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Practical Guidance: Latest Publications

Health scrutiny and the new reconfiguration arrangements

This is a guide to the new reconfiguration arrangements, issued to complement statutory guidance issued by Government on 9 January …

Publication: Financial scrutiny – a guide for members

This is a guide to financial scrutiny, intended to complement our “Finance scrutiny practice guide” (2020), which holds more detail …

Publication: Access to information for elected members

This is a guide for elected members on their rights to access information held by their authorities.  There is a …

Inspecting local authority children’s services: Ofsted and the role of children’s services scrutiny

Report author: Camilla de Bernhardt Lane This paper aims to support the work of non-Executive Councillors who are involved in …

The use of call-in: guidance for English authorities

This is one of three connected publications, all aiming to provide technical advice on the operation and review of critical …

The review and redrafting of constitutions: guidance for English authorities

To note: this is one of three connected publications, all aiming to provide technical advice on the operation and review …

Reviewing schemes of delegation: guidance for English authorities

To note: this is one of three connected publications, all aiming to provide technical advice on the operation and review …

Health Scrutiny- A Short Guide

What is this guide about? This is a comprehensive introductory guide that aims to provide an overview of the main …

Scrutiny of Children’s Services- A Short Guide

What is this guide about? This guide aims to provide an overview of the main components that comprise of Children’s …

10 Questions on Cyber Security

This guide is for councillors sitting on scrutiny committees, and the officers who support them. It is designed to support …

Scrutiny Practitioners Guide

This is a comprehensive introductory guide that aims to provide an overview of the main facets of scrutiny and a …

Cost-of-Living Information Digest by Megan Ingle and Camilla De Bernhardt-Lane 

Cost-of-living Information Digest by Megan Ingle and Camilla De Bernhardt-Lane  The UK is currently in the midst of a cost-of-living …

Scrutiny and work programming

Scrutiny and work programming, by Natalie Rotherham This paper provides an update, and summary, of material on scrutiny work programming …

Local politics, local campaigns. Understanding how councils work and getting your voice heard.

This guide has been produced using funds from the JRSST Charitable Trust. It is part of a project being delivered …

“Docking in”: changing the way we act on local democracy

This paper has been funded by a grant from JRSST Charitable Trust, as part of a project on post pandemic …

Considerations for improving citizen participation in the Scrutiny of Combined Authorities in England

This publication is a collaboration between the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny and the Democratic Society and was authored by …

10 questions to ask for a combined authority scrutinising economic development

This paper is designed to support councillors sitting on combined authority overview and scrutiny committees to understand the pressures and …

Approaches to meeting: learning lessons from the pandemic

This publication aims to review experiences of remote meetings during the pandemic – in particular, impacts on behaviours – and …

Scrutiny Improvement Reviews – main themes & findings

In 2018, CfGS carried out its first evaluations of local authority scrutiny functions using a new method, and under a …

Guide to support combined authority governance of post-pandemic policymaking

How can combined authorities (CAs) alter their approach to governance for the post-pandemic recovery? Which partners will need to be …