Agenda item

The report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services is attached.

The Leader and Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Borough-wide Leadership, Councillor Clarke MBE presented the report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services providing a review of the work undertaken by the Council’s four Scrutiny Groups during 2025/26.

The Leader welcomed Mr Ali and wished him well. The Leader stated that scrutiny was an incredibly important operation of this Council and welcomed the report. Once Councillor Brennan had been given the opportunity to second the report, he asked the Mayor to invite the respective Scrutiny Chairs to summarise any highlights of the year.

Councillor Brennan seconded the motion and reserved the right to speak.

Councillor Williams, Chair of the Corporate Overview Group (COG) for 2025/26, agreed that scrutiny was a key function of the Council, and as the overarching group, COG looked both retrospectively and forwards to identify ways to improve services for residents. COG considered a range of reports and looked at all requests made by officers and Councillors, and he thanked everyone for those, and hoped that requests would continue to come forward. He thanked officers, in particular the Assistant Director – Corporate Services, the Democratic Services Team, officers who attended meetings to present reports and members of the Group, and he looked forward to the year ahead. 

Councillor Simms, Chair of the Governance Scrutiny Group, stated that this was his first year as Chair of the Group. He thanked the Director – Finance and Corporate Services, the Assistant Director – Finance and the Democratic Services Team for their support, officers and outside representatives who attended meetings to present reports, his Vice-chair Councillor Gaunt for his support and members of the Group. Councillor Simms stated that he saw good governance as the bedrock of the Council, Rushcliffe was an outstanding, well run Council, and as a governance professional, he was honoured to Chair this Group. The Group had been well attended, undertaking effective scrutiny, which he encouraged, to ensure that the Council continued to have effective governance, especially with Local Government Reorganisation on the horizon. Councillor Simms looked forward to 2026/27 and continuing to work together and improve.  

Councillor Parekh, Chair of the Communities Scrutiny Group, referred to the wide range of issues considered by the Group, as detailed in the report, which had directly impacted on residents’ lives, by providing constructive challenge, holding decision makers to account and supporting continuous service improvement. Councillor Parekh thanked all members of the Group for their thoughtful and constructive discussions, Cabinet members, officers and partner organisations who attended meetings, and her Vice-chair, Councillor Plant. She went onto thank the Director – Neighbourhoods, the Assistant Director – Corporate Services, the Assistant Director – Environment and Communities, and the Assistant Director – Public Protection for their guidance and professionalism throughout the year, and the Democratic Services Team for their excellent support.

Councillors Combellack, Chair of the Growth and Development Scrutiny Group, stated that it had been an interesting year for the Group, scrutinising various topics, as detailed in the report, despite being impacted by national and worldwide matters beyond the Council’s control. Councillor Combellack highlighted the important work around the Freeport, which was of vital significance to residents, with implications for the wider economy, and she looked forward to receiving an update report at the Group’s next meeting.   She thanked officers, her Vice-chair Councillor Way, who had stepped down from her role during the year, and Councillor Billin who had ably replaced her and Group members.

Councillor Gaunt, the Vice-chair of Governance Scrutiny Group, felt that the annual reports showed the vital role that scrutiny played in good decision making, with members across all groups working together constructively to challenge and improve the work of this authority. He stated that it had been a successful year for the Governnace Scrutiny Group, asking challenging questions and providing constructive oversight of the Council’s finance, governance and risk management. Councillor Gaunt thanked the Chair for his effective leadership, Group members, the independent member and outside representatives and officers for their professionalism and support. He went on to thank COG, for shaping the scrutiny work programme and to Councillor Williams for the constructive and fair way he had led that. He advised that a particular highlight had been the effective work around equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), which had identified the many practical improvements that had been delivered for residents, at little or no additional cost. Looking ahead, Councillor Gaunt referred to the importance of scrutiny remaining member-led, and whilst officer advise was greatly appreciated, ultimately it was for members to determine the priorities for scrutiny. Councillor Gaunt also felt that it was important to reflect on how work was balanced between the various groups, to ensure that work was more evenly spread.       

Councillor Plant, Vice-chair of Communities Scrutiny Group, thanked Councillor Parekh for being a very effective Chair. She referred to the many interesting issues the Group had scrutinised, asking questions and raising concerns, which was important; however, she felt that it often failed to impact on the service itself. Councillor Plant did highlight the excellent meeting with Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, challenging its representatives on a wide range of issues, with the Group agreeing to have an update report later in the year. Councillor Plant repeated her request from last year that it would be courteous for Vice-chairs to see the draft Annual Scrutiny Report before it was published.

In seconding the recommendation, Councillor Brennan apologised to Councillor Plant and advised that she had been assured that both Chairs and Vice-chairs would be sent copies of reports before they were published and she thanked all Councillors who took part in scrutiny for the reasons already outlined.

The Leader reiterated the importance of scrutiny and that this was all about constructive improvement of the Council’s operations, through development and working together.

It was RESOLVED that the work undertaken by the four Scrutiny Groups during 2025/26 be endorsed.