Scrutiny

The public sector provides services and in doing so spends public money. Scrutiny ensures that decision makers are accountable for what they do, the decision making process is clear and accessible to the public, and that there are opportunities for the public and their representatives to influence and improve public policy and services.

Uttlesford District Council's Scrutiny Committee meets five times per year, with scrutiny activity occurring in between the meetings by way of smaller task specific working groups.

Councils have been given the responsibility for scrutinising local NHS trusts, including primary care trusts. Powers were further expanded by the Police and Justice Act 2006, which provided powers to scrutinise the work of crime and disorder reduction partnerships too.

Current Scrutiny work programme

The current scrutiny work programme is a standing item on the agenda for the Scrutiny Committee's meetings - to view it please access the link to the meetings schedule on our Committee website pages for the Scrutiny Committee.

Get involved

Scrutiny Committee meetings are open to the public and there is an opportunity to ask questions about agenda items at the start of each meeting.

From time to time our community will be asked for their views in order to inform scrutiny work. Keep an eye on this website for further information as it happens.

Petitions by you or action by a councillor

The Scrutiny Committee is appointed to receive some public petitions on council matters. For information on the council's petitions procedures, please see the Petitions page.

Your councillor can refer a matter to the Scrutiny Committee if all other avenues have been exhausted. Your councillor's contacts details can be found on the Councillors page.

Centre for Public Scrutiny

You can find out more about the role scrutiny plays by visiting the Centre for Public Scrutiny website.