Category: Blog
Role of councillors report
The Councillors Commission, launched by the Local Government Research Unit in partnership with the De Montfort University and the Municipal Journal, has produced an interim report on the role of councillors based on the 20 round tables and 147 written submissions. The report identifies the constant themes with which councillors are continually engaging, such as […]
Let’s not forget about social care
With media attention so often focussed on NHS services, social care doesn’t always get the coverage it deserves. With councils’ social care budgets under pressure and with continuing financial deficits in the acute health sector, the capacity for local health and care systems to meet people’s needs in an integrated way is under strain. It […]
Submit your entry to the Excellence in Governance and Scrutiny MJ Award
CfGS is sponsoring the Excellence in Governance and Scrutiny category at the MJ Awards in 2017. The MJ Awards The Excellence in Governance and Scrutiny MJ Award is an opportunity to have your work recognised nationally. Since they were launched in 2004 to recognise and promote the hard work and […]
Have your say about proposed changes to local congenital heart disease services
In July 2015, the NHS England Board agreed on new standards and service specifications for congenital heart disease services and developed a three tier model with split levels of treatment options and responsibilities. The model divides all centres into the following: Specialist Surgical Centres (Level 1) that provide the most highly specialised diagnostics and care […]
Survey on devolution governance
The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny wants to understand the views of local politicians, council employees and other local people about the process of devolution currently underway in England. In particular, we want to understand people’s views of governance. That means the way that decisions are made and by whom under devolution, and how those […]
Education accountability – time for a new role for council scrutiny?
Su Turner, CfGS’s Director of Children and Young People, considers whether there should be an enhanced role for councils in the future of education scrutiny. Blink and September has gone! Four weeks into the new school year, and children are settling down to their new routines: understanding what is expected of them, knowing that they must […]
Inform national study – insight from local scrutiny
Have you carried out a scrutiny review of local plans for integrating health and social care services? Would you like the findings to inform a national study? The National Audit Office is carrying out a study of progress towards integrating health and social care services. The study will examine the progress of the range of […]
Combined authority consultation – what do *you* think of devolution?
Combined authorities – and areas aspiring to establish combined authorities in the near future – are taking the first steps towards introducing the concept of devolution to local residents, and inviting their views. Devolution is complicated. It’s no Schleswig-Holstein Question, but its twists and turns still baffle even those of us whose jobs it is […]
Standards for standards, and whether we need to revisit councillor conduct
It’s over five years now since the abolition of Standards for England (formerly known as the Standards Board). My first encounter with it was the faintly surreal training video which the Board produced way back in its early days. Connoisseurs will recall that it starred the actor Andrew Hall (he played one of Wendy Craig’s sons […]
Collaring complaints – can ‘dip testing’ help us learn from individual failures?
We often talk about scrutiny’s role in handling and mitigating major systemic failure. Our publication “Hiding in plain sight” highlighted the critical responsibility for scrutiny in recognising and acting on this kind of (often catastrophic) failure for public authorities. But where does the intelligence come from to allow scrutiny to look at these systemic issues? […]