Training and support for new and returning councillors after elections – how can we help?
After the local elections in May, supporting your new and returning councillors will be a high priority. Elections can mean change – a new council, different political leadership and/or a churn in committee places. While the council settles into its new cycle, new councillors will need support to understand how it all works. For returning councillors it’s an opportunity to refresh their skills.
When it comes to overview and scrutiny, it’s also an opportunity to reflect, establish ground rules and get things off to a good start. Creating a positive scrutiny culture and expectations about ways of working are often key to making scrutiny more productive and constructive. New scrutiny guidance expected from Government provides a further opportunity to refresh scrutiny and allow councillors to focus on how scrutiny adds value to the organisation as well as hold executives to account.
The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny is the expert governance and scrutiny resource at the heart of local government. We have been working closely with MHCLG on developing the new guidance and can advise you about the latest developments and opportunities for positive change. We offer more than a traditional training approach – we can advise on how best to embed and benefit from your investment in member development.
We are already working with councils to review their scrutiny culture, structures and processes, using our tried and tested principles. CfGS can support you through:
- Member induction for effective scrutiny – from a basic introduction to skills across all scrutiny specialisms
- A rapid scrutiny review – making sure scrutiny has the right environment to flourish
- Member development – developing scrutiny leadership through more advanced support
- Officer training and advice – what does scrutiny mean for the council and how to respond
Click here for information on all our training and consultancy offers.
You can also book places on our national training events, including Introduction to Scrutiny, Chairing Skills for Scrutiny and Financial Scrutiny Skills all running in June 2019. You can reserve your places now in advance of elections and just confirm the name of the attendee after the election and/or committee appointments have taken place.
Please contact us to set-up a call or meeting to find out what we can do for you.
