The Scrutiny Panel did not 'approve' the O2 suite decision

We should first make the point of thanking a reader for bringing this one to our attention. According to the BBC last week, an "all-party Scrutiny Panel approved the decision to purchase the [O2] suite on 18 June." This refers to the call-in of the decision by three Labour councillor that we reported the other week.

However, the BBC's statement, which they were presumably given by someone at the Council is not strictly accurate, or indeed true. The Call-in sub-sommittee did not approve the decision at all. In fact, the committee had no power to do so and the decision itself was never in question according to the call-in's own meeting agenda.

What the sub-committee did do was say that they wanted to review the use of suite more often than had been originally decided by the Cabinet. There was no approval of the actual decision to purchase the suite. We just wanted to clear that up for people.