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Publications

For further details on the publications listed below or to purchase online, please click on the title or go to the CIPFA Shop.

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Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Framework (2007)

Each local government body operates through a governance framework which brings together an underlying set of legislative requirements, governance principles and management processes. Delivering Good Governance in Local Government : Framework defines the principles that should underpin the governance of each local government body. It provides a structure to help individual authorities with their own approach to governance. The Framework is intended to be followed as best practice for developing and maintaining a local code of governance and for discharging accountability for the proper conduct of public business, through the publication of an annual governance statement that will make the adopted practice open and explicit.

Delivering Good Governance in Local Government: Guidance Note (2007)

A Guidance Note has been developed to accompany the Framework. It provides practical assistance to authorities in:

considering how they might go about reviewing their governance arrangements
developing and updating their own local codes of governance
demonstrating compliance with the principles of good governance.

It outlines how good governance principles have evolved and looks at how the ‘governing body’ operates in local government.

Sustainability: A Reporting Framework for the Public Services (2006)

There is high level commitment to sustainable development. In March 2005 the UK Government published Securing the Future - delivering UK sustainable development strategy, and One Future - Different Paths, the UK's shared framework for sustainable development. Public sector organisations have a common goal to deliver quality of life. Increasingly, sustainability, which encompasses ensuring quality of life for all over the long-term, is embedded in statutory requirements.

CIPFA's framework, developed in conjunction with Forum for the Future, enables UK public sector organisations to put sustainability reporting into practice. This framework takes you through the practical steps you need to make to deliver a meaningful sustainability report.

Audit Committees – Practical Guidance For Local Authorities (2005)

This guidance from CIPFA encourages local authorities to put in place an audit committee where they do not have one, and helps those with established committees to make them more effective.

Ideally, audit committees should be separate from executive and scrutiny arrangements, and chaired independently from both these functions. Local authorities may organise their committee functions differently, but what is important is that the functions of an audit committee are delivered efficiently and effectively.

Status and independence are important, but being effective also means having well informed people able to confirm to the council that the right processes are in place to give confidence that the local authority's financial stewardship and overall governance arrangements can be relied upon. CIPFA's guidance, therefore, provides valuable advice on the skills required by members, their selection and training, and how committees should be supported.

Handbook for Audit Committee Members in Further and Higher Education (Fully Revised Second Edition) (2005)

This handbook updates the hugely popular 1996 publication. It provides a practical source of guidance and advice for audit committee members and the executive in further and higher education. It will also be valuable to other board members who retain some key audit responsibilities and for other interested parties.

The Good Governance Standard for Public Services (2004)
Early in 2004, the Office of Public Management (OPM) and CIPFA in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation established an independent commission to develop a common code for good governance across the public services. The Independent Commission on Good Governance for Public Services is chaired by Sir Alan Langlands, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Dundee and former chief executive of the National Health Service.

The result of the Commission's work is the The Good Governance Standard for Public Services. It provides a guide that will help everyone concerned with governance to understand and apply common principles, and also to assess the strengths and weaknesses of current governance practice and seek to improve it. The Commission hopes that the Standard will be of help to governors - the people with the overall responsibility for directing and controlling public service organisations - to do a difficult job better and to be useful to individuals and groups who have an interest in scrutinising the effectiveness of governance.

The Standard does not seek to duplicate the codes and guidance that already exist for some types of organisation. The Commission hopes that those who develop and set these codes will refer to the Standard in updating and reviewing their own codes and use the Standard to enhance the debate about governance within and between different sectors. Where codes do not already exist, as in many formal and informal partnerships, the Standard can provide a clear basis for a shared understanding of what constitutes good governance.

Further information about the Independent Commission and its work can be found on the project's website at www.opm.co.uk/icggps/. Copies of the Standard can be ordered from CIPFA or OPM. Please click here.