Category: News
Best Value intervention: what is it and what does it mean for local accountability?
Last week the Secretary of State announced his intention to exercise his powers to appoint commissioners to run certain services operated by Liverpool City Council. This is a big, and rare, event – only four councils since 2010 have previously been subject to this kind of intervention (for the completists, they are, in reverse order, […]
Further thoughts on the Government’s position on remote council meetings
In February we published a detailed position paper setting out views on the continuation of remote meetings in local government in England. Luke Hall MP, Minister of State for Local Government, has in a letter to the Leaders of principal councils confirmed that Government has no plans to legislate to make these temporary arrangements permanent. […]
2020/21 Annual survey: initial findings
To say that 2020/21 has been a significant year for local government is an understatement. The changes in ways of working brought about by the pandemic can be seen across all areas of the council, and this is also true for overview and scrutiny. This blog shares some initial findings from our latest annual survey, […]
Health scrutiny and the forthcoming Bill
The health white paper was published a few weeks ago – you can read our full response, and position, here. We do have concerns about the White Paper – in particular, what it means for health scrutiny. In setting these out, it’s worth bearing in mind that legislation never tells the whole story. There’s a […]
Pandemic recovery: scrutiny’s role in looking back and looking forward
It feels premature to admit it but it feels as though we are moving towards the end of the pandemic. We have a “roadmap” which we are told is “irreversible”, spring is coming, the local elections are on. As the crisis recedes, it’s time to begin talking about reflection and recovery. In truth we almost […]
Our governance risk and resilience framework
Last week we, along with our colleagues at Localis, published the governance risk and resilience framework – a set of material designed to assist councillors and officers to understand and act on risks to governance in local areas. You can find the framework and a range of supporting material at www.cfgs.org.uk/governancerisk. When we talk about […]
The governance risk and resilience framework
Introduction What is the governance risk and resilience framework? This material is designed to support individual council officers and councillors to play their part in identifying, understanding, and acting on, risks to good governance. The basics of our framework is based on three stages – The seven characteristics which will help you to anticipate governance […]
Feature Your Successful Scrutiny in our Scrutiny Frontiers 2020-2021 Publication
We are looking for councils to feature in our forthcoming Scrutiny Frontiers 2020-21 publication, highlighting how you have overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic in local government over the past year, and showcasing your scrutiny successes! To contribute to this publication, or if you have any questions contact Charlotte Crowley – charlotte.crowley@cfgs.org.uk If you […]
An update on changes in the NHS
With the effects of the pandemic still acute, it’s easy to forget that the NHS is in the middle of a change programme. For the last few years NHS England has been putting efforts into the design of healthcare using a larger footprint – originally framed around sustainability and transformation plans (STP) and now integrated […]
Annual scrutiny survey 2020/21
Our annual scrutiny survey has opened today, and we have a message from our Chief Executive 2020 marked the 20th anniversary since legislation was passed for the overview and scrutiny function in English and Welsh councils. Of course last year was also defined by the covid-19 pandemic, and its impacts on communities and local […]