I hope you had a good summer. I've certainly had a good summer break and now I'm looking forward to a new season for these ‘Dear Scrutineer’ reflections. So, welcome back to my existing subscribers and hello to those who have joined recently - I hope you all find these emails useful. And I thought I’d start with a mini annual report. Between September, when I started, and July, I shared 40 reflections via this email and on LinkedIn. It's interesting to see what resonated, so here are the five...
14 days ago • 1 min read
Do you ever think about scrutiny as reflective practice? I mentioned it in a development session I was facilitating the other day and it seemed to strike a chord. So, I thought I might share a reflection! To start with, as I’m sure you appreciate, scrutiny operates in a complex world and there is no simple manual to help guide you. And, as we’ve mentioned before, whilst every committee, council and place is different, so each is also in a constant state of change. What worked in one place and...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Vice Chair Jo asked me for a chat the other day. She was thinking about co-opting additional members to a scrutiny task and finish group and feeling a bit conflicted. Here is how we talked it though - what do you think? The group was being set up to look at adult social care and Jo was thinking about three people that it might be helpful to work with - one from the carers centre, an academic from the local university and someone who is a non-executive member of the integrated care board. Jo...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hello, something slightly different today. I wanted to share some initial thinking with you about what it means to be a 21st Century Scrutineer and see if it resonates with you. As you might know, over the last couple of years I’ve been working with Catherine Mangan and Catherine Needham to research what it means to be a 21st Century Public Servant and a 21st Century Councillor, given the new challenges facing public services and democracy. You can find that work here, in case you are not...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hello, here is a prayer for your scrutiny committee, in case you find it useful. --------------------- As we sit down around this committee table May we be the best version of our scrutiny selves May we work together with respect and compassion And always remember the citizens we seek to serve As we steady ourselves for our scrutiny work May we feel confident about the tasks before us May we feel well prepared And ready to challenge constructively As we start our first item May we be sure of...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Once upon a time, dear scrutineer, there was a senior officer called Ralph who worked as a director at three different councils. Here is his scrutiny story. I wonder what you’ll make of it? At the first, Strawbridge District Council, Ralph’s relationship to scrutiny was as a witness, appearing before the scrutiny committee to present reports and answer questions. At this council, it was generally the officers who did this, cabinet members, when they did attend, sat with the committee members...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Kostas, a scrutiny officer I know, was telling me about what he thought was a funny moment before a meeting the other week. He said it was ok to share, so, as long as you keep it to yourself, here it is. The chair of the committee that Kostas supports was talking to him about how to get the committee members out of their obvious cliques. Every meeting they all sit together in their political groups, which means that, for one thing, scrutiny doesn’t feel as cross-party as it should. For...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Vice Chair Jo was telling me the other day about one of the members on her scrutiny committee. “I mean, he’s very polite, I think he enjoys the sessions and asks good questions sometimes but…” (and I knew there was a ’but’ coming) “… he just doesn’t believe in it, he just doesn’t think there is any actual point to scrutiny”. I’ve heard this before, of course. Even after all these years I hear people talking about the ‘good old committee system’ and how scrutiny was an afterthought when they...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Have you been thinking about AI in the context of your scrutiny work at all? Conversations are certainly starting to happen - so here are a couple of things that it might be useful to reflect on. I see that as councils are beginning to form policies, so some scrutiny committees are starting to receive reports on AI. And I wonder if the first in-depth inquiries are just around the corner - perhaps they are happening already? And, from a scrutiny perspective, there are so many dimensions of...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Did you ever use poetry to help you reflect on your scrutiny work? Either reading or writing? Well, here are eleven scrutiny haiku from me for you to try. Each has the same format - three lines of five, seven and five syllables. #1 Scrutiny is this: Both Devil’s advocate and Guardian angel #2 The horseshoe table Reminds us about the nail That lost the battle #3 The executive Raises their eyebrows to say I am thinking now #4 We have invited The concerns of citizens As our honoured guests #5...
4 months ago • 1 min read