Category: News
Social care, COVID-19 and scrutiny
One of the aspects of the Coronavirus Act which has caused most concern has been the loosening of local authorities’ legal obligations in the Care Act. Powers exist for local authorities to derogate from these obligations temporarily at the peak of the crisis – when that arrives. Government has said, “it is crucial that local […]
This immediate crisis
(A shorter version of this piece appeared in the Local Government Chronicle on 18/03/20) In a time of crisis, accountability, transparency and good governance are even more important. There will be a temptation for councils, in the initial stages and as this crisis deepens, to cut back on “traditional” approaches to governance. Some of this […]
Council governance and the coronavirus
UPDATE: This post, first published on 13/03/20, was updated on 17/03/20 to reflect changed Government policy and advice. Plenty of people across local government will be thinking seriously at the moment about business continuity as the impact of the coronavirus outbreak becomes more severe. It is likely that we are talking disruption for a […]
Blog: Political culture: managing party politics
This is the third in a series of blogs about political culture in local governance and scrutiny. You can find the first and second ones here. You can’t talk about politics without talking about political parties. Recent local elections have made us even more aware of this. More councils are under no overall control, or […]
Blog: Political culture: understanding the mutual motivations of scrutineers and the executive
In my last blog I talked in general terms about the attitude and approach of the executive, and what makes for good political leadership. In this blog, the second in a series of five on political culture, I will go into more detail on the mutual motivations of scrutineers and the executive. What makes people […]
News: CfGS welcomes appointment of new independent customer scrutiny board by Mears
6.2.20 Centre for Governance and Scrutiny welcomes appointment of new independent customer scrutiny board by Mears The Centre of Public Scrutiny has welcomed the announcement from housing and care company Mears today that it is launching an independent customer scrutiny board. The national centre of expertise in governance and scrutiny has supported Mears in developing, […]
Blog: Political culture: the central role of the executive
This is the first in a series of five blogs on political culture and scrutiny. Over the course of the next couple of months we will explore what political culture is, what its practical implications are and how members and officers at a local level can work together to identify deficiencies in how people act […]
News release: New guidance will help council’s CEOs address scrutiny’s ‘Cinderella’ perception
News release 1.2.2020 New guidance will help council CEOs address perception of scrutiny’s ‘Cinderella’ status New guidance, published today, from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) will help council leaders and senior managers address scrutiny’s ‘Cinderella status’ and ensure that their council’s scrutiny function is effective in holding local decision-makers to account. Taking Scrutiny […]
News release: Reducing Gambling Harms – Call for Evidence by CfGS
28.1.2020 CALL FOR EVIDENCE AND EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST: Reducing Gambling Harms Is your Council working in partnership to understand and tackle gambling harms? Is your scrutiny function supporting this work in anyway – through oversight or policy development? Would your scrutiny function like to do more to review partnership activity and access CfGS expert support […]
Resilience in local government – what do we mean? Blog by Katie Grigg, CfGS Research Officer
Resilience in Local Government As the new decade unfolds and we reflect on the past 10 years in local government, it is timely to review the current position of local government and its ability to respond to austerity, uncertainty and how well it is prepared for future threats and opportunities. Whilst there have been some […]