Westminster Executive meets local government 'culture': overview and scrutiny in three English county councils

The Local Government Act 2000 established the system of 'overview and scrutiny' in a majority of English local authorities. Ostensibly an attempt to transfer some of the features of the parliamentary/government decisionmaking process, the new system has not been able entirely to replace its predecessor. An analysis of three case-study county councils shows that they have adapted the overview and scrutiny system to existing political preferences, which owe much both to existing local government practice and to the prevailing cultures within the councils. Culture has influenced the structure of committees, their relationship to the executive, officer relationships, questioning, and use of the call-in function.