Ed Hammond
Deputy Chief Executive
Ed Hammond leads our research programme as well as delivery of major governance and scrutiny reviews. This includes public and private sector clients, with a focus on core work in local government. His recent work has involved the provision of specialist governance improvement support to a range of councils, including Kensington and Chelsea, Thurrock, Croydon and Liverpool. Ed also leads on the support of councils to innovate in the sphere of governance and community participation, having led the secretariat supporting the independent Newham Democracy Commission, whose work led to the establishment of the UK’s first standing citizen’s assembly.
Ed has provided technical support on constitution change and renewal to a number of local authorities, having recently worked for Northumberland, Southampton and Southend amongst others. This has involved support for dialogue with councillors and senior officers about the renewal and redrafting of major elements of council constitutions, as well as leading on the redrafting itself. As well as engaging with the technical detail of constitutions’ legal compliance he also works to understand and act on the need for improvement in councils’ political and organisational dynamics. Improvement in this area is an important part of making any constitutional changes “stick”.
This advice and expertise on constitutional arrangements extends to formal governance change, and as well as having written the only detailed practical guide on the process and practice of governance change for English authorities, he has provided practical support to nearly two dozen authorities who have considered their options in this regard since 2012.
Ed has also produced guidance for councils on a range of matters relating to overview and scrutiny, having started his career in this space twenty years ago. He provided technical advice to DLUHC in drafting the 2019 statutory guidance on overview and scrutiny and is currently advising Government on the development of the new Scrutiny Protocol for combined authorities. He has been working with government on the implementation of new arrangements for health scrutiny, further to the Health and Care Act 2022. In 2023, a major priority of Ed’s work is a deepening of the support provided to councils on financial oversight and scrutiny.
