At a meeting of the North Northamptonshire Council's Scrutiny Management Board, Councillor Trevor Conway was appointed chair, the Scrutiny Executive Protocol was approved, the Scrutiny Development Plan was approved, and the Scrutiny Work Programme for 2025/26 was approved. Apologies were received from Councillor Helen Howell.

Election of Chair

Following the announcement that Councillor Christopher Kellett had been replaced on the Scrutiny Management Board by Councillor Gavin Beales, Councillor Trevor Conway was appointed Chair of the Scrutiny Management Board for the remainder of the 2025-26 municipal year.

Scrutiny Work Programme 2025/26

The board approved the latest version of the Scrutiny Work Programme 2025-26, as detailed in Appendix A of the agenda, but chose not to proceed with a formal consultation of all members to identify potential items for scrutiny. Instead, all members will be advised that they are welcome to nominate items for scrutiny at any time.

The decision not to proceed with a formal consultation followed a recommendation from the scrutiny chairs and vice chairs, who felt that the volume of items already included in the work programme was too high. Councillor Leon Gibbs raised concerns that the Health Scrutiny agenda, with three items per meeting, might be too full to allow for good quality scrutiny, particularly given that a recent report had taken two and a half hours to scrutinise. He asked if additional dates could be added to the schedule.

It was noted that the Place and Environment Committee was particularly feeling the pressure of the workload, and had to schedule an additional special meeting in September.

Chris Stevenson, Scrutiny Manager, said that the council was developing a matrix to help committee chairs decide what items to put on the agenda:

So, I think what we have agreed between the three of us is that we need to go away and kind of think of a sort of like a matrix, which we can then run past committee chairs to make sure that it passes the test of what the sort of things that you want to get to scrutiny, because scrutiny should be looking at the important things.

The board also agreed to approve the creation of a Task and Finish Group panel to look at the issue of the carbon management plan, and in particular to understand the data that sits beneath the carbon management plan.

Scrutiny Development Plan 2025 - September Update

The board approved the content of the Scrutiny Development Plan 2025-26, and the Plan Update Report attached at Appendix A.

The Scrutiny Development Plan has 10 key actions:

1. Operationalising a Children's Scrutiny Committee
2. Running a scrutiny induction training programme for new scrutiny councillors
3. Running scrutiny training for executive members
4. Running scrutiny training for officers
5. Developing a Scrutiny / Executive Protocol
6. Reviewing the Scrutiny Procedure Rules
7. Developing a Scrutiny Practice Manual
8. Creating a Scrutiny portal on the Members Intranet
9. Enhancing the scrutiny presence on the Council's website
10. Encouraging public participation in Scrutiny

Councillor Ben Williams asked whether the reported 65% uptake of training for members on scrutiny included people looking at recordings of the sessions. Chris Stevenson, Scrutiny Manager, confirmed that it only related to members actually attending the sessions.

Councillor Vinnie Whitrow, Vice-Chair, asked for clarification that the training for officers would include limiting officer introductions to five minutes, based on the fact that members will have already read the reports. Chris Stevenson, Scrutiny Manager, confirmed that this would be included as part of the officer training.

Councillor Vinnie Whitrow, Vice-Chair, also asked how many public sessions would be offered during Democracy Week¹, and where they would be. Chris Stevenson, Scrutiny Manager, said that he would find out from his colleague Francesca McHugo.

Scrutiny-Executive Protocol 2025

The board approved the draft Scrutiny – Executive Protocol attached at Appendix A. The protocol aims to provide a clear framework for constructive engagement between the scrutiny and executive functions, built on the principles of transparency, accountability, and collaboration.

Councillor Ben Williams asked about point 24, which mentions a council website for publicising scrutiny activity that is under development, and asked if there was a rough estimated time of arrival. Chris Stevenson, Scrutiny Manager, responded that the council was updating the members' intranet and working with the web team to enhance the presence of scrutiny on the council's website, with the aim of having a channel for members of the public to raise scrutiny issues. He hoped it would be live by the end of September or the beginning of October.

Another councillor asked about monitoring and reviewing the protocol, and whether there would be a set time placed in for when these reviews would take place. Chris Stevenson, Scrutiny Manager, confirmed that paragraph 30 stated that the protocol would be reviewed annually.

Another councillor asked what metrics or KPIs² would be used to measure the effectiveness of the scrutiny function. Chris Stevenson, Scrutiny Manager, said that one way would be to survey members to understand their perceptions of how effective it has been. He added that the number of items that have come to the committees, the number of recommendations that have been made, and the number of recommendations that have been accepted by the executive would be other ways of measuring effectiveness.

Councillor Leon Gibbs noted that paragraph 31 states that the protocol has been approved by Councillor Jim Haykwalt, who is not a member of the Scrutiny Management Board. Chris Stevenson, Scrutiny Manager, clarified that Councillor Jim Haykwalt is the Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee, and has seen and supported the protocol independently.

Chris Stevenson, Scrutiny Manager, added that the protocol would be taken to the executive meeting in October for formal approval.

Minutes of the Meeting held on the 17th June 2025

The minutes of the meeting held on the 17th June 2025 were approved as a true and accurate record.