NORTH YORKSHIRE COUNCIL

15 JULY 2026

STATEMENT OF THE CHAIR OF SCRUTINY BOARD

Scrutiny Board brings together the Chairs of the six thematic overview and scrutiny committees at the Council and the Older People’s, Young People’s and Climate Change Champions.  It provides an opportunity for a whole council view of scrutiny activity, which avoids gaps and overlaps and helps establish a lead committee for areas of joint interest.  It also provides a forum in which the key performance issues for the Council can be reviewed and items for further scrutiny identified.

The scrutiny function was created to act as a check on and balance to the executive and it is a statutory requirement for all authorities operating executive arrangements.

The meeting of Scrutiny Board on 21 May 2026 focussed upon the scrutiny of the Executive Q4 2025/26 Performance and Finance Management Report, ahead of the members of the Board attending the meeting of the Executive on 26 May 2026. Some of the issues highlighted by members of the Scrutiny Board at their meeting are as summarised below:

· The numbers of people in temporary accommodation, the geographical spread and what is being done in response

· The financial impact upon the Council of maintaining people in temporary accommodation and how this links to changes in the private rental market and also the management and turnover of our own housing stock

· The recent report of the Government’s Climate Committee, which outlined concerns regarding rising temperatures through the next decade and the impact upon people in care homes, schools and other sites/buildings

· The increase in adult safeguarding referrals, what is behind this increase and how it will be managed

· The management of the care market, what success looks like for the Council and the likely financial impact should the care market become more unstable over the next two to three years

· The increase in the number of children referred to social care, what is driving it and the increase in complexity of needs

· The welcome improving performance on the timeliness of EHC Plans

· The reasons why children are being taken out of mainstream school and being home educated and the role that the Council has in checking that children educated at home are receiving an acceptable standard of education.

Updates were also provided by the Older People’s Champion, Young People’s Champion and Climate Change Champion on key elements of their work over the past 3 months, as summarised below:

· A new co-ordinator is now in place for the Age Friendly Network.  This has given the work a new focus and impetus

· A draft plan on healthy ageing is being developed and will go out for consultation

· Concerns have been raised regarding CAMHS and the performance of mental health services for children and young people

· Fostering North Yorkshire has joined the Fostering Network’s ‘Mockingbird Family Model Programme’.  This programme links foster carers in a given area so that they can provide each other with support and advice

· The Local Nature Recovery Strategy, that was developed by NYC, CoYC and the MCA, has been launched.  This strategy identifies locations to improve nature and provide other benefits, such as capturing carbon from the atmosphere, flood regulation and access to nature-rich spaces

· A meeting was held with Cllr Phillips regarding the Council Plan and how activity to reduce the impact of climate change locally can be woven through the objectives in the plan 

· The annual reports of the Young People’s Champion, the Older People’s Champion and the Climate Change Champion were presented to their respective overview and scrutiny committees and also Full Council, on 20 May 2026.

Members of Scrutiny Board reviewed the work programmes of the Area Committees, to help to ensure that opportunities for joint working and co-ordination of activity were identified.  They also considered: the barriers to access to primary care services in rural areas, which had been triggered to changes in GP provision in and around Reeth; the progress with the development of a Scrutiny/Executive Protocol; and a Notice of Motion that was referred from the meeting of Council on 20 May 2026 regarding ‘Supporting & Strengthening Community Transport’.

At the meeting, I was elected the Chair of the Board to serve through to May 2027.  I would like to thank my fellow champions and scrutiny committee chairs for their support and the opportunity to guide the work of the committees over this next year.

The next meeting of the Board is on 14 August 2026.  The focus at that meeting will be upon the Q1 2026/27 Performance and Finance Management report.

COUNCILLOR ALYSON BAKER

22 June 2026