Liverpool City Council responds to 1st Commissioners' report

THE 1st report into Liverpool City Council's improvement journey, written by Government appointed Commissioners, has been published. Liverpool's Mayor Joanne Anderson and the City's Chief Executive Tony Reeves have issued a joint statement in response to the report's publication. The pair confirm that an:- 'immense amount of work is underway' within the Council to bring in changes and that:- 'the culture of bullying and intimidation' that had existed in parts of the organisation is also being tackled. The lengthy statement; which is published in full below; also outlines the City Council's commitment to working with the Commissioners to ensure:- 'improved services for taxpayers' is delivered. The Commissioners' report, which can be found on the website for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, gives its 1st assessment of the Regeneration, Highways, Procurement, and Governance and Audit functions of the City Council. It sets out a series of observations and recommendations which are designed to track progress and help the Council deliver best value in the services it provides to the City's residents and businesses. The key recommendations in this Commissioners' report focus on governance and the need for the Council to rewrite its constitution to enable the public; as well as officers and Councillors; to understand more clearly what the Council's aims and objectives are. This report follows the:- 'Best Value' Inspection report in March 2021, which recommended the appointment of the Commissioners.

Mayor Joanne Anderson and Chief Executive Tony Reeves have issued a joint response:- "A huge amount of work is underway to develop the Council Plan and the Strategic Improvement Plan which will go a long way to addressing many of the concerns raised both within the 'Best Value' report and this 1st report from the Commissioners. Many changes have taken place at the Council since the:- 'Best Value'report and we acknowledge that there is still a lot do. This is a complex journey and the Council needs to find the right balance between implementing improvements and building capacity, whilst managing a very difficult budget. The well publicised issues within the Highways and Regeneration teams are being tackled head on. These teams both have a new head of service to instigate the necessary changes to drive up standards, including a new business plan for the Highways department. Where the Council has failed in the past to address a culture of bullying and intimidation, that is now being tackled through an intensive programme to make the workplace more inclusive and caring. We have clear processes for staff to raise concerns and these are acted on and dealt with in a consistent way. These behaviours have no place in our organisation. The Council has a huge number of dedicated, professional and talented staff who care deeply about the service they provide and it is our job to ensure they have the right support to deliver best value. Training programmes are being delivered to support staff and Councillors, a new customer feedback process is being implemented and a new process of consultation and engagement has been launched. A restructure of the senior management team is underway, with key posts such as the Monitoring Officer and Chief Operations Officer being filled. The scrutiny process has been strengthened with independent professionals being appointed to the Audit and the Standards and Ethics Committee. Work is underway to meet all of the Directions which the Secretary of State placed on the Council including a review of the constitution and scrutiny arrangements of the Council and the development of a submission to the Boundary Commission on a revised pattern of wards for the City. Our commitment to working with the Commissioners, to supporting our staff, and to delivering an improved service for tax payers is unwavering. We care immensely for our City and its people and we are determined to provide the best opportunities for all."

The Commissioner Team, led by the former Chief Executive of the College of Policing Mike Cunningham, is supported by a team of 3 others: the current Chief Executive of Surrey Council, Joanna Killian (Local Government Commissioner); Neil Gibson (Highways Commissioner) and Deborah McLaughlin (Regeneration Commissioner) have concluded that the Council is:- "at the beginning of a long improvement journey and has a great deal to do in the next 3 years."
 
► The Commissioners; who started work on 10 June 2021; have also observed that the political and managerial leadership of Liverpool:- "clearly desire change at pace."
 
► This 1st report has been published after being submitted to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and covers the 1st 3 months of the inspection.
 
► The Commissioners say despite evidence of:- "change," there is a:- "somewhat frenetic rather than purposeful and targeted approach" and a:- "lack of prioritisation and planning."
 
► The Commissioners have also noted that there is:- "a need to build the competency, capacity, efficiency and effectiveness of core corporate and support services including Governance, Finance, Legal and IT."

Since March, Liverpool City Council has made many changes to ensure that all taxpayers and staff will benefit from the improvements:-
 
► A Strategic Improvement Plan; with a focus on addressing accountability and transparency; has been produced.

► A new whistle blowing process has been introduced, to tackle claims of bullying and intimidation, within parts of the organisation.

► A major restructure of the senior management team is underway. Recent appointments include: a new Chief Operating Officer, a new Director for Adult Services, a new City Solicitor and Monitoring Officer and an interim Chief Highways Officer.

► A new consultation and engagement process has been introduced to encourage greater transparency and dialogue with residents.

► A new call centre system is being procured to ensure a smoother and speedier response to residents' complaints; it will also provide an intelligence led response service to problems.

► The Council has created a new Audit Select Committee and has appointed 2 independent advisers to strengthen the scrutiny of its auditing and governance procedures.

► The Council has established an Ethics and Standards Select Committee and is currently recruiting an independent chair to oversee its business.
 
► The next Commissioners' report is due to be published in the spring of 2022.
 
Lead Inspector Mike Cunningham said:- "There are many hard working, committed staff within Liverpool City Council and we have observed a clear desire to improve across the Council. Indeed, nobody we have met during our time here so far has said the Council does not need to improve. The entire organisation needs to focus on getting its core work right and build from there. In particular, we have identified that best value has not been achieved in a number of existing property transactions, and the regeneration and property management teams need to develop commercial awareness. In Highways, it will take at least another 12 to 18 months to put improvements in place, and 5 years to become a top performer. The Council needs to invest in additional capacity and capability and become a learning organisation that embraces support, development and challenge. A great deal of work is under way, and improvements are already being made, but there is no doubt that this is going to be a long road."

The full Government Commissioners report can be read online now at:- .
 

Southport's Gingerbread Family Trail has started and it has some great prize to be won!

HOW many members of the Gingerbread Family will you be able to find? The new attraction has been launched by Southport BID in the run up to Christmas. It's 1 of a large package of festive entertainment people can enjoy in Southport, this festive season. Other attractions include:- a Digital Winter Wonderland, a Trail of Trees, Santa's Grotto, a Frozen Grotto, and lots more besides. Full details are on the Southport BID's website.

The BID is keen for people to enjoy their Christmas shopping in Southport this year, supporting local businesses rather than shopping online or out of Town. So will you help local businesses and also find the 10 members of the Gingerbread family that are waiting in shop windows of businesses within the Town Centre?

Families are invited to either pick up a Gingerbread Map Trail at the Wayfarers Arcade or to follow it online through the Southport BID website, before enjoying discovering all 10 Gingerbread Family characters. Once you have written down all their names, pop your entries into Santa's letterbox in Wayfarers Arcade and you could win an iPad! You could also email your answer to:- Info@SouthportBID.Com.

Southport's Gingerbread Family Trail is provided by Southport BID and will run until 3 January 2021. Southport BID has already made Southport sparkle this year through the completion of the:- 'boulevard of light,' with 300,000 lights strung between the trees on both sides of the Lord Street shopping and dining boulevard. Many places within Southport are also staging some great festive events, including:- Victoria Park, The Atkinson, Southport Market, Wayfarers Arcade, Bijou Cinema, Marble Place, Ocean Plaza, Central 12 and Southport Little Theatre.

Southport BID CEO Rachel Fitzgerald said:- "We are excited to unveil a comprehensive package of festive themed attractions throughout the BID area that will attract shoppers, diners and other visitors to Southport throughout these crucial few weeks in the run-up to Christmas. This schedule of activities will encourage visitors and local residents to engage with Southport on multiple occasions across the festive period. From 2 fabulous grottos, to new additions such as the Gingerbread Trail, the Trail of Trees or the Digital Winter Wonderland, we have ensured that there are many reasons for families to visit Southport throughout November and December. Our message to people in Southport this year would be to please support our local businesses and to do your Christmas shopping in Town rather than online."