How to get involved in Scrutiny
An Accessible and Open Process
We are keen to develop Scrutiny as an accessible and open process. All meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the four scrutiny panels are held in public and everyone is welcome to attend. The meetings are also more flexible than other council committees and there may be opportunities for those attending to speak or ask questions.
People can get also involved in Scrutiny by contributing oral or written evidence to a scrutiny project or piece of work, by submitting questions to a Scrutiny meeting or by being invited to participate in a scrutiny project. People can also get involved by submitting topics for consideration as the subject of a future scrutiny project or work by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee or one of the scrutiny panels . You can get involved by:
Being a witness
Like parliamentary select committees, projects undertaken by scrutiny bodies may call a range of individuals to give evidence and answer questions. This may include service users and community stakeholders, as well as service providers, policy makers, managers and people who have some knowledge or expertise of the area under consideration.
Being called as a witness gives individuals – whatever their background – a rare and valuable chance to make a real contribution to improving the quality of local services.
|Back to TopAsking questions
Members of the public can raise questions about a subject being scrutinised or can submit questions in writing to be asked of executive councillors and chief officers called before the Overview and Scrutiny Committee or panels.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee or scrutiny panels may call a Member of the Cabinet and chief officer (such as a service Director) to answer questions on the performance, policy plans and targets for their portfolio or service. The Committee or relevant scrutiny panel may also call local NHS executives to account for policy and performance issues in the health sector. Representatives from other local public services (for example, police service, fire service, housing associations or Jobcentre Plus) and the community and voluntary sector may also attend scrutiny meetings to support the work of the Committee or scrutiny panels.
Questions should be sent in writing at least 5 clear working days in advance of the meeting. Questions can be sent by email, post or fax to the Head of Local Democracy and Members’ Services, or the appropriate Committee or panel support officer. For more information read 'Writing in to us' below.
|Back to TopWriting to us
A project or piece of work undertaken by scrutiny can consider written evidence and members of the public, community groups, or other key stakeholders can write in to bring evidence to the attention of the Committee or Panel members.
Inevitably, scrutiny projects have only a limited amount of time, so they are not able to hear oral testimony from all interested people. Written evidence provides an alternative way to receive evidence from key stakeholders–policy makers, service providers, service users and community groups.
Written evidence may put forward on a particular perspective of the issue being considered or may highlight evidence to help the work of the Committee or Panel. It can also put forward questions for witnesses, which may be taken up by Members of the Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Panel during the discussion.
Members of the public and community groups may also write in with suggestions of topics for possible future scrutiny. Please use the scrutiny suggestion form (Word, 52KB) to suggest a topic for inclusion within the scrutiny work programme.
Suggestions for scrutiny should be sent to:
Email Scrutiny@haringey.gov.uk
Address
Strategic Support and Scrutiny
7th Floor, River Park House
255 High Road
Wood Green
London
N22 8HQ
Becoming a Co-optee
Sometimes, people with expert knowledge or experience may be approached and asked to play an active role on scrutiny. If there is an area of work planned for scrutiny that you would like to be involved in, either as a witness or to be considered as a co-optee, please contact us at:
Tel: 020 8489 2921, 020 8489 2933 or 0208 489 6950.
Email: Scrutiny@haringey.gov.uk
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