For scrutiny to be effective it needs to be seen as a "critical friend" and it is important to identify where decisions could be improved and how to prevent mistakes being made or repeated.

Therefore, I believe that for Caerphilly County Borough Council to reduce the number of scrutiny committees from five to three is an absolute travesty and a recipe for disaster as this decision appears to de-value the role of such committees.

For instance, in relation to the merging of education scrutiny with the social services committee, because of the reduction in the number of councillors now allowed to sit on this new combined commitee a vast amount of experience and knowledge will be lost therefore making this a less effective approach to scrutiny.

Additionally, due to heavy workloads and presentations from different stakeholders, individual scrutiny meetings can last for almost three hours.

Therefore, I'm sure everyone would like to know how effective these new scrutiny committees will be!

Cllr Andrew Farina-Childs

Blackwood