Round table discussions
Round table participants: John Cade, Institute of Local Government Studies
Ashleigh Madjitey, Audit Scotland; Tim Gilling, Centre for Public Scrutiny
Emma Burnell, New Local Government Network
The Accounts Commission's 2010 report How councils work - Roles and working relationships: are you getting it right? emphasised that councillors and officers must keep up with a complex and evolving role. The Accounts Commission hosted two round table discussions to explore how the current local government environment impacts on the governance of councils. The Accounts Commission used the messages from these discussions to inform its follow-up report “How councils work: Roles and working relationships – are you still getting it right?” A summary of each discussion is below.
Round table 1
This included leading practitioners and academics from England and Wales and looked at how the operating context and practice there impacted on the skills and roles required of officers and councillors.
Round table 2
This included representatives from Scottish local government and discussed the themes from the first event further to identify issues and the likely lessons for Scottish local government.
Who attended the round table events
George Black, Strathclyde University; Jenny Laing, Aberdeen City Council; Lorna Johnston, Standards Commission
Karen Wiles, SOLAR
Richard Kerley, Queen Margaret University
Leading local government practitioners and academics attended the round tables, from organisations including:
- Accounts Commission
- Audit Scotland
- Centre for Public Scrutiny
- Councillor representatives
- Good Governance Institute
- Institute of Local Government Studies
- Queen Margaret University
- New Local Government Network
- SOLACE
- SOLAR
- Standards Commission
- Strathclyde University
