Local Scrutiny: Questions for Councillors 

We want to share learning from our complaints with locally elected councillors, who have the democratic mandate to scrutinise the way councils carry out their functions and hold them to account. 

Here are some suggested key questions that elected members could ask officers when scrutinising services in their authority:

• Is it clear how people’s basic rights are protected and promoted by your policies?  
• Does your council make use of resources and tools published by the Equality & Human Rights Commission, such as the Measurement framework for equality and human rights? 
• Does your Council scrutinise the outcomes of complaints to see if the rights of individuals, or groups of people with protected characteristics, have been affected?
• Where things have gone wrong, what effective mechanisms does your council have to embed learning from complaints?