Colchester, Ipswich and Tendring Councils: Bespoke Member Development on Overview and Scrutiny
The value and the potential of overview and scrutiny is, in many instances, still only just being realised. The recent Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 has further strengthened the role that it should play in the fabric of local governance.
It is critical then, and timely for all local authorities to ensure that they have robust, recognised and resourced overview and scrutiny functions in place.
Colchester, Ipswich and Tendring Councils secured Building Capacity East funding to run a project to investigate and pilot new and innovative ways to develop and equip their councillors for the challenging and changing roles that they have.
As part of Spirals ongoing Member Development project with those councils, a bespoke programme was designed to enable them to meet the specific challenges that they face regarding Overview and Scrutiny. The Overview and Scrutiny programme was split into two half day workshops.
Module 1 focused on:
The Context for Scrutiny
How is it in your authority?
What are the Barriers to success in your authority?
What are the Implications of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 for Scrutiny?
How do District Councils engage with Health Overview and Scrutiny?
How to scrutinize partnerships or external bodies
Module 2 covered:
Developing core skills
Selecting areas for scrutiny
Communication and consultation
Feedback from the workshops has been excellent with delegates finding it just as helpful to Officers as Members.
This was a bespoke programme. Spirals also offer a more detailed Overview and Scrutiny programme comprising four modules. Please call us for more details.
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