[claire mangham]

We are trying to do the same here at Barnsley.

We have identiied the issue which will be of interest to the public and promoted our meetings by using the local radio station, local press, information available on the website etc. We are currently working to identify methods of egagement with community groups / vol sector / youth council.

My main concern is that the general public do not know what scrutiny is and how they can be a part of it. I think a good starting point would be to get information into the public domain about scrutiny and then move on to the issues where they can get involved.

[tim gilling]

Somebody is bound to ask the question, so I'll ask it now - what do you mean by 'public engagement in scrutiny'? Do you mean checking out community priorities to inform your work programme or involving people in specific topic reviews? Or both?

What does your council do to involve communtiies and service users currently? Can you build on that? Or carry out a review of engagement to see where the gaps are and suggest improvements?

For an angle on working with young people, check out our latest guides:

http://www.cfps.org.uk/what-we-do/public...s-general/

[David Collins]

Scrutiny web pages would be a good starting point. If they are updated regularly they can represent a good opportunity for people in the far flung corners of Cornwall to take part in Scrutiny. We tend to plug our dedicated web adresss at every opportunity (www.newport.gov.uk/scrutiny) and steer the public towards the pages - especially if we want their views. Picking the right issue is key of course. "Give us you views on our Medium Term Financial Strategy may not stir the People of Penzance but "should we close your library" might get 'em going a bit more.

There are loads of good examples of scrutiny web pages. Halifax and Leeds are good. Swansea have even put Scrutiny on Facebook! Its excellent. And yes, I am one of their Friends!