In March 2017, CfGS convened an event bringing together scrutiny practitioners from around the country to talk about the establishment of scrutiny arrangements for combined authorities.

Nearly a year on, a lot has changed. Government’s commitment to the devolution agenda may have wavered, but Mayors have been in place in six areas for a few months now, and are beginning both to deliver against their priorities, and to agitate for new powers. In this environment, how has combined authority scrutiny been able to find its feet? We have started reflecting on these issues and you can read our preliminary results here.

This event will give those directly involved in combined authority scrutiny (and those with an interest in it) an opportunity to reflect on the experiences of their peers. This includes people on the executive side – on CA Boards and advising Mayors.

The event will be particularly useful for officers and members in areas which are currently pursuing or developing a proposal for a deal, and where practitioners want to think about the practical issues and learning points from those areas with combined authority arrangements already in place. We think it is also likely to be of use to people working in areas considering “district clustering” arrangements or unitarisation. 

The event will take place on the 31 January 2018, Education Building, University of Birmingham.

To take part, e-mail elena.konopelko@cfgs.org.uk or call 020 3866 5105 to register.