[Ed Hammond]

I've noticed that there haven't been any responses to this thread!

The event was last week, but there's no reason not to give this a go. Any ideas? I would probably combine my three wishes into one "megawish", that the future will see scrutiny becoming an independent function sitting outside the council, with a remit across all LSP partners (and other public sector bodies operating locally) involving non-executives from all parts of the public sector, and funded by local precept.

NB - I have assumed that there is no need for these wishes to be in any way realistic.

[Matthew Garrard]

Ehammond Wrote:that the future will see scrutiny becoming an independent function sitting outside the council, with a remit across all LSP partners (and other public sector bodies operating locally) involving non-executives from all parts of the public sector, and funded by local precept.

NB - I have assumed that there is no need for these wishes to be in any way realistic.

That's a shame because I consider that to be entirely realistic

[Ed Hammond]

It's not impossible but ultimately I can't see the financial independence being achievable, at least in the short term.

But it would be an excellent solution to the "additional responsibilities without additional resources" problem. The financial simplicity and transparency of the whole thing makes it very attractive.

I suppose that, if planned carefully, there's no reason why something looking like this couldn't be done under the terms of the existing legislation. The interface with police authorities would, as ever, need to be planned with care.

At the moment, Cardiff's LSB Scrutiny Panel is what looks most like this model. Maybe we should be encouraging more councils to take this approach? By spreading support for scrutiny across other partners it reduces the risk of arbitrary budget cuts (or abolition) by an antagonistic executive.

[Matthew Garrard]

Ehammond Wrote:It's not impossible but ultimately I can't see the financial independence being achievable, at least in the short term.

But it would be an excellent solution to the "additional responsibilities without additional resources" problem. The financial simplicity and transparency of the whole thing makes it very attractive.

I suppose that, if planned carefully, there's no reason why something looking like this couldn't be done under the terms of the existing legislation. The interface with police authorities would, as ever, need to be planned with care.

At the moment, Cardiff's LSB Scrutiny Panel is what looks most like this model. Maybe we should be encouraging more councils to take this approach? By spreading support for scrutiny across other partners it reduces the risk of arbitrary budget cuts (or abolition) by an antagonistic executive.

Now if only there was an organisation that saw it as its role to lead the debate on such ideas, share good practice examples, advise on future policy and shape national thinking...

[Ed Hammond]

But we will, we will!

About which more in the very very near future.