Strategic Priorities
The strategic scrutiny priorities agreed for 2009-2012 are:
1. Protection, welfare and access to opportunities for:
- Children,
- Adults in need of support and protection,
- Older people;
2. Assuring public money is being used properly.
3. Other circumstances in which Government and Parliament may wish to exercise scrutiny functions include:
- Where there is the need for periodic independent assurance about whether services are safe and/or meeting regulatory requirements;
- Where service provider self-evaluations are unsatisfactory, or indicate that greater improvements could be achieved or - for local government services - where 'shared risk assessments' indicate that scrutiny is required;
- Where there is the need to assess the impact of a national policy priority such as progress towards the achievement of outcomes as part of the national performance framework;
- Where a serious service failure arises in one area and assurance is required about wider implications.
Strategic Risk Categories
Ministers have agreed on a range of strategic risk categories against which public services should be tested to ensure scrutiny of a service is based on risk. The categories agreed are:
- Corporate governance risk;
- Service failure risk; and
- Outcome risk.