LGoS has won the award of Accountable Organisation of the Year 2010 from the Centre for Public Scrutiny. This award recognises the work of our scrutiny panels which we have held across this year covering the topics of Communication, Lobbying and Social Enterprise. The scrutiny panels consisted of students, external trustees (alumni) and members of the public (Councillor Louise Baldock, NUS Head of Education and Quality Alex Bols, and Sheffield Students’ Union Chief Exec Steve Hubbard)

 

The panel cross examined staff and officers on their work in these areas and made recommendations to Student Council and the Board of Trustees as to how we might improve. The investigations also meant that they could bring in other ‘witnesses.’ One such witness was Catherine Jones, University of Liverpool Academic Secretary, who came in to talk about our Lobbying work. Our scrutiny process was importantly focussed on our stakeholders, with both staff and officers’ work being put under the microscope.

 

LGoS was shortlisted along other public sector organisations such as Nottingham Primary Care Trust and Hackney Homes. The full shortlisting can be found here

 

Many students’ unions are on the verge of registering as charities, and this aspect of our governance is fundamental to how we ensure transparency and accountability to our members as a charitable organisation.

 

LGoS President said “This is national recognition for our efforts to be a student-led and student-accountable organisation, delivering for the people that elected us. We hope to build on our scrutiny processes, because in this year more than ever, it is important that students can have an influence on their union and the services which they ultimately are paying for.”

 

More information about the awards can be found here, and our award profile is available here.