Scrutiny

‘Scrutiny’ is an important part of the Council’s democratic process carried out on behalf of the residents of Rotherham. It is undertaken by councillors who are not part of the Cabinet whose role is to:

• Challenge the Council’s performance to raise standards and check if our services meet resident’s needs.
• Hold the Cabinet to account by scrutinising the decisions the Cabinet plans to take or implement and the impact of those decisions that have already been implemented.
• Look at issues which affect the well-being of the Borough and the community and make recommendations or reports.
• Consider the work of outside bodies, for example, local health services.

We have an overarching Overview and Scrutiny Management Board (OSMB) plus three Select Commissions.

We welcome and encourage local people to be involved. All meetings are open to the public and are broadcast live on the internet by webcast.

Investigations into issues affecting Rotherham are carried out by OSMB and the select commissions. These can be in the form of:

• Big picture reviews examining cross-cutting issues involving many Council sections
• More focused reviews, examining a particular problem, policy or service
• One-off reviews into a particular issue or decision

As part of the review, the working groups collect evidence from many sources. These can include:

• Discussions with witnesses including Council officers, service users or representatives of outside bodies
• Written submissions
• Site visits or mystery shopping
• Examining good practice, consultation or surveys

If you have an idea or suggestion that you think scrutiny could look at, please let us know.

Scrutiny annual reports

Each year we publish an annual report and work programme. The documents detail achievements over the past 12 months and plans for the year ahead.

See the 2023 to 2024 annual report