Owen Mapley, CIPFA’s new chief executive officer (CEO), has laid out the “three core areas” of his “vision” for the organisation: focusing on members; understanding CIPFA’s proposition; and combining the “now and the next”.
Speaking on day two of the Public Finance Live conference in Manchester, Mapley highlighted that he is looking to “refresh the member value proposition” in explaining his first core area. Later on, he told delegates that it is “time to forge a new path”.
Sitting down with Room151, the new CIPFA CEO reiterated this sentiment, suggesting that “members are at the beating of heart” of the organisation.
“I’m full of respect and gratitude for the members out there who do get involved in supporting each other, driving the regional networks and collaborating with local partners. So, I want to do more to help support that,” Mapley said, responding to the suggestion from some members that CIPFA has not always fully served their interests.
When questioned on his support for councils taking on commercial risk, he stated that CIPFA, in its role as a “standard setter and regulator”, will continue to “call out” and “address” authorities which do take on “excessive risks, whether that be in nature or in scale”.
However, he “would support and defend councils who use those freedoms and flexibilities as part of delivering for local people”, Mapley explained.
This comes as some section 151 officers at a small number of authorities had to issue section 114 notices following bad commercial investment decisions.
‘Risk is innovation’
When it comes to commercial risk, Mapley added, this must be done “transparently and openly”, while “appropriate risk taking is innovation”.
“It’s when things are done without evidence or in secrecy or where information is kept just to a tiny group of people. That is when you get into trouble,” he said.
Asked whether he is looking to tighten the Prudential Code further, Mapley said that in his second week on the job he is not “stating any policy”, but “looking at the tools that professionals and councils need to address the challenges we face, [this] absolutely has to be kept under review”.
“I think the Prudential Code as it is, provides opportunities, and let’s not forget the vast majority of councils that have not got into those existential crises. There are some [authorities] where there were inappropriate investments and it would be wrong for all councils to be constrained,” Mapley stated.
EFS: ‘the canary in the coal mine’
However, with 14 years of austerity and increasing demand for services, it is not just authorities that have had issues with debt or commercial investments that are struggling financially.
Last year, 19 local authorities received Exceptional Financial Support (EFS), with many in the sector suggesting that this is not sustainable and makes it difficult for councils to improve their debt position.
When questioned on whether CIPFA recognises this, Mapley stated that this is “the canary in the coal mine” and a “good example of the dialogue we want to have with government”.
Earlier on in his Q&A with delegates, Mapley noted that he plans to make clear to central government the “state we [the public sector] are in”, reiterating that he will “speak truth to power”.
“There was lots of debate and focus in the last parliament on those councils that had got into the biggest trouble,” he told Room151.
“It’s increasingly clear that a lot of councils are facing significant difficulty because of the massive increases in volume and complexity of demand, the inflationary pressures they are under [and] the workforce constraints they’re facing.
“The number of councils using EFS is a good indicator of that and we need to call out how unsustainable that is.
“We need to move to a different model, be it through the longer term planning [or] better injections of funding through different routes.”
However, when answering a question from the audience on whether he anticipates being as “strident as his predecessor at criticising the government”, he said: “What I can promise is that I will be myself and when things have to be said, I will say them.
“I won’t be comparing myself to anybody because I think it’s time to forge a new path and I’m looking forward to doing that.”
Audit and recruitment
Touching on the two other core areas of his “vision”, Mapley stated that he wants to provide greater clarity on how CIPFA operates and to focus on addressing macroeconomic issues for the future.
In his interview with Room151, Mapley also noted two other issues which he hopes to help address: audit and recruitment.
Speaking on audit, CIPFA’s new CEO recognised that this is a “big issue”, which “we need to do something about it, and by we, I mean all the system partners”.
“We need to talk to the new government, and nothing should be off the table,” he added.
This comes as uncertainty has arisen in the sector as to whether the new Labour government will progress with proposals, consulted on in Spring, to address the local authority audit backlog.
“The very clear message from me and CIPFA is we have to grasp this, however difficult it is, because we cannot allow this to become normalised that accounts are default qualified or routinely late,” he said.
Finally, Mapley acknowledged that recruitment is an issue to be addressed, stating that it is his job to help show and demonstrate how “worthwhile” a career in public services is; “how finance is not some dusty back office, rules based, boring profession”.
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