Asking the questions that matter
Scrutiny committees and questioning skills.
- Level
- Bitesize
- Learning time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Where
- Effective Scrutiny
- Price
- £39
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
Overview and Outcomes.
Overview
This module moves from principle to practice, setting out the mechanics that make overview and scrutiny work. It covers five ways committees work, the review and referral processes, and how to build and timetable a work programme. Drawing on Beecham, the Swansea Voices consultation, 2024 Centre for Governance and Scrutiny guidance and Leicestershire's live programme, it asks whose priorities should shape what scrutiny examines. This module explores the craft of evidence based challenge in scrutiny, starting from Jeremy Colman's warning against noting a paper. It distinguishes good questioning from political attack using the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny's 2025 guide, introduces Edgar Schein's four inquiry approaches and Huish and Milliner's six stage staged interview, and uses Warrington's Best Value inspection to show what happens when scrutiny stops testing evidence.
What you'll develop
In this Bitesize, you will develop the ability to:
- Select an appropriate way of working for a scrutiny issue, from task and finish groups to site visits, matching the method to the task.
- Outline the stages of a scrutiny review and of a referral from Cabinet or Council, and explain why following up and timing matter.
- Plan a work programme that draws on public priorities, uses a scoring matrix and asks whether scrutiny adds value, following current CfGS guidance.
- Distinguish good scrutiny questioning from political attack by purpose, structure, tone and follow through, and recognise the risks of both passivity and partisanship.
- Use Schein's four inquiry approaches, careful preparation and the six stage staged interview to plan and sequence the questioning of a witness.
The Modules.
1 hour 15 minutes of learning.
- 02Running the Scrutiny ProcessThis module moves from principle to practice, setting out the mechanics that make overview and scrutiny work. It covers five ways committees work, the review and referral processes, and how to build and timetable a work programme. Drawing on Beecham, the Swansea Voices consultation, 2024 Centre for Governance and Scrutiny guidance and Leicestershire's live programme, it asks whose priorities should shape what scrutiny examines.39 min
- 03Scrutiny SkillsThis module explores the craft of evidence based challenge in scrutiny, starting from Jeremy Colman's warning against noting a paper. It distinguishes good questioning from political attack using the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny's 2025 guide, introduces Edgar Schein's four inquiry approaches and Huish and Milliner's six stage staged interview, and uses Warrington's Best Value inspection to show what happens when scrutiny stops testing evidence.39 min
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereBitesize, 1 hour 15 minutes, £39
- The whole topicFocus, Critical friends, 3 hours 30 minutes, £69. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £30.
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. Prices per person. Read the full terms
Also part of: Holding to account
