Category: News
How to write effective survey and research questions
The use of surveys to gather and triangulate evidence for scrutiny reviews is easier, now that we can be more confident that a majority of local people have access to the tools to fill them in online – making the use of hard-copy questionnaires unnecessary other than in situations where scrutiny is keen to gather […]
Into the horizon: scrutiny looking into the future
Horizon scanning is often said to be a key part of the contribution that Scrutiny can make. But how far into the future is far enough? Scrutiny has come a long way since its inception in 2000 where a key feature was safeguarding through transparency. The need for transparency has not diminished, but the focus […]
Chief Executive’s update: on health scrutiny, and levelling up
It’s been a busy summer – although nobody really expects August to be a period of “downtime” any more. We head into the autumn with a new Prime Minister and hence some uncertainty over the future of some key national policies with an impact on local government and, by extension, scrutiny. Health scrutiny The first […]
The cost of living crisis and scrutiny
For the first time on record, temperatures in the UK exceeded 40°C, though this isn’t the only record broken this year; inflation hit a new 40 year high, the energy price cap is the highest it’s ever been and as we head towards the autumn, the cost-of-living crisis is set to have a devastating impact […]
Reflecting on the last 6-months with CfGS
I had always intended to write a blog reflecting on my first 6-months as Chief Executive at CfGS. However, I must admit to never having been expecting to do so in circumstances that meant I’d also be reflecting on my last 6-months as CEO here at the Centre! As Harold McMillan once famously observed, unanticipated […]
New Guidance on Call-in Roundtable
NEW GUIDANCE ON CALL-IN Introduction and objectives As part of its work supporting local authority governance, CfGS is planning to produce a short guide on the effective operation of call-in arrangements, for publication in the autumn. This work will be carried out further to the LGA’s support contract with CfGS, which is funded by HM […]
Health and Care Act: implementation update
Next week, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) will cease to be, and in their place new statutory Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) will come into being – taking responsibility for the design and delivery of health and care services across a wide geographic footprint. While these changes have been a long time coming it is important not […]
Good governance in fire and rescue: the ‘professional partnership’ between elected members and senior officers
As a former Chief Fire Officer, I was delighted when an invitation arrived from the LGA for me to deliver a series of workshops on good governance at its recent annual Fire Conference in Gateshead. The theme for the conference was: Delivering transformation in the fire and rescue sector. Now, as the Chief Executive of […]
Senior Governance Consultant: secondment/fixed term contract
The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny is looking for an experienced governance professional to join the team, on secondment or a fixed term contract, for six months – on either a full time or part time basis. This is an exciting time to be working at CfGS. As well as being at the centre of […]
Standing, and standing down
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 large number of personal stories and experiences of those councillors who will, for whatever reason, not be councillors after the forthcoming election. Councillors stop being […]