CfGS’s annual conference in 2026 will be a special one – as we look back on 25 years of overview and scrutiny, and the local government act of 2000. We’ll use this moment to reflect on how far we’ve come – and ask how the next five, 10, and 25 years will look for local democracy.
We’ll tackle the urgent questions for our sector, while providing lots of sessions and content on delivering excellence in governance and scrutiny. The conference will be organised across three key themes:
- Place governance: How we govern across places, not just within institutions?
- Systems of assurance: How councils build cultures of shared responsibility for governance risk and resilience?
- Future democracy: How democracy adapts and endures in the face of social, digital and ecological change?
In the morning, sessions we’ll ask delegates to stretch themselves and think about an emerging future for governance and scrutiny. While, in the afternoon, the sessions will focus much more on applying that thinking, and ambition, to the here and now.
Place governance
- Morning: Reimagining place governance – and what it means for accountability and scrutiny
- Afternoon: Building blocks of neighbourhood governance – a shared understanding and what this means in practice
Systems of assurance
- Morning: Culture eats governance for breakfast: an exploration of decision making
- Afternoon: Finding assurance in health – and building a hierarchy of resilience
Future democracy
- Morning: Scrutiny: the next generation, to boldly go where scrutiny has never gone before
- Afternoon: Am I being unreasonable? The human side of politics
Organising your day
While we’re still finalising the full programme for the conference, we know everyone wants to get their trains booked. Registration will be between 8.30am and 9.30, and the conference will close at 5pm.
Find out how you can sponsor our conference: Sponsorship opportunities
Tickets are £220 + VAT.
If you need to pay via invoice and purchase order number, use this link:
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