Local authorities have a variety of different governance models. These range from elected mayor, to the cabinet and a scrutiny system approach, while others have moved back to committee systems. Arguments can be made both for and against the effectiveness of all of these models. However, as our new report Lessons from recent public interest reports explores, in the cases of the recent public interest reports (PIRs), and for some other councils, the issues are less about the system of governance in place and more about how effectively it operates, who operates it and how willing they are to accept scrutiny and challenge.