Thank you... And now we need your help
Last week, we held our annual conference, Bold Governance and Courageous Scrutiny, and it was a resounding success – thanks entirely to the vibrant community of delegates, speakers, panellists, and facilitators who brought energy, expertise, and fresh thinking to every conversation. We experienced thought-provoking sessions, powerful workshops, and inspiring speakers. Most importantly, every room fizzed with creativity, constructive challenge, and an overwhelming sense of shared purpose.
So, if you were part of it – thank you. You made the day genuinely impactful and memorable.
Conference resources now available
We’ve started collecting slides, outputs, reflections, and thoughts from the day. These resources will support your continuing conversations and ensure everyone, whether you attended or not, can benefit from the rich discussions.
Visit our Conference Resources page to explore further (and keep an eye out—more resources will be added over the coming weeks).
There’s one big thing we wanted to talk to you about right away…
This is a moment for Bold Governance and Courageous Scrutiny
One theme echoed powerfully through session after session: we are at a defining moment for local government and democracy.
At the heart of our conference lay ‘seizing the opportunity’ from the title of the conference, our chair Catherine Howe’s contribution in the opening plenary and the sessions, views and discussions throughout the day.
In local government we’re used to change. We have all seen transformations within councils, from services reduced, departments rearranged, and new approaches adopted. And we’re used to Acts of Parliament leading to wholesale change, e.g. how a service is delivered.
However, this is not just the familiar landscape of cost-cutting or incremental reforms. It’s about a fundamental reshaping of local government through ambitious devolution and transformation agendas. Many councils will be replaced, and elections held for mayors. This means over the next few years, local government will look starkly different for everyone. Outside of those reforms, there will be even more transformation of services, everywhere. We will also be faced with examining how we do local democracy – thinking about what the right relationship is for the state with people and how best to scrutinise new institutions.
At CfGS our mission has always been twofold:
- The first is we’re here to support a community of people – councillors and officers across local government – in continuously delivering and improving governance and scrutiny. Most of the time we do that through development, resources, and expertise.
- Secondly, as part of our responsibility to improve decision making, we also have to reflect that good practice to others in the system, advocating widely the value and importance of governance and scrutiny so that it is championed at every level by government and local governments.
Right now, that second part—being strong advocates for bold governance and courageous scrutiny beyond our immediate networks—has never been more crucial. It doesn’t mean the first goes away – far from it –– but it does mean we have to put serious effort into making sure scrutiny and governance is part of the wider conversation about how local government is changing.
With councils restructuring, new mayoral elections, and new ways of delivering services emerging rapidly, we have a unique—and pressing—opportunity to redefine how we do governance and scrutiny. Drawing from our collective wisdom and insights about what works, about what doesn’t and what could be reimagined. We must seize the opportunity of this moment.
What happens next? Your input is crucial
We want the vital conversations from our conference to keep going and we want to widen who is taking part in them. We know that a one-day event—however brilliant—can’t fully address every question raised or capture every opportunity identified.
And everyone who took part in the conference – and a lot of people who couldn’t make it — are so important to this moment. We want to make sure we have a good way of continuing the conversations we started with you at the conference. And that means our first question to you is how can we as a community keep talking?
We want your views to shape how we carry these conversations forward. Here are a few ideas we’re considering:
- Another conference later in the year to revisit key themes and maintain momentum.
- Online events and webinars to delve deeper into specific topics and themes from the conference.
- Regional events to bring local perspectives into national conversations.
As a small charity, we need to make the right choices. So below, we’ve included a quick survey – to start to understand what people’s appetite is for some of the different options we have. This is just a start – and the survey includes a chance for you to tell us what ideas you have for taking these conversations forward.
And, just to be clear, these ideas for events are over and above all the other things we are already doing – including learning events, and other activities we are engaged in. They will, of course, continue.
And lastly, we are keen to hear from everyone, whether you attended the conference or not. You’re all so important to this moment.
Very best wishes,
Mel Stevens, Chief Executive, and all the team at CfGS
All news