How to Train Senior Officials for Parliamentary Committee Appearances (TRN139)

Overview

Delivery method

Online

Duration

Less than 1 hour

Audience

Executives

Description

Senior officials in the public service are expected to appear as witnesses before parliamentary committees, and must be fully prepared to provide appropriate responses to committee questions. This online self-paced course provides senior advisors with a training toolkit on how to prepare senior officials for committee appearances, including how to respond to potentially difficult questions. Using the exercises and examples provided, participants will obtain the tools they need to properly train and coach senior officials for their parliamentary committee appearances.

Topics include:

• clarifying the roles and responsibilities of senior officials during parliamentary committee appearances
• preparing for parliamentary committee appearances (information requirements, virtual and in-person guidelines)
• anticipating, detecting and responding to problematic or leading questions
• accessing helpful resources such as ParlVu and House of Commons publications

Notes:

The training materials contained in this course include comprehensive exercises and examples that can either be used as is, can be customized to focus on specific topics, or can be supplemented by other examples which may be more suitable depending on the needs of the senior official and the context of the committee appearance.

Legacy course code: Z161