Cllr Peter Hughes appointed chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Published: Friday 19 Aug 2016
The Board of the West Midlands Combined Authority has appointed Sandwell’s Cllr Peter Hughes as chair of its Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The Board of the West Midlands Combined Authority has appointed Sandwell's Cllr Peter Hughes as chair of its Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The appointment was approved by the Board at its meeting in Birmingham today (Friday Aug 19) along with the appointment of Dudley's Cllr David Sparks as the committee's vice chair.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be responsible for reviewing and scrutinising the decisions and actions of the Combined Authority to make sure they help make the region a better place to live, work, study and do business.
The committee will meet quarterly and has the power to call in decisions made by the Board and other committees of the WMCA and refer them back.
Cllr Hughes, who is also chair of Sandwell Council's Housing Scrutiny Board and of the West Midlands Scrutiny Network, said: I am delighted to take up this important role on the Combined Authority and would like to thank the Board for appointing me.
The role of this committee is crucial one. Our responsibility on behalf of the people of the West Midlands is to hold to account the Board of the Combined Authority.
The Scrutiny Network has already undertaken some preparatory work regarding scrutiny within combined authorities. I therefore believe there is an opportunity for the West Midlands to lead the way and become an exemplar of how scrutiny of combined authorities should operate