Jessica Crowe is Executive Director of the Centre for Public Scrutiny, an independent charity founded in 2003 to promote better scrutiny and accountability in decision-making across the public sector.

Prior to joining CfPS in 2006, she was a councillor for eight years in the London Borough of Hackney, where she was Deputy Mayor and part of the team responsible for the turnaround in how the council is run. In July 2010 she became one of three Commissioners appointed by the government to help improve the governance of Doncaster Council.

In 2007-08 she was on the independent Councillors Commission, which investigated the barriers and incentives to becoming an elected councillor. From 2004 to 2008 she was a non-executive director of Homerton University Foundation Hospital Trust. She has extensive experience in elected and lay member training and adult education and has worked as an adviser to a government minister, the Local Government Association and LGIU. She lives in Hackney with her partner and two children.

Read Jessica’s blog on all things scrutiny and accountability.