Subject Reviews

Subject reviews provide the opportunity to carry out in depth analysis of particularly challenging or problematic issues affecting the Council and the community it serves. Some recent subject reviews were carried out on the Evening and Night-Time Economy, Environmental Performance and Anti-Social Behaviour. The initial ideas for subject review work come from the councillors, officers or members of the public.

Sometimes, it will be the whole committee which carries out the work but the committee may decide that the review would be best done by a smaller group of Members, called a ‘task and finish group’.

By its nature, a subject review will entail a good deal of work, usually lasting several months. The committee or ‘task and finish group’ is free to employ a range of different ways of working to learn about a given subject. For example, they can go on site visits, carry out mystery shopping and hold informal meetings. Often, the main meetings in a subject review will be ‘evidence sessions’ – in these, the committee will ask detailed questions of expert witnesses who they have invited specially. In this way, the councillors will build their knowledge of the subject and start to form views about the recommendations they will make at the end of the review.

The committee or ‘task and finish group’ responsible for the subject review will produce a final report detailing the findings of the review and its recommendations. These recommendations are presented to the Council's Executive (to which it should respond within three months) and any other agencies affected. Action on the recommendations is monitored by scrutiny committees to see if the recommendations have been put into practice and what improvements in service have resulted.

Current Subject Reviews

There are ‘task and finish groups’ currently being undertaken on:

• Bulky Waste Items
• Making Space for Water (Flooding)
• Performance Reporting

You can find the final reports from previous scrutiny reviews here.

Got an Idea?

If you have an idea for a subject review for one of the committees, please send it to scrutiny@carlisle.gov.uk .

If you do have an idea, please help us by being as detailed as possible in your proposal. Also, please bear in mind though that scrutiny is not a complaints service - there is a separate Corporate Complaints procedure if you have been unhappy with any aspect of the Council's service.