Government to take greater control of Liverpool city council

Intervention expanded to include financial decisions and governance after report calls for urgent reform.

The government’s intervention in the running of Liverpool city council is to be expanded to include governance and financial decision-making.

It comes after the publication of another critical report on the local authority by four commissioners appointed last year to work with the council staff in key areas after an inspection.

The report, published on Friday and addressed to the communities secretary, Greg Clark, said certain services were “failing” and in need of “urgent reform”.

It warns that poor performance in procurement, finance and auditing are limiting the “council’s ability to operate at a crucial time” and called for an added role of “finance commissioner”. It comes after a report in June revealed that Liverpool city council’s failure to renew contracts across a number of services could cost it millions.

Clark, in a letter to the commissioners, raises concerns about the financial situation facing the council. “I agree with your assessment that the council continues to fail in its best value duty and, therefore, I am minded to expand the intervention.”

But the government intervention has been questioned by the Liverpool city mayor, Joanne Anderson, who tweeted: “Further government intervention will not solve the issues facing Liverpool city council – these are common issues being experienced right across local government.

“Therefore, I accept the problems, but I question the solution.” While she thanked the commissioners, as well as the secretary of state, she said: “While I recognise that there are gaps in our workforce capacity and capability, this is not unique to Liverpool.

“The UK is facing stark skills shortages, and it [is] widely known that local councils are struggling to improve capacity in key areas, which is making us dependent on interim staff that cost more in the short term.”

One key reform is expected to be the creation of a Liverpool strategic futures advisory panel, chaired by the mayor of Liverpool city region, Steve Rotheram, and including Judith Blake, the former leader of Leeds city council, as well as Sir Howard Bernstein, the former chief executive of Manchester city council. Rotheram denied any suggestions that the panel had been created to run the council. He tweeted: “The panel is here to work with the mayor and council not to run it. We are not taking control of day-to-day statutory services. We will advise and offer support in setting strategic longer-term plans and priorities.”..

Comments

A Harvard nutritionist shares the No. 1 vitamin that keeps her brain ‘young and healthy’—and foods she eats ‘every day’

As a nutritional psychiatrist, I always make it a point to maintain a well-balanced diet. Much of that has to do with making sure I get all the right vitamins, especially because it’s essential to preventing cognitive decline. And given that the risk of neurological diseases increases as we get older, one question I often get from my patients is: “What is the best vitamin for protecting our aging brains?” Each of our microbiomes is like a thumbprint, so a truly effective eating plan is personalized to the unique needs of an individual. But the vitamin group I prioritize the most to keep my brain young and healthy are B vitamins. The brain benefits of B vitamins Depression, dementia and mental impairment are often associated with a deficiency of B vitamins, a study from the Wayne State University School of Medicine found. “A B12 vitamin deficiency as a cause of cognitive issues is more common than we think, especially among the elderly who live alone and don’t eat properly,”...

AUPCTRE to Buhari: Save NDDC from destruction, inaugurate board

The groundswell of agitation for the inauguration of the substantive board of NDDC in compliance with the law, has continued to rise with the demand from a Labour group, the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) to President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) The appeal was contained in a statement issued by the General Secretary of AUPCTRE, Comrade Sikiru Wahid, on Sunday, August 14, 2022. The labour union said the call has become imperative to save the commission from destruction. There has been unending calls by authentic stakeholders who have consistently demanded that the NDDC Act should be complied with in the governance of the Commission noting that it is illegal to have contraptions of interim management committees / sole administrator to administer the NDDC and arbitrarily utilise the monthly sums due to the Commission. AUPCTRE in th...

China issues alert as drought and heatwave put crops at risk

Good day 😊 Local authorities told to take measures and ‘use every unit of water carefully’ in effort to save autumn harvest A drought in China is threatening food production, prompting the government to order local authorities to take all available measures to ensure crops survive the hottest summer on record. On Tuesday, four government departments issued an urgent joint emergency notice, warning that the autumn harvest was under “severe threat”. It urged local authorities to ensure “every unit of water … be used carefully”, and called for methods included staggered irrigation, the diversion of new water sources, and cloud seeding. A record-breaking heatwave combined with a months-long drought during the usual flood season has wreaked havoc across China’s usually water-rich south. It has dried up parts of the Yangtze River and dozens of tributa...

24-7newsallround

Search This Blog