Author: Centre for Governance and Scrutiny
Guest Blog from David Evans, Founder, The Campaign Company: The Trust Challenge
On EU Referendum Day three years ago, a conspiracy theory went viral. It was based on the idea that election officials would rub out votes if they were in pencil. Popularised by the #UseAPen hashtag, ‘Pencil-Gate’ occupied the afternoon of 23 June 2016 – with publicly-minded voters even turning up at polling stations with spare […]
Accounting for Social Value in Scrutiny
Social value is a concept that has gained significant awareness in recent years. Legislation in the UK has increased its prominence, and research shows that many local authorities are considering it when they make their commissioning and procurement decisions. This is really great news – and also aligns with an increasing global recognition and convergence […]
Why your council needs a scrutiny health check
Weak scrutiny can lead to failure, strong scrutiny supports success. “I think that where scrutiny is done properly in local authorities that have the right culture, and where scrutiny is taken seriously, it can perform an excellent function in relation to how the executive works by holding them to account and putting them in a […]
Good scrutiny begins with excellent work programming
Get expert advice, support and resources An effective work programme is central to effective scrutiny. But it’s no simple task. Consultation, prioritisation, challenging conversations, seeking agreement and then piecing it all together. And then there’s the amount of resource available to support both the design and delivery of the work streams and making sure members […]
Council business opportunities
Governance assurance for successful commercial growth Many councils are being more assertive, and business focused in the way they operate, becoming more commercial and seeking new income to balance their books. Council operated businesses are not new, they have been around for many decades. However, in recent years, numerous new models are being adopted. These […]
The art of scrutiny politics
A series of workshops for council officers “We are concerned that in too many councils, supporting the executive is the over-riding priority, with little regard for the scrutiny function.” Parliamentary Select Committee on Scrutiny in Local Government, 2017 Member-led scrutiny is fundamental to how councils work. Officers at executive and manager level need to […]
Durham County Council – what winning a MJ Award meant for us
Like many scrutiny teams, in January 2016 we were contemplating entering the MJ Award for Excellence in Governance and Scrutiny. A classic trait of a scrutiny officer is then to ask many questions – what should the focus of our submission be, which reviews should we feature in our submission, what other areas of good […]
CfGS is recruiting – Research and Policy Co-ordinator
CfGS is looking for a bright, hardworking and experienced individual to join the team as a permanent Research and Policy Co-ordinator, to start in September 2016. The recruit will provide information and policy support to the Directors and consultants and will also organise high-level roundtables in order to promote the principles of good governance and scrutiny across all […]
Child poverty: Good Scrutiny in Sunderland
What are the big issues of the day? Europe, for sure. The economy for another. The scourge of ISIS. What can local government scrutiny say to these? Very little, you would think – after all, the crucial levers that determine economic and foreign policy are not in the hands of any ordinary member in a […]
Good Scrutiny in Gloucester: Scrutiny can be proactive and forward-looking
The next entry in the Good Scrutiny blog came about simply because of a question asked to Cabinet by an Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Gloucester City Council had been aware for quite some time that there were unlicensed Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) in the City, and many other HMOs that provided poor health and […]