A COUNTY council has been shortlisted for a prestigious award.

Hertfordshire County Council has been nominated in the Good Scrutiny Awards 2010 for its innovative approach to reviewing policy decisions and the way it holds its decision-makers to account.

The council has improved the effectiveness of its scrutiny processes by “adopting a leaner approach focused on achieving better results for less”, reducing the number of scrutiny committees to just two.

Alan Searing, chairman of the overview and scrutiny committee, said: “We have streamlined our scrutiny structure and processes.

“This means fewer committees, shorter reports and fewer, more robust recommendations.

“We are pleased that these changes have been recognised on the national stage.”

Caroline Tapster, chief executive of Herts County Council, said scrutiny provides a “well thought through challenge to monitoring policy implementation”.

She added: “Scrutiny’s current success and high profile is due to listening to feedback from all concerned and revising what we do accordingly.”

Winners of the Good Scrutiny Awards 2010 will be unveiled at an awards ceremony in The Brewery, London, on Wednesday.