LGA publishes new improvement and assurance framework

A new improvement and assurance framework, designed to help councils check that they have the right controls in place and identify where they need to become more effective, has been published by the Local Government Association.

The framework, developed by the LGA, follows extensive engagement with local authorities, professional bodies and other stakeholders and will be used to help understand how all the different elements used to provide assurance and accountability in local government fit together, and to signpost to related support and guidance.

Ultimately, the framework will support authorities to develop the effectiveness of their own assurance and to reduce the risk of failure.

The framework, which was reviewed by the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board, highlights factors that make a difference to councils. These include being transparent and open to external challenge such as a corporate peer challenge, and having political and managerial leadership which visibly prioritises ‘doing the right thing’.

It also includes explanations of its various components, key principles for good assurance and accountability and some descriptions of what ‘good’ looks like.

Alongside these explanations are links to the relevant support offers and guidance, including offers and publications by the LGA and its partners such as CIPFA and the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny.  There are also good practice case studies on the LGA website.

Examples of the kinds of assurance activities councils should be undertaking include:

• An annual review of the effectiveness of the council’s controls and governance
• Regularly reviewing performance, finance and risk information, and taking actions where needed
• Ensuring that both members and officers have the skills they need for their roles
• Focused and constructive challenge by scrutiny of decisions and policy development (in councils with the mayor or leader/ cabinet model of governance)
• Oversight and challenge of arrangements for risk and audit by the audit committee

Cllr Abi Brown OBE, Chairman of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board, said:

“Councils do many and varied things to keep themselves ‘safe’ and checking what they are doing is lawful, in line with professional standards and appropriate performance targets.

“This process of checking – or ‘assurance’ – should be evidence-based and accurate, and enable others, such as the public, to hold the council to account for the services that they deliver.

“This framework, published today, has been designed to support this.  It will change and evolve in line with the local government landscape, to develop new tools and support.

“It’s more important than ever that councils, in the current financial context, are using all of the elements of this framework effectively, to identify and manage risks to performance and corporate governance.”

Notes to Editors

LGA: Improvement and assurance framework for local government