News & events

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...

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...

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...

Councillor Ketan Sheth, from Brent Council, shares his experience of how scrutiny can support council emergency preparedness. Over the spring and summer of 2017, terrorist incidents...

Ed Hammond, CfGS Director of Research, reflects on the powers central government has to intervene in local authorities and risks that the approach can...

Elena Konopelko, CfGS Reseach and Policy Coordinator, explains why government should take action on building trust with the public. Edelman has published its annual trust...

Why is it needed? What will it deliver? How will it work? The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny believes that current accountability arrangements are not strong enough...

Local scrutiny arrangements for children’s services are under the spotlight following the Children and Social Work Act 2017. The Act sets out provisions which will: Replace Local...

Last year we held our national annual scrutiny conference which looked at the governance of complexity. Prior to the conference we ran a short...

It’s now been around eight months since the elections for metro Mayors took place. We at the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny naturally have...

Increasingly, I am asked by exasperated councillors what the sanctions are when they are met with obstructions as they carry out their work. This...

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

Today, the CLG Select Committee has published its report into scrutiny in local government. CfGS welcomes the findings of this inquiry – the Committee...

Before I went off on paternity leave I saw an interesting blog about how New Orleans is using “big data” to improve performance and...

We can all tell stories about times when we have been in meetings and large amounts of time have been expended by those present...

More complex governance arrangements are now common place in local government including external delivery vehicles, arms-length management organisations, local partnerships, and internal commissioning and...

The latest news on the NHS health scrutiny programme Success in delivering Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) and Accountability Care Systems (ACSs) in England depends...

Some more detail about the workshops at Governance of Complexity - #cfps2017 We know from your feedback that the workshops at the CfGS local government...