The government is planning to take 'more action' at troubled Liverpool City Council, according to a leaked memo.
An internal document, shown to the ECHO, from the Government's Department of Levelling Up suggests more action will be announced shortly. Four Whitehall commissioners were installed at the council around a year ago in response to the damning findings of the Max Caller inspection report.
Those commissioners have now sent their latest report back to the department and Secretary of State Michael Gove and it is due to be made public in the coming weeks. The leaked memo, issued on June 10, suggests the commissioners will state that they are not happy with the progress being made and believe further intervention is required.
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The memo appears to be a weekly briefing note from Catherine Frances, director general of local government at the department. It includes a section on "councils facing difficulties", with Liverpool mentioned alongside other troubled local authorities in Northumberland and Thanet.
On Liverpool, the memo states: "The Liverpool commissioners are finalising their next report and will submit it to you by the end of the week, which marks the end of the first year of the intervention. The report will be open about the scale of the leadership challenge and where the council has gone backwards rather than forwards."
The note then references an ongoing investigation by an external auditors into a catalogue of errors at the city council that has left the city of Liverpool facing huge added energy bills. In May it was revealed that a series of mistakes over a new electricity contract could end up costing the city of Liverpool an additional £16 million. The electricity saga has already seen deputy mayor Jane Corbett lose her finance portfolio, while the council's director of finance Mel Creighton has resigned.
Referring to this issue and the overall problems at the council, the government note adds: "The work by an external auditor to examine the handling of the energy contracts will not be complete until later in the month. Commissioners do not yet have confidence that Liverpool City Council is on the right path to deliver best value and further government action will be required."
While it is not clear exactly what "further action" means in this instance, there is speculation that more commissioners could be sent from government to the city to potentially oversee more functions of the council. The current team of Whitehall officials have oversight of the work of the troubled regeneration, highways and property management departments. There has been some suggestion that a specific finance commissioner could be appointed at the Cunard administration.
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: “Liverpool City Council is working hard to deliver improved services – and best value – for all Liverpool residents. Many improvements have already been brought in and the leadership teams remains fully committed to working alongside the Government-appointed Commissioners. We await their second report and will respond accordingly.”
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “We do not comment on leaks. The Liverpool Commissioners submitted their second report to the Secretary of State on 10 June and we will publish our recommendations in due course.”
