[Ed Hammond]

The Welsh Government has agreed £360,000 of funding for us between now and April 2015 to deliver a comprehensive programme of support for scrutiny - focusing on joint scrutiny and relationships with partners. (Obviously, the funding applies to authorities in Wales only).

This will incorporate online and offline collaboration over work programmes, authority-specific support (which will dovetail with the existing Scrutiny Development Fund) and targeted work with "designated persons".

We are recruiting two Wales-based staff to help to deliver this programme of work; more information on that exercise will be posted next week.

We are looking for comments on the programme before we draw up a final, detailed plan. Details can be found at http://www.cfps.org.uk/wales.