SIR – As a fan of nominative determinism it was amusing to see Cllr Fear express his worries over the election of Chairs to the Scrutiny committees. He is wrong to say that the Executive have a role in voting on chairs.

I was elected to the role by my peers and it is precisely to avoid the influence Cllr Fear talks about that the Executive have no vote.

I do agree with Cllr Fear that scrutiny committees should be rigorous in scrutinising the council’s work and can assure him I have every intention of being so.

It’s also worth mentioning that the committees are made up of councillors from all parties and held in public, so any undue collaboration between the Executive and a Chair would be quickly exposed and rightly so.

Cllr Fear is right to emphasise the importance of scrutiny committees in holding the Executive to account, albeit wrong to assume that a Chair from the same party couldn’t fulfil the role adequately. Nonetheless I look forward to working with his colleagues in scrutinising the work of the council over the forthcoming municipal year and hope that my own actions as Chair will assuage them of their fears!

Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw (Lab), Chairman, Corporate Overview & Scrutiny Committee, Bradford Council