Maidstone Borough Council

Scrutiny Coordinating Committee

Friday 3 October 2014

Quality Recommendations

Report of: Tessa Mallett, Overview and Scrutiny Officer

1.          Introduction

1.1    Scrutiny recommendations should seek to make a real difference to local people and the services provided by Maidstone Borough Council.  Recommendations that note a change or request further information fail to resolve problems or make changes.  The scrutiny team has developed the following descriptions for quality recommendations.  They are recommendations that:

·        affect and make a difference to local people;

·        result in a change in policy that improves services;

·        identify savings and maintain/improve service quality; or

·         objectively identify a solution.

2.          Recommendations

2.1    That the Scrutiny Coordinating Committee review the Quality Recommendation information sheet attached as Appendix A.

2.2    That the Scrutiny Coordinating Committee agree that Appendix A be included with the question preparation sheet already included in the agenda packs for OSC meetings before each item on the agenda.  This will provide a reference point to all members before and during meetings as an aide memoir to making quality recommendations.

3.          Background

3.1        The issue of making, and monitoring, quality recommendations is an important part of the scrutiny process.

3.2     In general resolutions requiring further action from officers, Cabinet and / or other stakeholders should be as clear as possible to ensure the correct information is provided and agreed outputs met.

3.3     When drafting recommendations it is important to capture the main issues arising from debate in a concise format. Vague conclusions and unspecific recommendations are unlikely to add value. To be useful, recommendations have to set out courses of action which will lead to financial savings, or improved outcomes (or both). One way of checking the usefulness of recommendations is to evaluate them against the 'six Ws' set out on the Quality Recommendation information sheet attached as Appendix A.

4.      Background Documents

4.1     None