Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme - Public Engagement 2024

Overview

Is there a local issue or area of concern that you would like Hackney Council to look at? Let us know, and teams of special, independent councillors may be able to investigate it. 

These themed investigations, part of a series that take place every year, look at how the Council and its partner organisations are performing and how they might improve their services. 

The themes are: 

• Health. Covering adult health services (NHS community and hospital care including mental health) and social care services for adults.
• Living. Covering housing, highways, waste, community safety, leisure and parks.
• Children and young people. Covering education, schools, children's social care, youth services.
• Skills, economy and growth. Covering employment, economy, transport, energy, planning and licensing.

At the start of each municipal year, the Overview and Scrutiny function asks local residents, partner organisations, council officers, and other stakeholders to highlight areas of concern or make suggestions for a scrutiny review or smaller investigation.

Overview & Scrutiny is a function within the Council that holds the decision makers (known as the Executive) to account for the services the Council delivers. The Cabinet, led by the Mayor of Hackney, is responsible for making sure that people receive the services that the Council has agreed and we are responsible for ensuring that Cabinet and the Mayor do their job. It is made up of backbench councillors (those who do hold a position in Cabinet) and is the local government equivalent of Select Committees in Parliament. 

Our role is to review performance and examine the decisions of the Executive from a non party-political perspective, and to conduct in–depth investigations into key issues when necessary.  We have powers to scrutinise the services not only provided by the Council but also by partner public service organisations like the NHS, police or housing associations, as they too have a significant impact on the wellbeing of local people.

Why your views matter

We want to hear from you about what you would like us to look at next. Suggestions could be local issues of importance to you, or services that you think should be improved. 

You can see our most recent annual report here, which gives an idea of the range of topics we look at. Last year we looked at the following topics in response to suggestions received from residents:

• Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) on council housing estates
• Hackney Markets
• Childcare provision in local children centres
• Responding to increased demand for local mental health services
• Scrutiny of the Council's budget savings proposals.

Your feedback will be collated and reviewed and considered by councillors for inclusion in their work programme for the year ahead.

What happens next

Your views will be collated and reviewed by each Scrutiny Commission at their first meeting of the year. Councillors will consider the feedback and decide which subjects they will focus on in the year ahead. 

Here you can find our past annual reports which provide more in-depth information about our work and the range of activities we undertake.