Pickles urges councils to share managers and ‘save millions’

After heaping pressure on chief executives earning six-figure salaries to take a pay cut, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has made clear he is unimpressed by complaints over significant cuts in central government funding if authorities have not even been able to “do the basics”.

His vision would see the number of chief executives across the region slashed, with several authorities sharing single legal, accounts and IT departments to save millions of pounds in administration costs to protect “front-line” services like bin collections, libraries and community support officers.

“I know there’s rivalry between Bradford and Leeds but what’s good for Leeds is certainly good for Bradford,” he said. “They’re in the same economic area. It doesn’t go to mean you lose your identity, you’re able to produce things much more efficiently and cheaper.

“I’m not forcing them to do this, I’m just saying don’t start saying we’re going to have to cut the front-line when you haven’t done the very basics in terms of reigning back that central administration which has really grown over the past few years.”

So far calls to merge back office departments have mainly been heeded by smaller authorities – Hambleton and Richmondshire share a chief executive, for example – but Mr Pickles wants bigger authorities to follow suit.

He also wants councils to smarten up the way they procure goods and services because too many are being “ripped off”, and is critical of the slow response from authorities to requests to publish details of spending over £500 online.

Defiant about his “robust” message to councils about budget cuts and wasteful spending, he brushes off tensions with many Liberal Democrat council leaders – one of whom wrote to Nick Clegg to complain about his behaviour – and plays down complaints by the Tory head of the Local Government Association Baroness Margaret Eaton, like him a former Bradford Council leader, saying they are going for a curry soon.

He has also made few friends among chief executives – Barnsley’s reportedly called him a “clown” – having called for big earners to take a pay cut. So far only two in Yorkshire – Joanne Roney at Wakefield and Tom Riordan at Leeds – have taken pay cuts but Mr Pickles defends his approach which critics say will do little to plug a multi-million pound hole caused by the cuts he has announced.

“Do I think a chief executive cutting his salary is going to make up the difference?” he asks.

“Of course I don’t but it’s a demonstration the situation is difficult.”

Having announced cuts which will see some authorities lose 23 per cent of government funding over the next two years, Mr Pickles knows this is not the job to be in to win gratitude, and Labour politicians were quick to criticise.

Clive Betts, Sheffield South East MP and chairman of the Local Government select committee, said: “What the Secretary of State is saying is contrary to what local councils say. The problem is the cuts are bigger than cuts in central government on average, and there’s no explanation as to why.”

Steve Houghton, Labour leader of Barnsley Council, said: “Councils aren’t like they were in the 1980s. People of all political parties are far more responsible but the scale of it is absolutely huge and the speed of the cuts – the front loading of them (with biggest cuts next year) means councils have very little room to manoeuvre. There’s going to have to be cuts in front-line services and big job losses.”

Comment: Page 14.