The latest views and opinions from members of the CfGS teams and occasional guest blogs.
In 2019 and 2021 we experienced some comparatively high “councillor turnover” – and we can probably expect similar in local elections this May. The neutral phrase “councillor turnover” hides a ...
The Health and Care Bill continues on its progress through the House of Lords. A number of partners have come together to support amendments which now seek to remove ...
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have recently published their proposals for the health and care integration white paper, ‘Joining up care for people, places, and populations’. The ...
Today (28 February) we published guidance for councils in England on new approaches to hybrid meetings. This guidance focuses on matters relating to behaviours and attitudes, reflecting on lessons learned ...
Here, you can read our detailed paper setting out the key elements of the White Paper, published in early February 2022. This blog aims to make some more general reflections. ...
As I begin my second day in the role of Chief Executive at CfGS, I look forward to busy and exciting times ahead. During a period when organisations across all ...
At the time of writing we are in the midst of the political furore over allegations of parties held in Downing Street during lockdown. Far from being trivial, this is ...
We’ve produced material on the climate emergency before – we published a blog on how scrutiny could approach the issue in 2019, and in July last year we published a ...
On 1 October, the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee of the House of Commons published its long-awaited report on the progress of English devolution (long-awaited because the inquiry ...
The recently published ‘Annual Review of Adult Social Care complaints 2020/21’ by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman pulls together the national picture of complaints about adult social care ...
The Health and Care Bill is now making its way through Parliament. We are at the stage in the Commons where the real meat of scrutiny – committee stage. At ...
Please note: this article was originally published on the Local Government Chronicle website here. Most councils are in a good place for reviewing and implementing improvements that will help ...
In this guest blog, Mark Sandford, a senior research analyst at the House of Commons Library, delves into the implications for local accountability through reorganisation and the Health and Care ...
In this guest blog, Dr Dave McKenna, a CfGS associate and local government practitioner, draws together his insights on how to get the balance right in providing effective challenge. I’ve ...
In this guest blog Cllr Bryony Rudkin, deputy leader at Ipswich Borough Council, reflects on the importance of behaviours in how local councillors enact democracy and scrutiny. “Read the standing ...
In this guest blog Mark Sandford, senior research analyst at the House of Commons Library, takes a comparative look at scrutiny on a national and local level. The Municipal Journal ...
In 2018, CfGS carried out its first evaluations of local authority scrutiny functions using a new method, and under a new title. We brought together our wealth of research, policy ...
We are currently drawing together evidence to support some guidance for councils on how they can use scrutiny to look back on their experiences during the pandemic – as well ...
Perhaps surprisingly, the Prime Minister’s speech on “levelling up” last week provided less, rather than more, certainty about what the Government flagpole policy agenda actually means for local councils and ...
Happening parallel with England’s run of success at the Euros (and ongoing covid rolling news), the introduction into the Commons of the long-awaited Health and Care Bill received less media ...