Sign up now for Deep Impact: Demonstrating the effectiveness of scrutiny

Sponsored by ScrutinyMeetup #11: Deep impact: Demonstrating the effectiveness of scrutiny 14.00- 16.00, 4th November 2020 In this meetup we will be examining that thorny problem of how to show that scrutiny is making a difference (it is of course). It’s been suggested by more than one participant and we know it’s a tricky one. …

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Meetup notes: Virtual inquiries and reviews in a time of Covid

This meetup had a Star Trek theme because, you know, Star Trek. We did three, loosely connected, activities to help participants work through the issues (instructions here) and here are the points they shared in the chat. Hope it’s useful. What’s something your organisation has done virtually that has impressed you? We held a virtual …

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What makes a constructive relationship between cabinet and scrutiny?

Our sponsors for this meetup   ScrutinyMeetup #9 – Executive Protocol In this meetup (yes, nine already!) we pondered how to make the executive / scrutiny relationshipship more constructive. In the video you can see a fishbowl discussion of this issue from the perspective of four different councils. Thank you to our wonderful volunteer fishes: …

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ScrutinyMeetup #9: Executive Protocol

Sponsored by      ScrutinyMeetup #9: Executive Protocol 14.00- 16.00, 16th September 2020 Yes, we like that this meetup sounds like a Tom Clancy novel but strangely there isn’t an actual thriller with this title (I checked Amazon so I know). Anyhow, we will be looking at how to build a better relationship between scrutiny …

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What’s the best present for a scrutineer?

Ever wondered what gift to get for the scrutineer in your life? Yes? Well this is the post for you. At the birthday special scrutiny meetup we asked: “What is the best present for a scrutineer on scrutiny’s birthday?” Scrutineers are all different and all special and this is reflected in the replies ranging from …

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Scrutiny meetup birthday special: videocast

In this birthday special we talked about local government scrutiny 20 years on. The main event is a fishbowl conversation with Ed Hammond (Centre for Public Scrutiny), John Austin (Association of Democratic Services Officers), Cllr Sioned-Mair Richards (Sheffield City Council) and Tracy Tiff (Northampton Borough Council).

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Building a supportive culture for scrutiny: Scrutiny meetup notes #7

In this meet up we worked on the tricky issue of the organisational culture that supports scrutiny (or not). First we used a Venn diagram to find out how the ‘three pillars of scrutiny” (Culture, Process, Structure) were working for everyone. As you can see above, the most common position is to have process and structure …

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