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LGA Councillor Workbook on commissioning services
“As a councillor, you have a good understanding of the needs of the people you represent. In a business transformation process, your role is to challenge current practices and seek to effect changes that will meet the needs of your community more effectively and efficiently.”
Published in June 2018, the Councillor Workbook on commissioning services is based on the learning and experiences derived from the LGA’s Commissioning Academy — a programme which brings together senior commissioners from across the public sector to learn from the example of the most successful commissioning organisations, developing a cadre of professionals that are progressive in their outlook on how the public sector delivers outcomes to local communities.
From the workbook’s introduction:
“This Local Government Association (LGA) workbook has been designed as a distance learning aid for local councillors. It is intended to provide councillors with insight and assistance with the key skills which will help you to be most effective in your role. Some of the content may be of most use to more newly elected councillors, but nonetheless if you have been a councillor for some time, the workbook should serve as a useful reminder of some of the key skills, approaches and tactics that make for an effective ward councillor. It may even challenge you to reconsider how you have approached aspects of the role to date.
Those councillors who are new to local government will recognise that there are many aspects to being an effective ward or division councillor. The workbook will help you to get up to speed on the main areas that require focus and attention. In effect, it should provide you with some pointers on how to develop a style and approach that you are comfortable with, and that enables you to be most effective in your day to day duties.”
The workbook includes chapters that define commissioning, outline the modern approach to such, discuss the need for scrutiny and oversight, and elucidate the individual councillor’s role in the process. It is available to download from the LGA website.