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The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Scrutineers (remixed 2nd edition)


This is a revised version of a previous list that you can find here.

 

What are the things that effective scrutineers do that help to make them effective? What are the habits and behaviours that help them to make a difference? 

Well, taking inspiration from Stephen R Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and drawing from the many sessions I’ve run with scrutiny councillors, the many meetings I’ve observed and the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny’s  principles of effective scrutiny, below are my seven habits.

Of course this is just my list, you may agree or disagree with my suggestions, or know others that might be missing. Either way, I hope it’s a useful list for self reflection and a helpful tool for discussion.

1.  Bring something thought provoking

Rather than simply responding to reports, effective scrutineers are independent minded and proactive – not just passive. They bring something new to the governance party. They offer something that the executive and officers might not have thought about.

It might be a concern that they have heard from partners or the public, a new way of doing things that has worked in another council, a really good question that starts a discussion or it might be an alternative approach to the policy being offered.

Ultimately we know something has been thought provoking by the way that it lands. We know a contribution has been challenging by the response of the person that it has been shared with. They might say, ‘ah, that’s interesting’ or ‘we need to go away and consider that’. Eyebrows are raised as they take a moment to process – that’s the kind of reaction that scrutineers should be aiming for.

Ultimately it is the executive who decide, who have the power to shape policy and strategy so, it’s by getting the executive to think in a new way about something, that scrutiny can influence change.

2. Work towards improvement

Even if our instincts are to focus on what’s gone wrong in the past, effective scrutiny is about looking forward and asking ‘how might we do this better?’ and ‘what do we want to happen instead?’

After all, while accountability is an important aspect of scrutiny, citizens and people using services are interested in improvements and how things are going to be fixed – not just hearing about the problems. 

Some of the most effective scrutiny work involves seeking out solutions to significant and pressing issues and this is also the work that I know many councillors find the most rewarding.

One helpful idea here is to ask ‘how’ and ‘what’ questions rather than ‘why’ questions.

‘How’ and ‘what’ questions are better for encouraging constructive and solution focussed conversations. For example, ‘how might that be improved?’, ‘what’s worked well before?’ and ‘how will people know when that’s working as it should?’

3.  Prioritise

Scrutiny councillors have limited time and resources to work on what can be a very, very long to-do list. For this reason, to be effective, councillors need to invest time in prioritising. 

There are three things to mention.

The first is your own personal involvement and commitment. How much time have you got? How are you going to have the greatest impact? Which issues do you want to get involved in? Perhaps those issues are the ‘glasses’ through which you read your papers and prepare? Perhaps you are the specialist on the committee, leading questions on your area of expertise, for example.

The second thing to mention is the annual work planning process. This is often a chance to contribute suggestions and debate the suggestions that others make. I know many councillors find it useful to be involved in these processes both to influence what happens but also so they know why a particular topic has been chosen when they come to look at it.  

The other thing to mention is meetings. Because the value of scrutiny comes from looking at things in depth it also helps to have no more than two main items on the agenda. You want to give everyone time to contribute and people are far from their best if meetings run on a long time. No one wants to feel like they are just watching a conveyor belt of items go by.

4.  Prepare

When I ask scrutiny chairs what advice they might give to new councillors, the most common answer is ‘prepare!’  Whether it’s reading the papers, seeking advice from officers or attending briefings, effective scrutineers come to meetings ready to be productive. 

Working through the papers can be a challenge, particularly the big agenda packs. I know many councillors spend time with highlighter pens, picking out the things that they might want to raise and jotting down potential questions. Briefings with officers can also be useful as can having someone who knows their stuff and is happy to answer a few quick questions before the meeting.

And remember that preparation is a team sport. Effective scrutineers work with colleagues and support officers to get the best results. Whether that’s in pre meetings or through email and whattsapp groups – there is always a conversation to be had about what the focus might be and who is going to ask what.

5.  Invest in relationships

Scrutiny has some formal powers but it’s soft power that really helps to get things done. Effective scrutiny is built on good engagement with the executive, the organisation and with partners.

Whether it’s working with cabinet members, senior officers or partners, it’s the informal meeting, email or quick call that can help the formal aspects of relationships to be effective. This is what I hear from many councillors when I ask them ‘what helps to make scrutiny effective?’

Good habits I hear about include having regular informal catch ups over a cup of tea, having the conversation about the conversation, in other words asking; ‘how are we going to work together? and ‘what would help you to work with scrutiny?’ as well as explaining what’s helpful for scrutiny and giving a heads up about what’s coming up and what topics are likely to be raised in meetings.

Another thing that helps to build relationships is the contributions to make in meetings – if they are respectful and considered, addressing the issue not the person – then helps to build future cooperation.

Of course these are professional relationships – you don’t have to be best friends (and do be careful if you are!) – but you do have to find ways of working together for the benefit of citizens and people using services.

6. Build conversations

Change comes through cooperation. Whether it’s with the executive, officers, partners or the public, scrutiny brings change through conversations. 

Effective scrutineers have ‘back and forth’ exchanges with executive members in meetings and this is where meaningful challenge can take place. As the Institute for Government reported, in ‘Being an Effective Select Committee Member’:

Interviewees told us that the most impressive members were those who actually listened to the answers that witnesses gave and then used follow-up questions to probe and drill down into those answers. 

Starting with open questions, effective scrutineers are able to listen carefully and focus on issues and concerns that matter – working with the executive member to identify areas and ideas for improvement.

7.  Keep in touch with what’s going on

Effective scrutiny amplifies the concerns of the public. To do this, councillors must have methods for regularly keeping in touch with residents and service users. Whether through visits, consultations or through simply being visible and available in the community, councillors with the keeping in touch habit are better able to channel the voice of the public into their work.

Examples might include:

  • Rota visits to residential care homes
  • Arranging informal visits to talk to staff
  • Attending residents associations and community group meetings
  • Having an email list of people that are willing to be contacted at short notice about an issue

Bonus:  Self scrutinise

Scrutiny is challenging and the world around scrutiny is changing all the time. Perhaps more than any other aspect of council governance, scrutiny has a wide choice of different methods that it can use and the opportunity to be creative in how it works. 

It’s important, therefore, for scrutineers to apply the same critical appraisal to their own work as they apply to the work of others – a case of physician heal thyself!

This might involve a ‘wash up’ at the end of a meeting to have a quick discussion about how things went, it could mean development sessions about to discuss how things are going for the committee or for scrutiny as a whole or perhaps seeking external input to provide some independent challenge.

 

Six leaderships roles for scrutiny chairs


In this post I set out six leadership roles for scrutiny chairs: facilitator, host, committee representative, team leader, strategist and scrutiny champion. I hope they will be useful for anyone thinking about and developing as a scrutiny chair.

 

Scrutiny chair is an important and challenging role.

Every chair of a scrutiny committee is different, every committee is different, every council is different and every place is different. So, there is no single right way to chair and lead scrutiny.

Everyone has their own approach for leading end chairing scrutiny. And of course the role is much more than the traditional idea of chairing a meeting (although that is, of course, an essential element).

I’ve developed six roles that I hope will be helpful for chairs to think about when reflecting on what they do.

First though, think about your personal style as it will apply to how you operate each of the roles.

Chieftains and catalysts

A helpful way to think about chairing style is chieftains and catalysts.

Mark Geddes, in his research on Westminster select committees, found that chairs all operated somewhere on a scale with chieftain at one end and catalyst at the other.

Chieftains ‘lead from the front’ and have strong views about what the committee should be doing and will lead work planning and questioning with their own ideas. Catalysts, on the other hand, see their role as helping the committee to reach a view on what the committee’s priorities should be and are more more likely to take a step back during questioning sessions. 

Neither style is necessarily better but perhaps it’s helpful to reflect on your style and how that might translate into what you do on a day to day basis.

Each of the six roles can be played as a chieftain or a catalyst or somewhere in between.

So, onto the six roles.

Strategist

The committee’s strategy is what it chooses to look at and how it plans to make a difference.

It means identifying those ‘big ticket’ items that the committee will focus on over the year.

It also means having the right balance between oversight and improvement in the committee’s work plan.

Oversight is about ensuring that the organisation is performing as it should. It means holding accountability conversations with executive members and monitoring and assessing performance reports. Scrutiny in oversight mode works in the public interest, is independent minded and operates at arms length. Crucially, oversight means asking ‘is there anything significant we have missed?’ We’ve learnt from the reports from different governance failures over the years that scrutiny’s role will be carefully examined if things do go wrong.

Improvement is about working with the executive to make a difference for citizens and service users. It often involves testing decisions – either at the pre-decision or call-in stage – and doing in-depth policy development work. In improvement mode, scrutiny works to the council and cabinet agenda, hosts constructive conversations and seeks to build co-operation with the executive. After all, it’s the executive that has the final say.

Managing the committee’s strategy means meeting with executive members, senior officers and with the audit committee to ensure scrutiny has the data it needs to check that nothing has been missed and to discuss potential areas that scrutiny might look at and .

Facilitator

The facilitation role is about ensuring that the scrutiny process leads to a productive conclusion. This means working with the committee to prepare a plan for approaching different items, introducing items, intervening where needed and drawing conclusions together.

Many chairs find it helpful to have a pre meeting to get everyone organised and to talk about how the committee might approach each item.

During the meeting the chair can set out what the purpose of each item is and then manage the questions. At the end of each item a good facilitator will summarise what has been agreed and set out any recommendations for the committee to agree.

Finally, facilitation is about intervening when things aren’t running smoothly – gently encouraging long contributions to reach a conclusion, bringing in those who have not been able to contribute and addressing any unhelpful or rude behaviour.

Host

Think about yourself as the compere for the meeting. Making sure everyone is comfortable, feeling positive and know’s what’s going on. 

For the people watching, whether in the room, online or catching later via video, a commentary can be really helpful. By introducing the committee, the meeting, each item, to an audience that you assume isn’t familiar with what’s going on, you can help to make the proceedings more open and transparent. In fact it also helps you and the committee to remember why you are there and what you are trying to do. 

Getting everyone in the right frame of mind before the meeting starts is also a helpful aspect of hosting. Saying hello to committee members beforehand, taking time before the meeting to talk to any invited speakers, particularly members of the public, about what’s coming up so they know what to expect and if they have any concerns. 

Finally the host can help create a positive atmosphere by showing appreciation for those contributing to the success of the meeting whether members, advisors, outside speakers and support staff.

Committee representative

As a representative of the committee, the chair presents the work of the committee and speaks on its behalf.

This might involve presenting the recommendations to the executive or to full council meetings

It might involve speaking to the media about the work that the committee is doing.

The annual report is another way that the chair represents the committee – by providing a foreword and a summary of the committee’s work for the year.

Of course, speaking on behalf of the committee means being confident that it is the view of the whole committee that you are representing and checking in with them first if you need to.

Team leader

The team leader role is about helping the committee to work as effectively as possible.

This means encouraging and supporting cross party working and scrutiny work always has more impact when it is cross party.

It also means making the best use of everyone’s availability, skills and interests  – leaning more on those who have time available and asking those with particular interests to specialise, for example.

The team leader role is also about making sure the committee has the resources it needs. Whether making the case for the staff that are needed or helping to bring in additional support from inside or outside the organisation.

Scrutiny champion

Scrutiny can often feel like a Cinderella compared with other parts of the council’s decision making processes. For this reason it’s important that chairs speak up and tell a good story about scrutiny and it’s role within council governance.

This might mean speaking up for scrutiny when the constitution or the budget are being debated in council meetings, contributing to governance reviews to ensure scrutiny is properly reflected and speaking to officers, partners and public to share what scrutiny is and what it does.

 

Public domain image here.

Local government scrutiny essentials: Seven things you always wanted to know (*but were afraid to ask)


This list of seven ‘scrutiny essentials’ is for anyone new (or newish) to scrutiny. Whether councillors on their first scrutiny committee, senior managers who haven’t had much to do with it before or perhaps anyone thinking about a scrutiny support role. 

So, I thought it would be helpful to set out some ‘need to knows’ (from my perspective anyway), by way of an introduction to the noble world of local government scrutiny. I sat down and worked out my top seven and you can find them below. I hope they are useful.

1. Good governance requires good scrutiny

The moments we learn most about good governance are when things go wrong because that’s when someone is asked to undertake a review and write a report.

Notable examples include from Rotherham, Mid Staffs, Northamptonshire and Kensington and Chelsea.

Scrutiny is mentioned in all of these reports and it’s a failure to provide effective challenge, or respond to it, that gets highlighted. Either decision makers are unwilling to listen to constructive criticism or unwilling to consider alternatives, or unwilling to share information that could reasonably be shared or out of touch with what’s happening in their community.

Improved scrutiny is intrinsically bound up with good governance in all of these reports.

2. It takes two to dance the scrutiny tango

The second essential thing to know is that scrutiny is a dance for two; the executive on the one hand, the scrutiny councillors on the other.

While cabinet members make decisions, develop policy and strategy and give advice to council, scrutiny provides constructive support and challenge.

Crucially these two roles are distinct – working together in the best interests of citizens, but with clear distance between them.

When the relationship is working well we see what we might call constructive tension. And it’s that constructive tension that supports good governance. 

If the relationship is either too cosy or too dysfunctional that’s another way that things can go wrong. Both the executive and scrutiny need to be willing to engage in the relationship constructively or it won’t work.

In fact, the executive / scrutiny (or independent) split is a cornerstone of governance in the UK at all levels. The same principles apply from parliamentary scrutiny of government down to school governors holding head teachers to account and all the boards, councils and committees in between.

3. Good scrutiny combines support and challenge

When scrutiny is working well it offers the right mix of support and challenge to cabinet members.

Support tends to mean looking forward – helping to shape decisions, helping to develop policy and strategy. It also means helping to find solutions.

Challenge is about checking things are working as they should, holding to account, testing performance, seeking assurance, offering alternatives.

So, scrutiny needs to be a mix of support and challenge and, like yin and yang, they go together, fit around each other and contain a small part of each other. For example, scrutiny might identify an area for concern [challenge] and then lead a conversation about addressing that concern [support]. 

4. Scrutiny has two types of power

While scrutiny does not have the same powers as the executive, its role is underpinned by the law and it has certain powers as a result. 

Scrutiny has its origins in the local government act 2000 when it was created as a check and a balance to the newly created cabinets, mirroring to some degree, at least, the relationship between government and select committees at the national level.

This briefing by Mark Sandford provides a useful summary of scrutiny’s formal powers. Key points include:

  • A committee member has the right to refer a relevant matter to the committee. 
  • Overview and scrutiny committees may hold inquiries and produce reports; 
  • Committees may require executive members and officers of the authority to appear before them. Individuals from outside the council can be invited, but not compelled to attend; 
  • Overview and scrutiny reports must receive a response from the council executive within two months; 

There are some other bits and pieces, external powers linked to health scrutiny, crime and disorder and flood risk, for example, that have also grown up since.

There are also some expectations around access to information that flow from various regulations. In summary, scrutiny has access to anything as long as it is relevant to its work plan and as long as there isn’t a good reason why not.

While these formal powers are rarely called upon, they do create the context in which scrutiny operates and underpin its legitimacy as a statutory function.

Scrutiny’s impact, however, tends to come through its use of soft power.

Bearing in mind that decision making power lies with the executive, it’s often these softer strategies that will count. So, having a professional and constructive relationship with cabinet is one aspect of this, demonstrating a robust and evidence based approach is another. 

Scrutiny’s influence is linked to its credibility which in turn flows from its impact. 

5. Scrutiny is a good governance Swiss Army knife

One of the distinctive (and great) things about scrutiny is how multi faceted it is.

Like a Swiss Army knife it has a range of different tools you can use. It doesn’t have to be just about councillors sitting in committee meetings listening to presentations and picking through reports.

if you look around different councils you will see scrutiny councillors working in many different ways and doing many different things.  For example:

  • Policy development ‘task and finish’ groups that gather evidence and report their recommendations
  • One off public hearings that capture local views around issues of concern
  • Performance monitoring panels that receive and challenge reports about service delivery
  • Question and answer sessions to hold cabinet members and other decision makers to account

For every task there are different ways of doing things, formal and informal, and of course, as well making scrutiny more effective, variety helps to make life more rewarding for the councillors involved. 

6. Scrutiny is a team sport

The phrase ‘scrutiny is a team sport’ is one you might hear quite often. 

As a committee, councillors are more effective when they work together, when they prepare together and when they make the best use of the time they have in meetings.

And yes, party politics can be a challenge, but the best scrutiny committees still manage to find common ground whilst recognising their differences.

The scrutiny team is wider than the councillors of course. Scrutiny support officers, democratic services officers, legal officers and many others can be drawn in to support scrutiny.

Senior officers can also be part of the team; offering advice, suggesting topics, reality checking reports and generally ensuring that scrutiny has the respect and status it needs. 

7. Scrutiny is an ongoing challenge

Finally, scrutiny is never perfect – it’s a challenge and scrutineers never stop learning and developing.

If you look at different councils you will see that no two councils operate scrutiny in the same way.

So, there is no one right way to do things – only what works in each council. But it’s not always obvious what the best approach is, so scrutiny needs to keep experimenting and paying attention to what’s working well.

This is one reason why scrutiny councillors and support officers find it helpful to find out what other councils are doing and share ideas.

There are also many helpful resources out there such as the recent statutory guidance for England from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, the Six Steps to Better Scrutiny In Wales from the Wales Audit Office and (of course!) the Good Scrutiny Guide from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny.

Oh and this blog of course…

 

 Image.

Six conditions for effective local government scrutiny


Effective scrutiny needs the right structure and the right processes but, perhaps most important of all, it needs the right conditions (sometimes called culture). I’ve looked into the research and summarised six conditions that you can find below. Perhaps you could use them as check list to help you think about where your council does well and where your council might need to improve?

Mapping the research

The scrutiny literature, while not extensive, provides prescriptions of what the conditions for good scrutiny might be. Following the process used by Greer et al. (2016) who organised elements of good governance into five components, conditions identified in the literature have been mapped and then organised into six conditions. 

The six conditions, which are presented in table 1, are also organised against three of the institutional rule sets proposed by Lowndes (Lowndes 2005), namely political, constitutional and managerial.  Each of the six conditions is described below.

Table 1: Six conditions for effective local government scrutiny

Political Constitutional Managerial
1. Cross-partisanship within committees

2. Positive councillor engagement with scrutiny

 3. Constructive executive-scrutiny relationship

4. Meaningful contribution to governance arrangements

 5. Appropriate direct officer support

6. Supportive senior officers

Six conditions for effective local government scrutiny

 

1. Cross partisanship within committees 

While scrutiny can never be ‘a-political’ (councillors are politicians by definition after all) it must nevertheless ‘operate as independently as possible within the local party-political system (Ashworth 2003) and ‘work across the party divide’ (Wilson and Game 2011) if it is to be effective. Scrutiny priorities should reflect common ground between different political positions and reports should reflect consensus as far as possible. As well as being something that the public wishes to see, cross partisanship is more likely to get results as recommendations are translated through council decision making processes. Effective scrutiny, then, depends on ‘the loosening of party group discipline’ (Leach and Copus 2004).

2. Positive councillor engagement with scrutiny

While some councillors have been cynical about the scrutiny role, its success depends on positive councillor engagement and leadership (Snape, Leach et al. 2002). Beyond actively participating, councillors should take ‘a clear lead in deciding the overview and scrutiny programme (Johnson and Hatter 2004), have an ‘independent mindset (MHCLG 2019, Sandford 2019) and ‘be positive about scrutiny (Wilson and Game 2011)’. 

3. Constructive executive-scrutiny relationship

Fundamentally, scrutiny is intended to provide a check and a balance to the executive and, in this context, the relationship between the two is critical. To be effective, therefore, scrutiny must ‘develop a constructive relationship with the executive (Ashworth 2003) who in turn must be responsive to scrutiny (Snape, Leach et al. 2002, Leach and Copus 2004). A constructive relationship will feature early and regular engagement as well as a mechanism for managing disagreement (MHCLG 2019, Sandford 2019). Furthermore, the executive and scrutiny ‘must communicate effectively and openly – with each other and with the public’ (Johnson and Hatter 2004).

4. Meaningful contribution to governance arrangements

If it is to be effective, scrutiny should have a clear role and focus with the organisation ‘recognising scrutiny’s legal and democratic legitimacy’ and communicating this to the public (MHCLG 2019, Sandford 2019). It should not be sidelined but instead it must be given a high status within the local authority (Johnson and Hatter 2004). Scrutiny should ‘possess a wide range of powers (which they are prepared to operationalise)’ (Ashworth 2003). In addition, scrutiny must be pro-active, and not only be about scrutinising decisions’ (Johnson and Hatter 2004)

5. Appropriate direct officer Support

If scrutiny is to be more than ‘committee work’, it should be provided with the necessary support (MHCLG 2019, Sandford 2019) specifically ‘dedicated officer and resource support’ (Wilson and Game 2011). This allows for the ‘management of scrutiny processes’ (Snape, Leach et al. 2002) and for scrutiny to have ‘genuine analytical capacity’ (Leach and Copus 2004). 

 6. Supportive senior officer culture

While parliamentary scrutiny has formally separate officer support, local government scrutiny depends on the support of the same senior officers that support the executive. While these officers are expected to provide the same advice to scrutiny as they would to the executive, this is not always perceived to be the case. To be effective, however, scrutiny depends upon a ‘supportive senior officer culture’ where officers have ‘high level of awareness and understanding of scrutiny (Snape, Leach et al. 2002). In addition, senior officers should be ‘communicating scrutiny’s role and purpose to the wider authority’ (MHCLG 2019, Sandford 2019).

 

References

Ashworth, R. (2003). “Toothless Tigers? Councillor Perceptions of New Scrutiny Arrangements in Welsh Local Government.” Local Government Studies 29(2): 1-18.

Greer, S. L., et al. (2016). “Governance: a framework.” Strengthening Health System Governance: 27-56.

Johnson, K. and W. Hatter (2004). “Realising the Potential of Scrutiny.” New Local Government Network.

Leach, S. and C. Copus (2004). “Scrutiny and the Political Party Group in UK Local Government: New Models of Behaviour.” Public administration 82(2): 331-354.

Lowndes, V. (2005). “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed ….” Policy Studies 26(3-4): 291-309.

MHCLG (2019). Statutory Guidance on Overview and Scrutiny in Local and Combined Authorities, Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government.

Sandford, M. (2019). “Overview and Scrutiny in Local Government.” House of Commons Library, Standard Note SN/PC/06520, updated 22.

Snape, S., et al. (2002). The development of overview and scrutiny in local government, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister London.

Wilson, D. and C. Game (2011). Local government in the United Kingdom, Macmillan International Higher Education.

 

Photo credit Rick Harrison

The 7 habits of highly effective scrutineers


As I write this, many new councillors are finding out about scrutiny for the first time. More experienced councillors are also thinking about the year ahead and reflecting on how they work. I thought it would be a good time, therefore, to write something about being an effective scrutineer.

So, taking inspiration from Stephen R Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and drawing from the many sessions I’ve run with scrutiny councillors, the many meetings I’ve observed and the principles of effective scrutiny, here is my list of 7 habits.

Hopefully the more experienced councillors will recognise them and the new councillors will find them useful. Are there any I’ve missed?

The 7 habits of highly effective scrutineers

In order to promote good governance and make a difference for citizens and service users, effective scrutineers…

1.  Think independently

It’s the constructive dynamic between scrutiny and the executive that is at the heart of how scrutiny contributes to good governance. Effective scrutineers, therefore, make their own judgements after listening to advice and hearing evidence. They take responsibility for selecting topics and they take ownership of the scrutiny process. One good way to support independent thought is to seek independent expert input [1].

2.  Prepare

When I ask scrutiny chairs what advice they might give to new councillors, the most common answer is ‘prepare!’  Whether it’s reading the papers, seeking advice from officers or attending briefings, effective scrutineers come to meetings ready to be productive. And remember that preparation is a team sport. Effective scrutineers work with colleagues and support officers to get the best results. 

3.  Prioritise

Scrutiny councillors have limited time and resources to work on what can be a very, very long to-do list. For this reason, to be effective, councillors need to invest time in prioritising. Widespread consultation, work planning workshops and a clear process can all help. It also helps to stick to no more than two main items in a meeting to ensure that proper attention can be given.

4.  Drive improvement

Even if our instincts are to focus on what’s gone wrong in the past, effective scrutiny is about looking forward and asking ‘how might we do this better?’ and ‘what do we want to happen instead?’ Some of the most effective scrutiny work involves seeking out solutions to significant and pressing issues and this is also the work that I know many councillors find the most rewarding.

5.  Keep in touch with your public

Effective scrutiny amplifies the concerns of the public. To do this, councillors must have methods for regularly keeping in touch with residents and service users. Whether through visits, consultations or through simply being visible and available in the community, councillors with the keeping in touch habit are better able to channel the voice of the public into their work.

6.  Invest in relationships

Scrutiny has some powers but it’s soft power that really helps to get things done. Whether it’s working with cabinet members, senior officers or partners, it’s the informal meeting, email or quick call that can help the formal relationships to be effective. This is what I hear from many councillors when I ask them ‘what helps to make scrutiny effective?’

7.  Experiment   

Perhaps more than any other aspect of council governance, scrutiny has a wide choice of different methods that it can use and the opportunity to be creative in how it works. From my work I know that every council has it’s own way of doing things. I also know that scrutineers also get inspiration from hearing how others work and find it helpful to try out new things as a result.

 

[1] Robert Sheppard mention this on LinkedIn and I thought it was a good point to add.

[18.6.21 Changed 5 from ‘Keep in touch’ to ‘Keep in touch with your public’ to make clearer the difference to 6.]

[10.6.21 Changes from the original version: 4. is now ‘Drive improvement’ rather than ‘Look forwards’ and 7. is now ‘Experiment’ rather than ‘Innovate’] 

The Scrutiny Planning Canvas


The scrutiny planning canvas is something that I invite people to work on in groups during courses.  I think it  could also be useful for scrutineers more generally as part of their practice. I’ve had good feedback from those who have used it, so I thought I would share in case you might find it useful.

The idea is that you start with a concern that you want scrutiny to explore and work thought the various questions in order to think through the different aspects of what the work might look like.

A good way to use it is to print it out in A3 (even better laminated!) and, working in a small team, use post it notes to jot down possible answers. The reason for using post its is that the answer to one question can sometimes change the answer to another. Plus it’s easier to use it again.

The canvas is adapted from the Policy Lab Policy Canvas – an excellent resource for helping you to think about a policy issue. You can find it here.

Anyhow – here is the canvas. I hope you find it useful.

scrutiny canvass

 

 

Identifying scrutiny topics – 14 helpful questions


Like many other aspects of scrutiny, there is no one size fits all when it comes to identifying topics. Every council will have a different approach and there may even be differences between committees at the same council. Not that this is a bad thing of course. For me what matters is that any process is well thought through and that scrutineers work to improve the way they do this year on year.

Inspired by the very helpful Policy Canvas (from the Policy Lab Open Policy Making Toolkit) here are some questions that you might find useful when thinking about identifying topics.

When selecting topics you might also want to bear in mind the characteristics of a good scrutiny work plan.

Of course mapping and selecting topics is the first stage of a two stage process – the second stage is designing a plan that matches the chosen topics to the right activities in a way that will make the biggest difference. I plan to share something on that soon.

Helpful questions to ask when identifying scrutiny topics

  1. What difference do we hope to make? By selecting the right topics how will scrutiny add value? Who will benefit?
  2. What makes a good scrutiny topic? What are our 3 most important characteristics of a good topic?
  3. What’s the scope? What’s in? What’s out? What can we look at? What can’t we look at?
  4. What resources do we have to help us identify topics? Within the committee? Corporately? Externally? Creative ideas?
  5. How will we decide? How will we filter and prioritise? What tools will we use? Who will make the final decision? Will the public be involved in this process?
  6. Who do we need to advise us? Officer advice? External advice?
  7. Who else should we be asking? How should we be asking them?
  8. What do we know about what the public is concerned about? As councillors? As a council? In partnership?
  9. How do we know what the public is concerned about? What are we doing now? What more could we do?
  10. What are auditors, inspectors and regulators concerned about? What do recent reports say? What have they told us in person?
  11. What are the Council’s main corporate concerns? What are the corporate priorities, issues and risks? What are the budget issues and risks? What are the partnership issues? 
  12. What topics from last year are still relevant? Topics unconsidered? Topics that haven’t been resolved?
  13. How will people know what topics have been selected? How will we communicate to the public? Other councillors? The organisation? Partners?
  14. How will selected topics be reviewed? To make sure they are still the right ones.

 

By the way – if work planning is something you think I might be able to help you with please drop me a line via my contact page. 

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What does a good scrutiny work plan look like?


What makes for a wonderful scrutiny work plan?

It’s that time of year when scrutiny committees are forming their work plans. While everyone has their own way of doing this I thought it would be helpful to share what I think are the seven characteristics of the most effective ones.

Seven characteristics of a good scrutiny work plan 

  1. Purpose – scrutiny is about making a difference so purpose should run through the work plan like the lettering through a stick of rock.
  2. Simplicity – a work plan is a tool after all and as such it should be easy to use and easy for anyone to see at a glance what’s happening.
  3. Balance – scrutiny is like a Swiss Army Knife and so the work plan should reflect the different ways that scrutiny can make a difference. 
  4. Conversations – the wider the input the better the plan so the public, the cabinet, audit, inspectors, partners and officers should all see their views reflected.
  5. Deliberation – it’s important that scrutiny councillors own and understand their work so the plan should reflect quality debate and discussion. 
  6. Independence – scrutiny should be councillor led and this should be reflected in the work plan – a good plan will look different to the council’s forward plan for example.
  7. Adaptability – plans can fall through and so often they do – so a good plan has room for flexibility and is regularly revisited and updated.

This is my list and I hope it’s helpful – all suggestions welcome of course!

 

By the way – if work planning is something you think I might be able to help you with please drop me a line via my contact page. 

Seven ideas for improving scrutiny’s ability to challenge constructively


The power of challenge is one of the seven scrutiny super powers. Scrutiny acts as  an important and constructive check on the decision making process, helping to ensure that final decisions are better.

Here are some ideas to improve the scrutiny power of challenge that others have found helpful.

Already do them all? Have an extra biscuit with your tea – you deserve it.

1. Engage with the forward plan

When it comes to effective challenge, the forward plan is your best friend. Considering the forward plan at every meeting will help you to see what’s coming up and what you might want to look at. Having a knowledgeable officer at these discussions is also helpful as sometimes forward plans are just not detailed enough. Even better, get involved in the design of the forward plan to ensure it’s fit for scrutiny’s purpose.

2. Engage with your cabinet members

As with any aspect of scrutiny, it takes two to dance the scrutiny tango. Regular meetings between the scrutiny chairs and cabinet member are a good way to ensure the the process works for everyone. Talk to the cabinet members about what’s coming up and give them the heads up on the issues scrutiny might be interested in.

3. Create enough time for pre decision scrutiny

Forward planning can provide time for pre-decision scrutiny meetings to convene well in advance of cabinet meetings. This provides time for responses to be properly formulated, discussed with cabinet members and included as separate written reports on cabinet agendas.

4. Present your feedback in person

Whether it’s cabinet or council meetings, it can be helpful to represent the work that scrutiny has done via pre-decison or call in, in person. Not only does this ensure that the right story is being told, but it makes scrutiny’s contribution much more visible than if it is just the cabinet member summing up what they have heard.

5. Consider your call-in decision in closed session

While it’s possible to vote on call-in decisions at the end of the meeting it might be helpful to consider what to do in closed session. Specifically it should give for constructive deliberation and the opportunity to find areas of cross party consensus. This is one of the useful tips in this briefing on call ins from the centre for public scrutiny.

6. Suggest workable alternatives

As with any scrutiny scrutiny work, the aim is make a positive difference. So, be constructive in your feedback and suggest alternatives rather than just present criticisms. Even better, work with the public and others to help ensure your suggestions are well grounded.

7. Review your processes

Every council’s culture and constitution is different so regular reviews can certainly be helpful. Whether it’s pre-decision scrutiny or call-in, processes need to be regularly fine tuned to ensure they are fit for purpose. When was the last time you reviewed yours?

Seven ways to improve the problem solving power of scrutiny


Scrutiny has seven superpowers and one of them is the power of solutions. 

By taking time to explore difficult and challenging issues in depth, scrutiny has the ability to find solutions to the most difficult policy problems and make recommendations that improve the services that matter to people.

And, by putting backbenchers to work on pressing and intractable problems, the council is making use of an often under used resource. What’s not to like?

Typically this work is done through task and finish inquiry and review work – but not always.

Are you thinking about how scrutiny might be even better at solving problems? Well, here are seven ideas to think about.

Already do all seven? Treat yourself to an extra chocolate biscuit with your next cup of tea.

Listen to the people affected

Whether it’s the people affected by a policy or the people using (or wanting to use) a service, nothing helps with finding solutions better than talking to the people at the sharp end. It’s the Atticus Finch principle: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view” (or her’s of course). See also participation.

Listen to diverse perspectives

If you want to get some creative tension from your evidence gathering (you do) then talk to people with a range of different perspectives (e.g. cabinet members, officers, partners, voluntary sector, citizens). Also, if they all agree that something is a good idea – well it just might be! (that’s triangulation by the way).

Involve academics

You might just find someone with research expertise, working on the same topic and willing to get involved with scrutiny whether as an evidence giver or, even better, a co-opted member of the committee or group. Remember, academics can help with the questions as much as the answers – so involve them early.

Get out and about

Going on field trips to see what’s happening on the ground and talking to the people affected is great way to get new perspectives and ideas. So, go on, hire a bus and leave the town hall behind  you. The great thing about using task and finish groups, by the way, is flexibility. You can meet anywhere, go anywhere, involve anyone and operate any way you want. This helps to break out of the traditional committee mindset and to reframe.

Learn from other councils

Scrutiny reports from other councils who have looked at the same issue are a great source of information and ideas so why not get online and download them. Even better, speak to the councillors and officers involved. Even better still, invite them to give evidence or go and visit them.

Make time to deliberate

One of the (many) great things about the Kirklees Democracy Commission is that they held meetings specifically to give the commission members time and space to deliberate after the evidence had been collected. So much better than just asking for a report to be produced by someone else don’t you think?

Involve the keen beans

One of the cool things that Swansea Scrutiny does (and there are many) is give any backbench councillor the opportunity to be involved in task and finish work. In this way you have the most enthusiastic and knowledgeable scrutineers looking for solutions.