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A practical, interactive lunchtime session exploring the nuts and bolts of what will help you build confidence and make scrutiny more effective.

This briefing paper explores how locally rooted citizens’ assemblies and other deliberative democratic approaches can strengthen neighbourhood governance by involving residents directly in informed, participatory decision-making.

With the 2026 elections set to reshape local power, this blog explores how councils can navigate uncertainty and respond effectively to sudden political change.

This is a story of how strong, trust-based relationships between members and officers, built through openness, respect and a shared commitment to place, can bring governance and scrutiny to life

This explainer offers a clear, concise overview of key amendments to the English Devolution Bill, highlighting what they mean for local governance and decision-making. It outlines the practical implications of the changes and why they matter for councils, leaders, and communities across England.

Read this to stay one step ahead of local election results – understand what’s changing, what it means for your council, and how to respond with confidence

Read what happened at Woking Borough Council from a Scrutiny and Democratic Services officer perspective, as they reflect on tackling financial pressures and improving scrutiny to support better decision-making.

Joint scrutiny is about working together to look at shared issues, especially where services cut across boundaries. It’s essentially about making collaboration practical with clear roles, shared goals, and good relationships. Read more on how scrutiny adds value rather than becoming confused or duplicated.

This guide explains how scrutiny works in councils where no party is in control, focusing on working across political lines to challenge and improve decisions. The core idea is simple: when power is shared, scrutiny matters more and works best when it’s practical, constructive, and not overly political.

This short guide explains how an Executive–Scrutiny Protocol helps decision-makers and those holding them to account work together more effectively, making council processes clearer, fairer, and more transparent.

Find out more about some of the key lessons we learned about what works – and what doesn’t – when building a shared resource to support better, more connected scrutiny across the sector

We are welcoming two new staff and saying goodbye to Ed and Camilla

Rochdale Borough Council’s approach highlights how devolving decision-making can strengthen accountability and empower councillors to respond directly to community needs. This model demonstrates the value of place-based governance in improving engagement and delivering more responsive local services.

Take a peak at all the action from our conference, held at Millennium Point, Birmingham for the first time

Scrutiny of partners and external organisations is about working with other agencies to improve services for local people. It builds strong relationships, gathers evidence, and makes clear recommendations for partners to act on. Working with external organisations brings in wider expertise, strengthens accountability, and helps decisions better reflect community needs.

This piece, written by Ed Hammond, was originally published by the LGC, explains what we can learn from the moment that executive and scrutiny were separated in English and Welsh local authority governance

Learning from yesterday, leading for tomorrow Thursday 12th March – Millennium Point, Birmingham CfGS’s annual conference in 2026 will be a special one – as we...

Speaker bios as for the annual CfGS conference in March

Halton Borough Council’s approach shows how scrutiny can work best when it builds strong relationships. Read about practical improvements they made and how they used evidence and constructive questioning to help the council get better outcomes for local people.

This guide sets out how call-in should be used as a practical governance tool to improve decision-making, strengthen accountability, and support constructive challenge. Read on for practical advice on when and how call-in should be used as part of informed decision-making.