For the first time, half a million people who serve on governing bodies in the UK have a single, common Standard that clarifies their roles and responsibilities. The Standard will help governing bodies to review their own effectiveness; the public and regulators can use it to review, challenge and question how services are governed, and seek improvements.

The Good Governance Standard for Public Services presents six core principles of governance that are common to all public service organisations. Each principle has supporting principles that provide more detailed guidance, along with practical advice on how to apply them. There is a set of probing questions for governors to assess how well they are living up to Standard, and another set for members of the public who want to find out how well their services are governed.

The Independent Commission on Good Governance in Public Services, chaired by Sir Alan Langlands, drew on the views of a wide range of people with experience of governance, and of service users and citizens, to produce the Standard.

The Commission was established and supported by the Office for Public Management (OPM®) and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

For more information, please visit www.opm.co.uk/ICGGPS.

The Standard can be downloaded free here: PDF [size: 426KB]

Printed copies cost £20 for the first copy, £10 for up to 29 subsequent copies, and £5 for up to 30 subsequent copies or more.

Prices include postage and packing.