Blog: 16 June 2023 - Rachel McKoy, LLG President

Happy Friday All, 

It was such a joy to welcome so many of our LLG colleagues to Day 1 of the LLG Spring Conference 2023 ……last Friday (in person) at the Park Regis in Birmingham. It was fabulous to network, celebrate our successes (at our annual awards), and also hear from a stellar line of speakers!  

Professional enrichment 101? Absolutely. Those that attended shared the value they took from it, which is the purpose of curating a thoughtful agenda so “hats off” to the wider LLG Team which pulled it all together. Day 2 continues virtually today and I look forward to seeing you in the virtual world throughout the day.  

One theme that flowed through Day 1 of the conference was the trajectory of good governance; what it means, where we are at and how we can improve it? The Spring Conference had a real focus upon the role and exposure of the Monitoring Officer within this space and offered some pragmatic advice and discussion. 

Against the backdrop of this, how timely it was to wake up this morning to another public interest report which again highlighted severe governance failings leading to the substantial financial reserves being “gambled” on risky investments without accountability. Unfortunately, not the first and perhaps not the last authority experiencing such issues. References to “unconscious incompetence”, a culture that was timid and incurious….. leading to an “abdication of responsibility” tell the story. Ultimately, though a collapse in personal and collective leadership as an entire organisation owns governance in my view. 

So how can we as a membership organisation support the sector and our colleagues that are left floundering to pick up the pieces of often legacy project failures that are now coming to fruition? Governance doesn’t collapse overnight after all. The future is all about positive next steps and the shared practical learning as opposed to a blame game. 

LLG hold a central position in aiding the solution and providing an opportunity to embed good governance and ultimately support our Monitoring Officers through the shifting sands of potential government change in the assurance space coming down the tracks #OFLOG and the Improvement and Assurance framework.  

So, what are we doing, well lots as it happens. We are working on a joint piece of work with Browne Jacobson and the LGIU to gather empirical evidence to give credibility to what we all know, which is that the downgrading of legal and the MO together with a lack of sanctions and the erosion of ethical governance impacts governance in a bad way. We are also working with Grant Thornton, CIPFA and SOLACE on a project examining corporate governance failings and of course we have our recently launched MO Panel Defence Scheme which members can access when things get tough. We are also in talks with the LGA about joint working in the governance space and are beginning work with the Legal Services Board on conduct and culture undermining the rule of law in the broadest sense. LLG are very much front and centre in this space! 

We are here to support our members so please utilise the support on offer if needed and come forward to help shape some of this work. 

Our forthcoming Monitoring Officer Conference on 20 July 2023 will again focus on some of these themes so do hope you are able to join us. Until then, keep those best feet forward and channel that inner Danger Mouse – we do a great job for our communities. 

Best wishes  

Rachel McKoy 

LLG President