Meeting your needs

CfPS provides training, development and guidance to scrutiny practitioners in a variety of different ways.

Training sessions with scrutiny practitioners – CfPS staff or the CfPS Associates can go into individual organisations and provide bespoke training, advice or assistance. There is usually a charge for this service. More information on this is provided on the CfPS Associates page.

Attendance at meetings – where organisations are running their own training sessions, CfPS staff are often able to attend to provide an independent, external view of a current policy issue, or to discuss upcoming policy developments with officers and members.

Seminars and conferences – CfPS runs regular training sessions for scrutiny members and officers around the country (in Wales, this is delivered in partnership with the Welsh Local Government Association). There is usually a fee for attendance at these events. Specific training and development delivered by the CfPS includes: 

• The CfPS Annual Conference  has been running since  2003, and since 2005 has incorporated an Officer Development Day, which links in to some of the key competencies that officers require to fulfil a scrutiny function

• Leadership Academies have been run on behalf of the Improvement & Development Agency (IDeA) for elected members in Cumbria and in Wales, and it is expected that – with the co-operation of regional scrutiny networks – these will be rolled out further in the future.

• Parliamentary Seminars are run in partnership with the House of Commons Clerks Department for elected members to give them the opportunity to share knowledge and expertise with those who carry out scrutiny activities in Parliament.

• Training seminars and events are run by CfPS as part of other pieces of work, or to spread best practice – for example, in relation to finance scrutiny.

Although the focus of a lot of CfPS work is on local authorities, advice, guidance and assistance is provided to non-executives with scrutiny or “holding to account” roles across other organisations. For example, we have worked with the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Association of Port Health Authorities to develop their scrutiny and governance processes. You may want to visit the "Introduction to Scrutiny"  page for further information.

Individual discussion – CfPS staff are always able to provide answers to scrutiny questions from any organisation, by phone or e-mail (link to contact us page).