WARRINGTON Borough Council will respond quickly to the damning Best Value inspection, with council leader Cllr. Hans Mundry pledging to cooperate with all the Government’s recommendations.
These include appointing a new Director of Transformation and Improvement and the appointment of a new opposition member as Chair of the Scrutiny Committee.
At the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Monday 12 May, Cllr Mundry provided an update on the council’s response to the recent best value inspection report.
In the meeting, Cllr Mundry highlighted that the council will respond positively, co-operatively and at pace to all the recommendations made by government.
During the update, he set out a number of actions the council is already taking, including the development of and Improvement and Recovery Plan, which will be presented to Full Council, and working with the Local Government Association to create a new council body that will oversee the council’s improvement.
As part of the council’s improvement work, it will have a full and open recruitment process to hire a new Director of Transformation and Improvement to lead on the council’s improvement agenda.
Other announcements by the leader included making changes to the council’s committee structure, reflecting the government’s directions, and appointing an independent advisory member as chair of the Audit and Corporate Governance Committee.
Going further than the directions set out by the government, Cllr Mundry also announced that the council’s scrutiny function and Scrutiny Committee will be enhanced through the appointment of a new opposition member as Chair of Scrutiny Committee.
Next month, the Full Council meeting will give councillors the opportunity to debate the best value report’s findings and directions set out by the minister. Full Council meetings are open to the public and will be held on Monday 16 June, starting at 6.15 pm.
Cllr Mundry’s public statement is as follows: “I want to make it explicitly clear that the Council will respond positively, co-operatively and at pace to all the recommendations made by government regarding the best value inspection report we received last week.
“I would like to reassure residents, organisations and businesses in Warrington that we are taking this report very seriously.
“We will immediately commence the development of an Improvement and Recovery Plan which will be developed and overseen by a new committee of the Council and will present the report to the Full Council in line with the timescales agreed with government. The new Committee will give regular updates to the Full Council. We will also be working with and supported by the LGA to ensure the best possible outcome.
“The plan will provide a detailed action plan for financial sustainability and savings, including a review of all our commercial investments. It will also consider the impact of the reduction of commercial income on the Council service delivery. We will increase the Council’s current scrutiny programme and also appoint an independent chair of our audit and governance committee as stated in the government’s recommendations. We are minded that the Council’s scrutiny committee would now be chaired by the main opposition party within the Council.
“Our corporate plan, which is being considered this evening, will also be updated to ensure it aligns with the best value recommendations and our new medium-term financial report.
“We will also further enhance our related member/officer training programme to ensure we learn and implement the best value recommendations and report on actions implemented before 16 June.
“At Full Council on 16 June, a report will be presented that will recommend that we respond positively to all these points and all the other government recommendations.
“Government will assist us to deal with our external audit backlog which is also the situation with many other councils. We will also begin a review of our investments in all subsidiary companies and the roles of the appointed directors and shareholder representative.
“As part of the restructuring of the council’s corporate management team, we will appoint a transformational and change director who will drive the improvement and recovery plan and the work of the new Council-led improvement and recovery committee.
“We will work relentlessly to deal with the recommendations that have been made. It is vital that the whole Council steps up to the challenge. The report to Full Council on 16 June on the recommendations will give the opportunity for full discussion and debate.
“The Council takes this matter very seriously, but I reassure residents and businesses that we will be pro-active in addressing the challenges. The borough’s service quality and delivery will not be affected, and we will continue with our strong track record in supporting vulnerable people, growing our strong economy, improving opportunities, ensuring we have vibrant communities and a good quality of life for all of our residents and businesses.”
4 Comments
A job for the boys is what he means !
You need to start listening to the residents of Warrington regarding your building plans on the town
a). How much will the government advisers cost?
b). No mention of recruiting a new set of auditors, or are they exempt from audit after this many years?
An indication of the likely fee plus “reasonable expenses” the envoys will be allowed to charge is listed in the report/supporting letters.
not seen so such much management speak put into one document before.
what it boils down to is, We have problems that were not caused by us but by some mysterious outside influence, possibly goblins, and we will set up a committee to look into this, wasting time and money to tell us what we already know.
we will also appoint a new person to take the blame when it all goes down the pan, but at least it will give my mate Bazza a job for a few years at an exorbitant salary.