Supporting oversight of councils through scrutiny
Council services often have a direct impact on people’s lives and elected councillors play a vital role in making sure decisions are well taken and that public money is spent effectively.
We believe that the information we share about complaints and the reports we produce should be used by local authority Overview and Scrutiny Committees when they are examining how their council operates. Earlier this year the Government ran a consultation aimed at updating guidance for councils on overview and scrutiny and we sent a full response.
In late April the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities published its updated statutory guidance which will be of interest to people who want to check that their council is operating its scrutiny function effectively.
The guidance requires councils to consider relevant information sources, specifically mentioning the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s recommendations and reports as a valuable source of information. This increased focused on our work will help ensure decision makers have the information they need to hand when taking decisions on public services.
The above post from the English Ombudsman
The Welsh Ombudsman Our Findings
