Over the past 12 months, issues around accountability and scrutiny have been almost constantly making media headlines.
Stories about the running of Parliament, the safety of children, the quality of hospital and care services and the way our money is invested have all demonstrated the need to strengthen and support effective scrutiny and accountability.
The Centre for Public Scrutiny supports anyone with a formal 'non-executive' role to hold decision makers to account in the public sector. The words of broadcaster Jeremy Paxman, who opened our first annual conference seven years ago, still hold true – "there is a perfectly acceptable alternative career in public life and it is the job of holding powerful people to account".
Much of the centre's work is with local authority councillors serving on overview and scrutiny committees. They are an important part of a wider "local accountability framework" that also includes the public and communities (either as service users or taxpayers and very often both), and people or groups with a role in relation to particular services, such as NHS Foundation Trust patient governors, Local Involvement Networks or parent governors on school governing bodies.
Tim Gilling
There are opportunities for each of these parts of the framework to 'have their say' about the way services are planned and delivered.Local councillors on scrutiny committees have very wide ranging powers to hold their council executive to account and scrutinise crime and disorder and health matters. They can also look at how partner organisations are working towards achieving Local Area Agreement targets. At a national level, MPs on parliamentary select committees scrutinise the work of government departments and hold ministers to account for policy direction. Inspectors and regulators work across the country to check that local performance and outcomes meet expectations.
Good Scrutiny Awards
Our Good Scrutiny Awards (see more information on our website) help to celebrate the achievements of these non-executive and also highlights that 'accountability works'. Our awards have grown from strength to strength and with our 2010 awards opening this week we are now encouraging individuals, groups or teams, organisations and partnerships from across the public sector to submit any entry.
This year's awards will promote accountable public services, they will celebrate the work of 'non-executives' in the public sector and also recognise public sector organisations that respect the work of non-executives.
Previous winners have found that receiving an award has raised the profile of their work: "A key component of the work for which we won our award was the effectiveness of joint working with our partners in the community and voluntary sector," says Lynne Margetts, service manager for scrutiny in the London borough of Harrow.
"By acknowledging the effectiveness of the engagement with third sector colleagues, the award has strengthened this partnership and at the same has highlighted the profile of scrutiny and the contribution it can make to service improvement."
Simon Harper, scrutiny support team leader at Gloucestershire county council, says winning the scrutiny chair of the year award and being part of the winning entry for health scrutiny has done much to raise the profile of scrutiny in Gloucestershire.
"Through coverage in the local media the public are becoming aware of the important role of scrutiny in holding public service providers to account," he comments. "Our award winning scrutiny chair, councillor Andrew Gravells, has been invited to events throughout the country and is spreading the word that scrutiny done well can really add value and make a difference for local people."
We think most people and organisations will have done something in the last year that they are proud of and we look forward to receiving this year's entries.
Tim Gilling is executive director at the Centre for Public Scrutiny cfps.org.uk
From Bubb's Blog
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