For 2006/07 the Council established the following five Select Committees:
- Children's Services
- Community Safety and Community Services
- Environment
- Health and Adult Social Care
- Regeneration, Culture and Adult Education
The work programme for each Select Committee will be linked directly to one or more of the Council's Community Strategy and Council Plan priorities.
It has been necessary for the Council to review its Select Committee structure for the following reasons:-
There is a requirement to ensure that the Select Committees help the Council to fulfil additional statutory responsibilities, particularly with regard to services for children and young people and crime and disorder.
The new Community Strategy contains six fresh key priorities, which must be linked to the work of the Select Committees. In 2006/07, the work programme of each Select Committee will be linked directly to one or more of the Community Strategy and Council priorities.
Select Committees need to reflect changes brought about by the remodelling of Council Directorates in order to enable Directorates to focus their resources more efficiently in support of the scrutiny work undertaken by each Select Committee.
The general principle for dealing with duplication between Select Committees is that the Select Committee with the "primary" service responsibility should take the lead on overlapping issues but, where appropriate, joint meetings/discussions should be held with other Select Committees. In areas where it is not clear that one Select Committee has the primary responsibility, a final decision will be made by the Select Committee Chairmen meeting as a Group.
Therefore the Select Committee on Culture & Recreation will not exist in 2006/07 and the Select Committee on Regeneration, Culture & Adult Education will be responsible within its terms of reference for culture and recreation issues.
