We have just found out which Swansea councillors will be the chairs and vice chairs of the overview & scrutiny boards and committees. The list is at the bottom of this post.
But what do they actually do? Is it just simply running meetings and keeping people in check? Well of course not – it’s much, much more than that.
In fact both the chairs and vice chairs have role descriptions which are part of the council’s rule book (a.k.a. the constitution). Here is the short version:
Chairs
- Provide leadership and direction – They promote a team approach, promote O&S more generally, develop the work programme and ensure that their board / committee base their conclusions and recommendations on sound evidence
- Manage the work programme – They ensure that the work programme is delivered and report to Council and other meetings as required
- Effectively manage meetings– Set agendas, prepare for meetings and manage business during meetings
- Provide community leadership – Liaise with community groups and other agencies, identify community based issues and involve as wide a range of people as possible in the overview and scrutiny process
- Involve and develop board / committee members – To encourage high performance and lead training and development where needed
Vice Chairs
- Support the leadership role of the chair – They work in partnership with the chair and provide ongoing support and advice on all aspects of the work of the board / committee
- Cover the role of the chair in the chair’s absence – If the chair is away or unavailable the vice chair has to be able to do all of the things that the chair does
- Lead specific activities – This can include leading a specific review or chairing task and finish groups and reporting back to the board
If you have anything you want to feed into the work of a particular board / committee or if you have any ideas about issues they should be looking at, you can contact the chairs and let them know.
The chairs and vice chairs for 2010/11 are:
Overview & Scrutiny Boards
Child & Family Services – Chair: Cllr Mark Child Vice Chair: Cllr Paxton Hood-Williams
Children, Young People & Learning – Chair: Cllr Penny Matthews Vice Chair: Cllr Keith Morgan
Environment & Communities – Chair: Cllr June Evans Vice Chair: Cllr Alan Lloyd
Performance & Finance – Chair: Cllr Darren Price Vice Chair: Cllr D.I.E. Jones
Health, Social Care & Wellbeing – Chair: Cllr Robert Francis Davies Vice Chair: Cllr Jeff Jones
Overview & Scrutiny Committees
Partnership – Chair: Cllr John Newbury Vice Chair: Cllr Keith Marsh
Business – Chair: Cllr Rob Speht Vice Chair: Cllr John Newbury
Can you explain what the difference is between a Board and a Committee, apart from the fact that opposition members have been permitted to be chairs or vice chairs of boards, but not of committees? I think it is unfortunate that the welcome decision to combine Overview and Scrutiny in to single committees, which is recommended good practice, has been marred by the decision to restrict the number of chairs and vice chairs councillors who are not part of the ruling Group can hold, which isn’t good practice.
Hi Councillor, thanks for the comment. In terms of your question, the general idea is that the committees will have more of a coordinating role, referring issues to the boards, who will do the more in-depth work. Although, as they are new and they haven’t met yet we won’t really know until they do meet and decide how they want to work. I’ll blog here when we know.