News & events

Guest post from Councillor Mary Jones, Swansea Council We are delighted to share the experience of our first remote scrutiny meeting at Swansea Council, which...

We have recently recorded our 'Online Scrutiny Meetings for Councillors' webinar for you to watch below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aEJVtIBs4Y We will also be uploading recorded webinars for members...

Should we begin to get worried that nine weeks since the lock-down started and seven weeks since the Coronavirus Act offered councils the means...

A few people in the sector noted with raised eyebrows that Government chose last week to publish a paper setting out its approach to future...

Guest post from Councillor Philip Broadhead, BCP Council If we had tried to imagine only 6-7 weeks ago how very different the world would look...

One of many emerging risks arising from the COVID-19 crisis is that of council finances.   This is not as immediate and high profile as the...

The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny provides a helpdesk service on matters relating to governance and scrutiny. We are available on the phone, by e-mail...

Our training and development offer is changing in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. You can find out more about our overall offer here.   From now until September we...

The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) (Regulations) 2020 have now been published.   They come...

UPDATE: since this post was published, Regulations on remote meetings have been published, and we have published a more detailed guide on scrutiny during...

One of the aspects of the Coronavirus Act which has caused most concern has been the loosening of local authorities’ legal obligations in the...

(A shorter version of this piece appeared in the Local Government Chronicle on 18/03/20) In a time of crisis, accountability, transparency and good governance are...

UPDATE: This post, first published on 13/03/20, was updated on 17/03/20 to reflect changed Government policy and advice.    Plenty of people across local government will...

This is the third in a series of blogs about political culture in local governance and scrutiny. You can find the first and second...

In my last blog I talked in general terms about the attitude and approach of the executive, and what makes for good political leadership....

 6.2.20 Centre for Governance and Scrutiny welcomes appointment of new independent customer scrutiny board by Mears The Centre of Public Scrutiny has welcomed the announcement from...

This is the first in a series of five blogs on political culture and scrutiny. Over the course of the next couple of months...

News release 1.2.2020 New guidance will help council CEOs address perception of scrutiny’s ‘Cinderella’ status New guidance, published today, from the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS)...