An invitation to scrutiny and audit chairs
The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny and the Local Government Association are piloting a development programme this autumn aimed at enhancing dialogue and co-ordination between chairs of scrutiny committees and chairs of audit committees.
We are looking for a small number of chairs – with varying levels of experience – to participate. Participants who are scrutiny chairs should be the current chair of whichever committee takes a lead on corporate finance issues.
Development will focus on:
- Core duties: the regulatory and other duties held by audit committees and scrutiny committees and how these responsibilities intersect;
- Relationships: current experiences regarding member-member and member-officer relationships, and how those relationships can be improved;
- Skills: the skillsets needed to carry out chairing duties on scrutiny and audit – required knowledge on local government finance, and wider oversight skills;
- Support arrangements: experiences and expectations with regard to officer support, and how members can support each other.
Outcomes
Discussion of these factors – key to the effectiveness of the scrutiny and audit functions – will lead to two outcomes. The first is the development by participants of plans for their own ongoing self-directed learning and development. The second is development of ideas for changes to practice in their own authorities, and tactics to bring those changes about.
We plan to divide participants into two cohorts, each comprising about 20 people, with a roughly equal number of audit and scrutiny chairs in each.
How to apply
If you are interested please e-mail Ed Hammond at the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (ed.hammond@cfgs.org.uk) by the end of the day on 3 October with:
- Your name and authority The committee you chair and the amount of time you have been chairing it (including any previous relevant chairing experience)
- Some brief information about your experience to date, and your learning and development expectations
- Your preferred cohort (Cohort 1 for fully remote, Cohort 2 for remote prep but the in-person day-long session);
- A note from your council’s chief finance officer and/or monitoring officer to the effect that you will be supported to take forward the learning and development outcomes, after the session.
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