Mayors and councils to be scored on performance to 'hold them to account'

Speaking at the Local Government Association conference in Bournemouth yesterday, the Levelling Up Secretary announced further details about the new watchdog, the Office for Local Government (Oflog).

He said that the body would help avoid the financial disasters seen in Thurrock, Liverpool, Croydon, Slough and Woking councils, which have racked up billions of pounds of debt.

“These are a handful of cases, the exception,” Mr Gove said yesterday.

“But the problems didn’t happen all at once, they were there for some time and worsened over time.

“We collectively, especially in the department, need to be able to better respond to warning signs because these failures are felt most acutely by taxpayers and residents in higher costs and poorer services.

“Where Government intervention is needed to deal with these problems in the most serious cases, we must be able to take action — targeted action — and the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill strengthens our ability to protect taxpayers where trouble is brewing.”

Yesterday Oflog officially became part of Mr Gove’s department in Whitehall, revealing new details over how mayors and local authorities will be held to account for the taxpayers money they raise, are allocated, and spend.

The Levelling Up Department said that “metrics” will be published for the performance of Tracy Brabin and Oliver Coppard’s combined authorities in West and South Yorkshire in order to “hold them to account”.

Oflog will also use data to “detect emerging risks of failure” in local government, so that cases such as in Woking, where the council declared bankruptcy after building up a £1.2 mountain of debt, do not happen in the future.

This will see metrics trigger warnings that could see the body contact councils in crisis to avoid financial meltdown.

However, the department yesterday made clear that it would not be setting “targets” from central government on performance, instead looking at fine-tuning which data it will make available to the public in order for them to make up their minds on the performance of their local leaders.

Initially metrics covering social care, adult skills, waste, and finance will be used, with work underway to find more ways to measure council performance.

It comes as the Local Government Association (LGA) warned that councils are facing a £3 billion funding gap in order to maintain existing levels of service.

It warned that high inflation poses a real danger to the sustainability of services and called on ministers to provide extra funding, adding that councils could be forced to make cuts or raid financial reserves to balance their books.

It said the cost of delivering services at current levels will exceed core funding by £2 billion this year and £900 million in 2024-25.