Category: News
Culture, governance and collaboration
What is culture? How does political and organisational culture influence governance – and vice versa? And what does this mean for local government? By “culture”, we mean the shared attitudes, behaviours and values that define how organisations work. “Organisational culture” is a familiar concept – it can be a barrier or enabler when organisations try […]
Government Scrutiny Guidance Symposium – 20th June, London – book now
On 20th June CfGS will be holding a symposium to discuss the Government’s new statutory guidance on overview and scrutiny. The first general Government guidance on scrutiny since 2006, it provides a vital opportunity for practitioners to reflect on current practice and to talk to their peers about how scrutiny will move into its third […]
Scrutiny statutory guidance published
The statutory guidance on overview and scrutiny in local government has now been published by MHCLG.This guidance has been produced following a commitment that Government made in early 2018, following on from the Communities and Local Government Select Committee’s inquiry into O&S. We participated in the drafting process – producing material to support MHCLG in […]
Guest blog by Rob Whiteman, CIPFA CEO: The Future of Financial Resilience in the Public Sector
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama If you were to go by the headlines that have dominated the news for the past decade, the […]
Health Scrutiny and Assurance Conference – programme now online and early bird tickets on sale until end of March
With the publication of the NHS Long Term Plan, an expected Social Care Green Paper and the drive towards integrated services through Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships and Integrated Care Systems, health and care continues to feature as one of the most high profile policy challenges we face as a country. Tackling inequalities and improving population […]
Public services and the “community paradigm”
One week in February held the publication of two different think tank reports, with two very different visions of the future for the sector and interesting to compare their takes on how we should be adapting our systems to meet future demands. The first report is “Spending fairly, spending well: time for a radical overhaul […]
Housing Association Tenants wanted for a new National Tenant Advisory Panel
The National Housing Federation is launching ‘Together with Tenants’, a new national initiative to create a stronger relationship between tenants and housing associations. The creation of a new national Tenant Advisory Panel is an important part of this plan. The Tenant Panel will advise, support and challenge the Federation as they develop and implement plans […]
Training and support for new and returning councillors after elections – how can we help?
After the local elections in May, supporting your new and returning councillors will be a high priority. Elections can mean change – a new council, different political leadership and/or a churn in committee places. While the council settles into its new cycle, new councillors will need support to understand how it all works. For returning […]
Brexit: what’s happening?
The short answer to this question is, of course, “nobody knows”. As I write this a further “meaningful vote” on the Withdrawal Agreement is scheduled for 14 February. A win for the Government – both in Parliament and then in securing EU amendments to the WA – still seems a remote prospect. A defeat seems […]
NAO report on local governance: the CfGS view
On 15 January the NAO published their report on local governance – the systems in place and the ability of local governance to be effective in the context of the need to deliver services that are “value for money”. The NAO’s focus is, and always has been, on finances and VfM – its work in […]