2017

October 12

All day regional seminar on Overview and Scrutiny at Chichester.

Attended by members from Horsham District Council, Mid Sussex District Council and Chichester District Council.

Content

• Ice breaker refresher on the basics of effective scrutiny
• Building a framework for developing new policy on air pollution
• Adding value to new business models in relation to outsourcing leisure services
• Health scrutiny: assessing the provision of primary care.

Visiting speaker from Adur and Worthing Councils on the benefits to residents, officers and the business community of the Councils’s digital strategy.

Comment on the event

Lively interaction from participants and considerable interest in all the topics of the seminar,  including the guest speaker’s.  Individual member issues included:

How to ask questions without looking a fool.  (Never fear to look a fool. You may well be asking a question others are hesitating to ask. Having pre meetings at which questions are allocated can help.)

What kind of topics can scrutiny investigate? (No limit outside the quasi legal functions of planning applications and licensing)

How to get members involved in the work of the committee (one approach is to give individuals responsibility for a topic or service)

There was particular interest in the case study on air quality which some thought might be highly relevant topic for the County’s joint scrutiny committee.

2016

September 15.  All day regional seminar at Farnborough, ‘ O&S in a time of transition’.

The objectives: provide a

• framework for measuring effectiveness in O&S;
• forum for comparing different approaches.

Attended by 16 members from five authorities

Comment from participants:

The most interesting part: ‘Each element of the presentations was of interest, particularly how different Councils worked on O&S.’

2015

Regional seminar: ‘Making an impact with Overview and Scrutiny’

November 26, 2015.  Hosted by Rushmoor,  with 15 Councillors representing five authorities.

Content: relationships with the Executive; building the work programme; scoping exercises related to revenue generation and supply of social housing.

Comments from participants:

The most useful part

• ‘Learning about other Councils’ methods of scrutiny’

Other comments

• ‘Very useful seminar as I am a relatively new councillor. I’ve learnt to argue and question more.’
• ‘Would have liked to hear more about engaging effectively with the Executive.’

Chairing skills

July 6. Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council

Induction workshops on effective overview and scrutiny;

July 2.  Chichester District Council

Jun 16.  Waverley Borough Council

June  9.  North Norfolk District Council

June 3.  Rushmoor Borough Council

June 2.  Guildford Borough Council

November 27, 2014

Regional networking seminar hosted by Rushmoor Borough Council.  Attended by O&S committee members from Rushmoor and Guildford.  Its purpose was to discuss priorities for scrutiny in the two authorities and exchange best practice.

July  2014. Winchester City Council

Introduction to scrutiny for newly elected members

June 2014. Rushmoor Borough Council

Introduction to scrutiny for newly elected members

October 2013. Rushmoor Borough Council

Effective scrutiny

August 2013. Test Valley District Council

Contribution to OSCOM away day as speaker and facilitator

April 2013. Rushmoor Borough Council

Conflict resolution

January/ February 2013. Test Valley District Council

Introduction to effective scrutiny (two workshops)

September 2012. East Hampshire District Council

Questioning techniques for licensing committees at East Hampshire Districtand Havant Borough Councils