Category: News
Free scrutiny webinars focussing on key areas of the COVID-19 crisis
Free scrutiny webinars focussing on key areas of the COVID-19 crisis As scrutiny committees are now operating through virtual means, we need to think about how to focus agendas to reflect both the impact and response of the COVID-19 crisis on communities and on the sustainability of the council itself to ensure that it is […]
Council Logos, Part One
Whilst our recent content has focused on COVID-19 and the associated fallout, I thought this lockdown side-project of mine might serve as a welcome interruption from the more serious content out there. Plus, it’s all about raising the profile of local government and appreciating its presence and impact in our daily lives. Council logos – […]
Hybrid systems for meetings: a cause for concern?
Remote meetings are now up and running everywhere; scrutiny meetings are beginning again in many places and council AGMs are taking place too. It’s something like normality, although we are all still getting used to meeting by video. We know that this is going to be the way that we will all have to meet […]
Scrutiny Improvement Reviews: a reflection on the first year
A year ago – it seems much longer – Government finally published the long-awaited statutory guidance on overview and scrutiny in local government. We followed that up a couple of weeks later with our “good scrutiny guide” and, shortly afterwards, by launching what we called our “scrutiny improvement review” product – a healthcheck for local authority scrutiny. […]
New beginnings for scrutiny
Guest post from Councillor Mary Jones, Swansea Council We are delighted to share the experience of our first remote scrutiny meeting at Swansea Council, which I chaired, and hope that if you are about to embark on yours it gives you confidence, and something useful to take away. The last few months have been a […]
Watch our recorded webinar: Online Scrutiny Meetings for Councillors
We have recently recorded our ‘Online Scrutiny Meetings for Councillors’ webinar for you to watch below. We will also be uploading recorded webinars for members 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, […]
Scrutiny locked out during lockdown?
Should we begin to get worried that nine weeks since the lock-down started and seven weeks since the Coronavirus Act offered councils the means to reinstate council meetings through online, remote communication platforms, some councils still have no scrutiny function, with some declaring plans to put scrutiny on hiatus until later in the year? It […]
Government and intervention
A few people in the sector noted with raised eyebrows that Government chose last week to publish a paper setting out its approach to future interventions in failing councils. As a reminder, Government has the power under the Local Government Act 1999 to initiate what is known as a “best value” inspection. In the context of […]
Scrutiny in action
Guest post from Councillor Philip Broadhead, BCP Council If we had tried to imagine only 6-7 weeks ago how very different the world would look today, I would be surprised if we were even able to get close. Lockdown, social distancing and the vast changes to every part of our lives and working practices have […]
Scrutiny, finance and the COVID-19 crisis
One of many emerging risks arising from the COVID-19 crisis is that of council finances. This is not as immediate and high profile as the threat to human health and life – but in the medium term it could come to cast doubt on the sector’s ability to provide the basic services that local people […]