Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme - Public Consultation 2023

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 investigations, part of a series that take place every year, are themed and look at how the Council and its partner organisations 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.

Every May at the start of each municipal year the Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) function asks local residents, partner organisations, council officers, and stakeholders to highlight areas of concern or make suggestions for a scrutiny review or smaller investigation.

Overview and Scrutiny is a function within Hackney Council that holds the decision makers (called 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 Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) is responsible for ensuring that Cabinet and the Mayor do their job.  O&S is made up of back-bench councillors i.e those not in Cabinet and is the local government equivalent of Select Committees in Parliament. 

The role of Overview and Scrutiny 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.  Overview and Scrutiny has powers to scrutinise the services not only provided by the Council but also by partner public service organisations e.g. the NHS, police or housing associations, as they too have a significant impact on the wellbeing of the population.

Why your views matter

We want to hear from you about what you would like the Council to look at next. Suggestions could be local issues and services that are important to you and which you think should be improved. 

Please look at our most recent annual report here as this will help give you an idea of the range of topics you might consider suggesting.  Past investigations have focused on Child Q; access to GP services; journey towards Net Zero; and Covid recovery.

Your feedback will be collated and reviewed and a work programme for the year will then be agreed.

What happens next

Your views will be collated and reviewed by each Scrutiny Commission at their first meeting of the year and it will feed into how they agree their work programme for the year i.e. what subjects they will focus on. 

Here you can find our past annual reports which provide more in-depth information about the work of Commissions and will give you a sense of the breadth and depth of the work.