The government has announced that it is “minded to” appoint three commissioners at Nottingham City Council following last month’s issuance of a section 114 notice.
Nottingham has been under government intervention since September 2022 and as part of this has been subject to the scrutiny of an Improvement and Assurance Board (IAB), which is chaired by Sir Tony Redmond.
In a written ministerial statement today (13 December), local government minister Simon Hoare announced that the levelling up secretary Michael Gove is “minded to escalate” the current intervention arrangements. He proposed appointing three commissioners for two years, including a lead commissioner, a commissioner for finance and a commissioner for transformation.
This means that commissioners will have power over all authority functions associated with strategic decision making, financial management and recruitment.
Hoare stated that the further government intervention is due to the authority’s “continued failure” to comply with its best value duty, which is evident through its issuance of a section 114 report last month and the IAB’s latest progress report.
“Weaknesses in finance, transformation, along with an underlying culture of poor governance, continue to manifest themselves.
“The precarious nature of the council’s finances, and its effect on overall transformation, together with outstanding governance issues, are causes of serious concern.
“I want to place on record that the secretary of state recognises the rigour with which Sir Tony and his fellow board members approach their work in supporting the council to address the many challenges it faces. Indeed, without their sustained efforts to date, the current situation would be even more challenging.
“However, a change in approach is now required to secure the necessary improvements rapidly; there are still many difficult and pressing decisions ahead and the scale of the challenge cannot be underestimated,” Hoare said in his statement.
Finances ‘worsening’
The IAB’s latest report highlighted that Nottingham’s financial position is “worsening” rather than improving.
It stated that the board is “particularly concerned” about senior managerial grip to constrain spending within departmental budgets set for the year, with the continuing high level of volatility adding further pressure.
The report also outlined that Nottingham’s “current prospects are not encouraging”, with the authority facing a £50m budget gap for 2024/25 and having limited reserves and “capacity” to address it.
Other “serious concerns” highlighted in the IAB’s report included Nottingham’s failure to address weaknesses in the “underlying culture of the organisation in respect of governance and the workforce”.
In response to the government intervention, David Mellen, Nottingham council’s leader, said: “Clearly the appointment of commissioners would be very disappointing and not something that that we would want to happen. Any decision that reduces democratic accountability, however limited and temporary this may be, should not be taken lightly.”
Nottingham City Council and other interested parties have until 2 January 2024 to make representations about the proposed expansion of intervention.
Alongside expanding intervention in Nottingham, Hoare also announced that the government is “minded to” make changes to the existing directions at Liverpool and appointed new commissioners at Woking.
This comes as Gove stated last week that Nottingham City Council’s issuance of a section 114 notice was not caused by a lack of central government funding despite its spending power decreasing by 28% since 2010/11.
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