Every day, 5.4 million public sector workers in public, private or third sector organisations deliver services ranging from healthcare to waste collection to the British public. They are held to account by more than 21,000 elected officials, including councillors and MPs.

Yet, high profile failures inevitably happen, be it the Grenfell fire or the Mid Staffs scandal. The Institute for Government has found that weak accountability increases the risk that such failures occur, from financial mismanagement to public harm. In response, we recommend greater scrutiny in local government to deal with the reality of modern public service delivery.