A new improvement and assurance framework has been published by the Local Government Association (LGA).
The framework is designed to help councils check that they have the right controls in place and identify where they need to become more effective, the LGA said, which is “more important than ever” given the financial pressures on the sector.
The framework has been developed following engagement with local authorities, professional bodies and other stakeholders.
All elements of providing assurance and accountability in local government are brought together in the framework, which seeks to illustrate how they fit together to “support authorities to develop the effectiveness of their own assurance and to reduce the risk of failure”.
The importance of being “transparent and open to external challenge such as a corporate peer challenge” is set out, alongside “having political and managerial leadership which visibly prioritises ‘doing the right thing’”.
Along with links to relevant support offers and guidance, the framework also includes explanations of its various components, key principles for good assurance and accountability and some descriptions of what ‘good’ looks like, the LGA noted.
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.”
The LGA’s new improvement and assurance framework can be viewed here.
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