'Lack of trust' in Birmingham City Council governance highlighted

There is also "little understanding" across the city council of the benefit of scrutinising decisions, according to a report by the Local Government Association (LGA).

But opposition councillors are concerned the report’s recommendations will be used to restrict backbenchers’ powers to challenge the leadership’s decisions.

The report states: "Members have a lack of trust in the governance service because of problems with late reports, lack of confidence and skills of committee clerks, and lack of support for member casework.

"We have heard that the council’s decision making processes are difficult to navigate, slow, lengthy and an obstacle to efficient, effective and dynamic operations.

"Given the number of major projects and initiatives being undertaken by the council this is a serious business risk which must be addressed as a matter of urgency."

The document was produced following a peer review carried out in September last year by eight representatives from other councils, the LGA and the Centre for Public Scrutiny.

The report says "the number of call-ins are disproportionately high due to the fact that the criteria for call-ins are not rigorous enough”.

But Councillor Ewan Mackey, deputy leader of the Conservative group and member for Sutton Roughley, disagreed that the number of call-ins was due to criteria being too wide.

He added: "From late, rushed, missing information, lack of public consultation or consideration of wider impacts and risks, the quality of reports to Cabinet are frequently well below the standard needed to make well informed decisions.

"Rather than address this issue, Labour are instead seeking to cull the key tool available to challenge those decisions."

The council’s co-ordinating overview and scrutiny committee was due to debate recommendations to amend or delete call-in criteria at a meeting on July 3 but deferred the item.

It will now be presented to cabinet in September.

A city council spokesperson said: "The LGA governance report was received in December last year following the peer review visit that took place in September.

"This is one of a suite of peer reviews that was due to be presented at cabinet committee in April this year but postponed due to the pandemic. It has now been published on the city council website and is scheduled for September cabinet.

"The report was commissioned to look into the committee and scrutiny areas of work as part of the development of a new governance services department that aims to support clear and transparent democratic services and decision-making.

"Whilst much of the commentary focuses on internal processes, there are some key areas for the council to address, in particular the development of a scrutiny framework.

"This work has been disrupted by the pandemic, but will involve all scrutiny members, as well as the executive and officers. It is being supported by the Centre for Public Scrutiny."