We help organisations that want to make a greater social impact, respond to change and meet the needs of their communities.

• Home
• About OPM
• The work we do
• Ideas, areas and approaches
• Publications and events
• Forums/blog

W3C-validated transitional XHTML

W3C-validated CSS

Pages change and sometimes invalid code can creep in, so we re-validate our pages regularly. Please tell us of any errors you spot.

 

Effective scrutiny can influence the quality of service delivery and inform the strategic direction of a local authority.  Although perhaps the least understood of an authority’s functions, it can, if implemented well, be an exciting and powerful tool for ensuring policies are implemented successfully.

Are you getting results? Our conference on scrutiny

"I thought the event was excellent, one of the best I've been to"

Our 2007 conference on scrutiny allowed people to discuss with colleagues the implications of the Local Government White Paper and to get one step ahead. In the opening session Jessica Crowe, Executive Director of Center for Public Scrutiny (CfPS) outlined three major challenges for local authority overview and scrutiny committees:

• Strengthen scrutiny and governance arrangements of Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and LAA partners in preparation for new scrutiny powers;
• Enhance scrutiny’s contribution and performance in preparation for the new comprehensive area assessment framework (CAA) to be introduced in 2009
• Strengthen public involvement in scrutiny through locally developed CAAs and other mechanisms.

We discussed and helped to design a 'template' for good scrutiny and had a stimulating session on how to achieve a positive culture which facilitates effective scrutiny. People drew comparisons across:

• Stature and prestige
• Convention and tradition
• Profile
• Independence.

For full details of the event and the speakers' presentations use the links below.

Workshop presentations

• Gillian Fawcett: Powerpoint presentation
• Centre for Public Scrutiny - Staying one step ahead of the Local Government White Paper
• Audit Commission - Learning from CPA and the new performance assessment framework
• Birmingham University - The Local Government White Paper - implications for scrutiny
• Hartlepool DC - A case study and tips for achieving effective scrutiny
• House of Commons - Achieving a positive culture which supports scrutiny
• Tameside DC - - Achieving a positive culture which supports scrutiny
• OPM - Financial scrutiny key challenges and top tips
• OPM - Open to public scrutiny good practice case studies and top tips.
  

---