Category: Blog
Building strong tenant involvement for housing associations
As the National Housing Federation’s Together with Tenants initiative is rolled out nationally this month, many housing associations will be taking a comprehensive look at their governance frameworks to ensure that they are applying best practice and are fully compliant with the principles of the TwT charter. Together with Tenants is designed to bring […]
Statutory instruments, the Covid Act and the importance of pre-decision scrutiny
Recent events in Parliament have provided us with a stark reminder of the absolute importance of scrutiny on the national stage – and act as a useful rejoinder to those who claim that the function has little practical impact. The Coronavirus Act gives Government sweeping powers to make Regulations on matters relating to the pandemic. […]
Our renaming
Today (29th September 2020) sees the Centre for Public Scrutiny change our name to the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny. This change reflects the wider scope of our work and expertise in governance, whilst being clear that we are still the experts in local government scrutiny, with an unrivalled wealth of knowledge and experience. We are proud of our long […]
Local government living with the pandemic and looking ahead
We are in the eye of this storm – there is no telling how or when it might recede. For the optimists, the New Year is when we can begin “going back to normal”. For the pessimists, a date well into next summer feels more likely. But what if we don’t – or shouldn’t – […]
Tim Gilling leaving CfGS
As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the law which brought in scrutiny, CfGS is saying farewell to its longest serving team member, Tim Gilling. Tim joined CfGS in 2004, soon after it was set up. His prior experience involved working in unitary, county and district councils across Yorkshire and the north east. CfGS was […]
Revisiting the four principles of good scrutiny
One of the first things that the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny did when it was established in 2003 was to try to articulate some fundamental principles of good scrutiny. We set out four things that we thought were essential to make scrutiny effective. These have stood the test of time and, with some minor […]
Thinking about unitarisation and reorganisation
Since the late spring there have been increased rumblings that the expected Devolution White Paper will bring with it plans for structural reorganisation in English local government. Over the past thirty years or so there have been sporadic moves to reorganise local government in different parts of the country – mainly through creating unitary councils […]
Building the budget through scrutiny
Throughout the past ten years we and others in the sector have spoken extensively about the pressing financial challenges facing local authorities. These have ebbed and flowed – facing councils and councillors in different ways. But as we approach 2021/22, the crisis has both deepened and broadened. The pandemic has highlighted the risks around financial […]
Watch our recorded webinar: Finance Scrutiny
We have recently recorded our ‘Finance Scrutiny’ webinar for you to watch below. We will also be uploading further webinars for member and officers in the coming weeks. Take a look at our YouTube channel here for the content we have recorded so far. If you have any questions about the content, or if you […]
Learning lessons from the crisis
We are, to be honest, not great as a country when it comes to learning lessons after terrible things happen. Nationally, the model we have adopted appears to the one designed to be uniquely irritating to the victims of disasters or crises – to appoint a retired judge to conduct a public inquiry, assisted by […]