A lot of councils fairly regularly conduct reviews of their constitution. Your council may be one of them. You might do them in-house (your Monitoring Officer or Head of Governance ...
Weak scrutiny can lead to failure, strong scrutiny supports success. “I think that where scrutiny is done properly in local authorities that have the right culture, and where scrutiny is ...
Get expert advice, support and resources An effective work programme is central to effective scrutiny. But it’s no simple task. Consultation, prioritisation, challenging conversations, seeking agreement and then piecing it ...
Governance assurance for successful commercial growth Many councils are being more assertive, and business focused in the way they operate, becoming more commercial and seeking new income to balance their ...
A series of workshops for council officers “We are concerned that in too many councils, supporting the executive is the over-riding priority, with little regard for the scrutiny function.” ...
We organise regular national training sessions to provide officers and members with the key skills they need to carry out their roles effectively. We also make these courses available to ...
Providing proper, meaningful induction to scrutiny councillors is critical. The scrutiny role is an important one; the reduction in resources available for officer support to the function means that councillors ...
A number of councils in England have, in recent years, sought to review their formal governance arrangements – in particular, evaluating whether they should adopt the committee system form of ...
For some, reviewing a council’s scrutiny arrangements means rejigging the structure and names of committees. We recognise that it is more complicated than this. With a proven track record of ...
More councils than ever before are now actively pursuing commissioning as a means to deliver a far wider range of services. Commissioning differs from traditional outsourcing in many ways, but ...
Local government is undergoing profound change – the pressure both to make financial savings, and to make sure that local public services are aligned to local people’s increasingly complex needs ...
We can offer a range of support from the beginning of the devolution process, all the way through to deals being implemented.While we're keen to see areas work with ...
We can help you to think about the various structures and models open to you, as you seek to agree on a permanent approach to devolution governance. Our approach is focused on the ...
Formulating devolution proposals can be challenging. For local areas, the need for speedy agreement can work against the need to ensure that a proposal to Government is robust. There is ...
Overview and scrutiny development Why is this important? Recent reports including Professor Jay’s 2014 Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham and Louise Casey’s follow-up report highlighted the crucial ...
Member training to champion outcomes for looked-after children Why is this important?Councillors have a legal duty, as corporate parents, to ensure ‘looked-after’ children within their authority are healthy and thriving. ...
Scrutiny reviews and evaluationsWhy is this important?As local government changes, the way that scrutiny is carried out needs to change as well. Scrutiny has to add value to stay ...
Devolution: diagnosticWhy is this important?The devolution process is unpredictable. But the more you can understand and give assurance about how governance and decision-making will work in any new arrangement, ...