Verity House Agreement - Assurance and Accountability
This document sets out the assurance and accountability approach local government and the Scottish Government will use to evidence progress towards our shared priorities, setting out the principles of the Verity House Agreement outcomes framework.
5. Engagement
Assurance and accountability arrangements will support ongoing engagement at political and official level as part of the Verity House Agreement, in previous years this has included:
- bi-annual meetings between the First Minister and COSLA President;
- Planned meetings between Ministers, and COSLA Group Leaders and spokespeople;[9] and
- Strategic Review Group meetings with the Local Government Minister and the COSLA Presidential Team, where at least two of five meetings each year will incorporate a deep dive into progress towards shared priority outcomes with wider COSLA Leaders and Ministers attending as required.
Wider existing engagement will also support assurance and accountability arrangements. This includes regular meetings between COSLA spokespeople and Ministers, relationship meetings and engagement between the Scottish Government’s Executive Team and COSLA’s Senior Management Team.
The assurance and accountability arrangements facilitate strategic discussions at all levels to understand progress, allow for the identification of any concerns and commissioning of action as necessary. Discussions will be informed by the monitoring framework and relevant portfolio and policy-specific evidence where necessary. Regular engagement will support the joint assessment of capacity and leadership across the Scottish Government and Local Government to deliver shared priority outcomes effectively.