Holding to account
Scrutiny and Assurance.
A day for the people who hold others to account: asking questions that lead to change, judging the strength of assurance, and making scrutiny count for residents.
- Level
- Immerse
- Learning time
- 10 hours 30 minutes
- Where
- Serving the public
- Price
- £249
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
Scrutiny and audit committee members, chairs and the officers who support them
Overview
This one-day programme moves in three stages. It opens with scrutiny as a critical friend rather than an opponent: the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny's four principles, the Beecham Review and the craft of evidence-based questioning, from Edgar Schein's four inquiry approaches to the staged interview. Newham, where scrutiny changed a budget, and Warrington, where member oversight was found weak, test the tools. It then turns to assurance: the strength of evidence pyramid, the Three Lines Model, internal control, internal audit and the audit committee, with cases from the Post Office Horizon scandal to Croydon. The final stage covers the room and what follows it: chairing scrutiny and public meetings, minutes that show challenge, learning from failure with Amy Edmondson and James Reason, and member and officer relationships.
Aims
This programme aims to develop people who hold others to account on behalf of residents: telling reassurance from assurance, asking evidence-based questions that lead to change, keeping actions real until they are done, and building working relationships and learning cultures in which challenge is welcomed rather than resisted.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Plan and lead evidence-based scrutiny questioning that acts as a critical friend, draws in the public voice and changes decisions for residents.
- Assess the strength of the assurance your committee receives, using the strength of evidence pyramid, the Three Lines Model, internal audit and audit committee practice.
- Apply sound chairing, clear minutes, action tracking and learning from complaints to keep challenge moving until the change residents need has actually happened.
What you'll develop
By the end of this Immerse, you will be able to:
- Apply the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny's four principles of good scrutiny to assess a committee session, report or line of questioning.
- Use Schein's four inquiry approaches, careful preparation and the six stage staged interview to plan and sequence the questioning of a witness.
- Apply the test of whether scrutiny actually holds anyone to account to a real decision, drawing on the full scrutiny toolkit.
- Assess the strength of the evidence your board receives using the strength of evidence pyramid and the six sources of assurance.
- Use follow up reporting and audit ratings critically, testing whether actions marked complete have actually been implemented.
- Use the action log to keep owners and dates real, handle slippage and close actions on evidence.
- Use triangulation across what people, staff and independent bodies say to test whether a reassuring figure genuinely provides assurance.
- Identify what members need from officers and what officers can expect in return, and plan practical steps, such as a jointly built protocol, to strengthen the relationship.
Built from 8 parts.
10 hours 30 minutes of learning.
- 01The critical friendOverview and scrutiny in local governmentBitesize · Effective Scrutiny1 module
- 02Asking the questions that matterScrutiny committees and questioning skillsBitesize · Effective Scrutiny2 modules
- 03Scrutiny residents can seePublic engagement in scrutiny and case studiesBitesize · Effective Scrutiny2 modules
- 04Knowing, not hopingThree Lines Model and internal controlBitesize · Audit and Assurance3 modules
- 05The independent eyeInternal audit standards and audit committeesBitesize · Audit and Assurance2 modules
- 06Committees in the public eyeChairing committees, scrutiny and minutesBitesize · Chairing Meetings, Boards and Committees3 modules
- 07Failing well, learning fastLearning from failure and service improvementBitesize · Complaints, Ombudsmen and Learning from Failure2 modules
- 08Two roles, one purposeMember-officer relations and leadershipBitesize · Working in a Political Environment2 modules