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...

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...

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...