Associates

Meet the Associates

CfPS would like to introduce our team of expert practitioners.  Our associates are here to help you, your organisation and your partners.  With experience of scrutinising decision-makers and supporting the people in these roles, the team offers a wide ranging level of experience for all your training and development needs.

CfPS and its associates will build you a bespoke programme of work that will promote and build on current local scrutiny in your area.  Packages and programmes currently being offered include:

• The national policy landscape for audit, inspection and scrutiny
• The financial situation
• Member development programmes – engaging with decision-makers and partners more effectively.
• Annual work programmes for scrutiny
• Scrutiny evaluation

Benefits of using an associate:

• Bringing an independent and fresh approach to your scrutiny function.
• Expertise and knowledge in a given area.
• Wealth of national best practice examples.
• Time and resources to dedicate to the project.

Ensuring value for money
Development and improvement are critical in the current climate and the consultancy expertise that we offer through our associates will ensure that our support will add value to your scrutiny function. 

Other ways to make our development programmes as cost effective as possible include authorities joining up to carry out their training and development work.

For costs and further information on ensuring value for money, please download: Associates handbook

Below we introduce you to our associates and provide a ‘shopping list’ of their skills and areas of expertise.  This is the perfect way to find the right person to deliver a programme of work designed specifically for you.

To discuss running a programme of work in your organisation/region or to request a bespoke service, please contact Ed Hammond, Reseach & Information Manager, CfPS on 020 7296 6649 or ed.hammond@cfps.org.uk.

 Derek Bishop

• Developing and managing governance arrangements over a wide range of policy issues.
• First hand experience of managing a scrutiny team and supporting elected members to run a diverse programme of overview and scrutiny activities.  
• A good understanding of the sensitivities required to manage the relationships, tensions and issues that arise in working in a political setting.
• Partnership working.
• Develop programmes for local authorities and their partners on governance, policy issues and overview and scrutiny. 
• Change management
• Service reviews, reviews of the overview and scrutiny functions for local authorities.   

Charlotte Burnham

• leading cultural and operational changes within local authorities to deliver effective Overview and Scrutiny, in line with best practice;
• managing relationships/tensions that arise in a political setting, in particular in relation to Overview and Scrutiny;
• providing advice and guidance to Members and officers individually and collectively on management, governance and constitutional issues;
• designing and delivering bespoke training and development programmes, facilitating workshops / meetings for Members and officers on a wide range of issues, including Overview and Scrutiny.
• partnership scrutiny;
• establishing effective working relations between Cabinet, Overview and Scrutiny, Officers and Partners;
• questioning techniques/strategies;
• increasing community engagement within the work of Overview and Scrutiny;
• undertaking effective budget / performance management scrutiny (including delivery of LAAs);

Mark Butler

• Coach and specialist in change management and governance - working with Boards and senior teams throughout the UK.
• Professionally qualified as a mediator
• Areas of expertise:
• Futures thinking - strategy and policy review
• Personal and team development
• Organisational design and performance
• Conflict resolution and mediation
• Governance and risk strategy and implementation
• Involvement and engagement.

 
John Cade

• Recognising the tensions that the Executive/Scrutiny split brings
• Excellent track record of effectively clarifying and managing realistic expectations amongst Members, officers and partners and delivering positive results.
• Providing training to build trust and confidence in members of all political parties to develop a shared understanding of the contribution which scrutiny can make.
• Excellent all-round knowledge of the workings of local government and its various relationships with partners and central government.
  
   

Paul Dean

• Developing and reviewing scrutiny structures
• Effective topic selection in Member-led scrutiny which resolves the tension between scrutinising things that are deemed important and those where scrutiny can make the biggest impact
• Enhancing scrutiny Member team working to get more out of scrutiny  witness sessions
• Scrutiny of the LAA in two-tier areas through complementary scrutiny rather than joint committees
• How to avoid lies and damned lies when scrutinising performance management statistics!
• Effective stakeholder and public engagement in scrutiny
• Effective budget scrutiny through effective reconciling policy with available resources
• Enabling scrutiny to support external inspections or peer reviews
• Improving the meaningful impact of scrutiny on the local community.

 
Susan Dungworth

• Background in local government service delivery and scrutiny.
• Partnership working.
• National best practice.
• Scope, plan a deliver a varied range of projects and workshops for local authorities.
• Knowledge and understanding of the variations of political arrangements. 
   

 
Peter Edwards

• Leading Democratic Services the scrutiny function for various local authorities.
• Governance and democratic services including the new council constitutions, executive decision-making, scrutiny, as well as project and staff management, and interim management and consultancy.
• Working with Members.

  
Laura Murphy

• Organisational Development
• Strategic Visioning
• Overview & Scrutiny
• Leadership
• Partnership working and community engagement
• Mentoring

  
Rodger Mann
Waiting for CV details

   Ann Reeder

• Reviews of the role and performance of scrutiny using self-evaluation
• Facilitation of a scrutiny café for training or reviews
• Report writing for a scrutiny review relating to service delivery or governance
• Training and conference facilitation
• Production of briefings and toolkits
• Political management
• Standards and ethics
• Community engagement and consultation
• The role of a frontline councillor 

Sioned-Mair Richards
Details to follow

 Nike Shadiya
Details to follow


Val Slater

• Extensive public sector experience in both Central and Local Government.
• Experience in leading and managing change, budget and service planning, performance and staff management Member development - delivering an extensive range of topics for a wide range of public sector organizations including effectives scrutiny skills  leadership , meeting and chairing, questioning and interviewing skills for scrutiny, research and investigation skills , community involvement and participation and working in successful partnerships   
• Excellent understanding of sensitivities required to manage relationships, tensions and issues that arise in working in a political setting and across the different political groups, as well as County, District, Unitary and Metropolitan Councils.
• Learning and development specialist with excellent skills in facilitation, HR management and equalities.
• Listening, questioning and interviewing skills, practical and creative problem solving and organisational and planning across multiple projects.
• Skilled in undertaking reviews and challenges in particular of Overview and Scrutiny and also Equalities.
• Running workshops, meetings and leading and facilitating groups of all sizes on a wide range of issues.
• Experience as a director of a nationally well regarded third sector association specialising in Community Development and Consultancy.

Robin Stonebridge

• Organisation analysis, development and change management in discrete organisations and partnerships. Systems-wide approaches to change.
• Working with senior managers, Boards and Elected Members to develop greater understanding of organisational needs and priorities for delivering improved services for citizens.
• Coaching, mentoring and Member development primarily for strengthened roles in Overview and Scrutiny.
• Working with enthusiastic groups and teams to find innovative solutions to difficult problems.
  
   

Frances Taylor

• designing and delivering workshops and seminars on a variety of topics for both the public and private sector
• delivering workshops on crime-related Scrutiny for Local Authorities and the Police Authority designing and facilitating workshops on community engagement
• undertaking and reporting on evaluations for regulatory bodies scrutiny function and designing and delivering the induction programme for new scrutiny officers
• carrying out evaluations on local authorities scrutiny process
• providing support for local authority scrutiny reviews
• developing and delivering workshops on a range of other scrutiny related topics

Angela Woodhouse

• Public Engagement through scrutiny
• Scrutiny reviews of external agencies
• Work programming
• Scrutiny Re-structures/ new structures
• Call-in
• Councillor Call for Action

Tim Young

• Research and policy development; corporate and service planning; governance and political management; resident and service user consultation; performance management; service reviews; benchmarking and evaluation; equalities and diversity; and writing and producing publications.
• Wide range of development services for Members and authorities in the field of overview and scrutiny.  
• Worked extensively with Members across the political spectrum and with officers from different types of authority, across the country.