06/07/2011 4:29 pm
I'm not an expert, but I can tell you what we are doing at Guinness Hermitage (housing association).
Our Scrutiny Panel is made up of representatives, chosen by residents, from our resident area panels. It is still in the process of being set up, but the Scrutiny Panel will invite the staff they need to attend meetings and answer questions (kind of a 'select committee' approach.)
We have paid for an independent mentor to work with residents to set up the Scrutiny Panel. We paid for it (or rather residents did through their rent!), but residents did the advert, the interviews, and selected who they wanted to work with.
The TOR are still being worked on by the Scrutiny Panel and their mentor. The group recently did a presentation to our Board on their progress.
It is taking time but I'm really happy with the approach we've taken - more importantly I think our residents are happy because they have 'owned' this process from start to finish.