[Nick Beale]

Ed, if there's an award at next year's conference for Best Forum Post, Josh should definitely get it.

[Dave Mckenna]

Great thread so far.

Agree with the points about backbenchers - i think this is at the heart of this policy change. Not sure it makes much difference to the executive as chairs under the old system used work as a virtual cabinet in anycase - I'd say 'but behind closed doors' but most decisons are taken in group anyway.

As there will be some backbenchers who value some aspects of scrutiny it's important to know who and what so that 'committee system scrutiny' can be designed with this in mind.

Exactly what support will be required for 'new committees' is also an interesting one.

I'd love to see the paper as well!

[Ed Hammond]

I am going to print out Josh's comment and frame it.

I have uploaded the Audit Commission report onto the website - it can be found here -

http://www.cfps.org.uk/what-we-do/public...al/?id=142

[Ed Hammond]

Hi all, short update on this.

We discussed the draft briefing I'm preparing on this subject at the National Forum yesterday. The consensus of the meeting was that attendees wanted me to wait until the publication of the Bill, when we know exactly what the legislation is going to look like, before publishing this briefing. This would give it the maximum utility to practitioners. The Forum also made a number of suggestions for revisions which mean that, even if I published as soon as I could, I wouldn't be in a position to put anything out before next week.

I wanted to let you know and to see if anyone held the opposing view - that it was important to get this briefing out asap. Having discussed it at the Forum I tend to agree with their conclusions but if some of you are feeling extra urgency at the moment, please let me know. I may be in a position to provide advice on policy to people over the phone or by e-mail to assist you over the next few weeks before the briefing is actually published, which may provide a stopgap.

Ed