About us

The Centre for Public Scrutiny has been created to help those who look at the effectiveness of public services. We are an independent not-for-profit company set up originally by the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government, and incorporated as an independent organisation in 2003 by the Local Government Association, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy and the Democratic Health Network of the Local Government Information Unit.
 
We believe that the role that scrutineers play in holding decision-makers to account and in making suggestions for improvements to services is essential. Since its founding, the Centre for Public Scrutiny has become recognised for its work in facilitating the development of good scrutiny and helping the public to play their part.

CfPS is governed by a Board and supported by an Advisory Board. The Board is comprised of Directors from our three incorporating bodies (LGA, CIPFA and LGiU), two independent non-executive Directors, including the Chair, the Rt Hon Nick Raynsford MP, and the Executive Director of CfPS.
 

Beginnings
 
Since its creation in 2003 the Centre for Public Scrutiny has cemented its position as the leading national voice of public scrutiny and scrutineers.

The Centre for Public Scrutiny was established in response to Section 21, part II of the Local Government Act 2000 which established a requirement for local authorities operating under executive arrangements (councils with a leader and cabinet structure) to create overview and scrutiny committees (OSCs) consisting of non-executive (non-cabinet) members. 
  
This step towards a more publicly accessible scrutiny of local government made the need for an organisation that could highlight the role that scrutiny plays in governing all public services even more pressing. The Centre for Public Scrutiny has grown to be able to provide a range of services designed to ensure that the governance of services remains open to the influence of the public.
 
You can find out more about public scrutiny by visiting the Introduction to Scrutiny section of our website
 
 
The Centre for Public Scrutiny aims to:

• enhance the public’s understanding of what scrutiny means, why it matters and how together we can get it right.
• provide a space for scrutineers to learn from one another and share ideas
• highlight good scrutiny to encourage others across the public sector to follow suit.
• undertake research that can show decision-makers the value of scrutiny and what they can do to to help it get better.
• provide evidence based and up-to-date guidance for scrutineers that gives them the tools to approach scrutiny with confidence.

Four principles
 
We have established four core principles to help people understand the most important activities of scrutiny:

1. provides ‘critical friend’ challenge to executive policy-makers and decision-makers
2. enables the voice and concerns of the public and its communities
3. is carried out by ‘independent minded governors’ who lead and own the scrutiny process
4. drives improvement in public services

Find out more about these four principles in our Good Scrutiny Guide.