all the scrutiny work done by the committees, as well as themed reviews and collaborative working.

The report pack included summaries of activity for the following scrutiny committees:

• Budget
• Children and Families
• Climate
• Communities and Public Protection
• Health and Adult Social Care
• Housing and Inclusive Economy
• Whipps Cross Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee
• Inner Northeast London Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny
• Coordinating Scrutiny

The Scrutiny Report

The committee was scheduled to review the action and recommendation trackers. The action tracker captures all actions required of officers by the committee at the previous scrutiny meeting and provides an update on progress. The recommendation tracker captures all recommendations made by the committee at the previous scrutiny meeting.

The committee was also scheduled to review the Scrutiny Coordinating Committee Forward Plan for the remainder of the municipal year.

The report pack included a list of suggested items for future meetings:

• Resident Experience
• Complaints/FOIs/SARs
• EDI – equalities objectives refresh / making a living strategy
• Procurement Procedure rules – changes and impact
• Mission WF – progress update
• Digital Inclusion
• Workforce update including staff survey