How Councils Fail

Those with a fairly high tolerance of detail may be interested in this somewhat lengthy piece in localgovernmentlawyer about when Councils break down.  It particularly tries to draw lessons from the case of Northants, but its strictures apply to all local authorities.  I thought Brent might take a particular interest in "Lesson 4":

"At paragraphs 3.66-67 the Inspectors make a key and damming observation about NCC’s governance – its lack of evidence-based decision making. Ultimately this is unlawful simply because it is irrational. The Inspectors comment:

3.66 The council’s approach comes across as sloppy, lacking in rigour and without challenge. It is particularly concerning to see this approach in all subsequent years. There does not seem to be any understanding of the difference between a budget pressure (that needs to be managed), contingency sums, spending where there is a choice and what is truly inescapable.

3.67 The non-delivery of savings has been mentioned elsewhere in the report and here the lack of accountability for that non-delivery is manifested with budgets being reinstated without any attempt to explain why the saving was not achieved. The same applies to budget overspends, which seem to be classified as ‘pressures’ and then just added into the budget the following year with limited challenge.

After such comments there was no going back for the council."

My reading is that Brent is becoming increasingly close to some of the practices being followed in Northants and that this should be a cause for concern.  Perhaps it will be if any post election challenges to the Leadership succeed.