Slough Borough Council has welcomed Michael Gove’s commitment that the proposed Office for Local Government will not be an “administrative burden” on local authorities.
The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, speaking at the annual conference of the Local Government Association (LGA) on 28 June, announced the creation of the new body, which aims to benchmark and drive performance in councils.
Cllr James Swindlehurst, leader of Slough Borough Council, told Room151: “We welcome Michael Gove’s comments that there is much to celebrate in local government, and we are pleased the new Office for Local Government is to be useful to local authorities rather than an administrative burden.”
Gove made specific reference in his LGA speech to a history of “weak leadership” at Slough. “Long-running mismanagement by the borough council, with little or no effective scrutiny over decision-making let residents down,” he said.
As a result, commissioners had to be sent in to address “failings in its financial management and governance”.
Alongside Slough, Gove also highlighted the arrest of Liverpool City Council’s former mayor and the ongoing police investigation into alleged corruption and illegal activity. This triggered a Best Value inspection in 2020 and also led to commissioners being sent in.
“I’m sure, like me, you find these failings wholly unacceptable. It’s not just the case that the people of Liverpool and Slough deserve better, it’s also the case that local services matter,” Gove added.
In response to Gove’s criticism, Swindlehurst said: “We acknowledge Slough has had serious difficulties, but the commissioners and everyone here at Slough is working hard to deliver our improvement and recovery plan and we continue to make progress.”
This comes as Slough has approved plans to restructure its finance department to enhance capacity and capability.
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