Coordination of local public scrutiny bodies

Accepted.
The Department of Health has worked with partners to develop guidance that will support effective scrutiny by local government of the commissioning and delivery of local services, helping to ensure they are effective and safe.
The guidance is aimed at local authorities, Health and Wellbeing Boards, NHS commissioners and providers, and local Healthwatch. The guidance underlines the importance of all partners in the system understanding their own and each other’s roles and responsibilities, and working together to improve the quality of services.
The guidance also describes the new powers provided to local Healthwatch by the Local Authorities (Public Health, Health and Wellbeing Boards and Health Scrutiny) Regulations 2013, and describes how Health and Wellbeing Boards and local Healthwatch can work collaboratively with local government scrutiny committees to ensure that the views and concerns of patients and public are heard throughout the scrutiny process.
The guidance is due to be published in November 2013.

Guidance on local authority scrutiny was updated in January 2024.

Under the health overview and scrutiny committee principles, there are 5 points of best practice for ways of working between health overview and scrutiny committees, ICBs, ICPs and other local system partners. The principles are that joint working should be outcome focused, balanced, inclusive, collaborative and evidence informed. To ensure the benefits of scrutiny are realised, these principles should form the basis of ongoing discussions between system partners about how they will work together.

In June 2014, the Department issued guidance to local authorities on how to scrutinise local health systems. The guidance supports local government, the NHS and other local partners to understand and develop their roles in relation to health scrutiny, and ensure that it adds value for local communities. The publication of the guidance was put back in order to ensure consistency with related policy around local consultation on proposals for service reconfiguration, and to allow additional engagement with local authorities and other system partners.

The Department of Health, NHS England and Public Health England have jointly commissioned a programme of support for 2014/15 for local authorities in exercising their health scrutiny powers.

This recommendation was accepted by the Government.

In the January 2014 Hard Truths report, the Department of Health said it was working with partners to develop this guidance.

In the February 2015 Culture Change report, the Government said that guidance had been issued to local authorities on how to scrutinise local health systems in June 2014.