Councillor wants apology from Audit Commission

Feb 9 2008 by David Bartlett, Liverpool Daily Post

A LIBERAL Democrat leader and prominent Liverpool councillor has demanded an apology from the Audit Commission after it labelled the city council the worst in the country.

Cllr Richard Kemp who represents the Lib Dems on the Local Government Association said the commission’s “condemnation” of the council was an “affront to the professionalism and dedication” of the staff at the council.

It came after the chairman of the Audit Commission, Michael O’Higgins, told the Daily Post he was concerned the defensiveness of the council could lead to it not taking proper action to deal with problems.

Cllr Kemp, who represents the city’s Church ward, told the Daily Post he was due to meet Mr O’Higgins the week after next and will invite him to come to Liverpool to see the services the council provides.

The Audit Commission said it had not yet received Cllr Kemp’s letter so could not respond to his request.

The main factors behind Liverpool’s one star rating is the state of the city’s finances.

Included in that are the council’s failure to plug a £20m hole in the Capital of Culture budget, lack of financial planning, and low levels of reserves.

The council scored three stars or above in a majority of categories, but it was given a rating of one because of its “one” in use of resources – how it spends money.

Cllr Kemp said it was “illogical” the council could be judged to be improving adequately by the commission, yet its star rating had fallen from two to one.

As a senior figure in local government circles, Cllr Kemp had been involved in carrying out Comprehensive Performance Assessments (CPA) for the commission, but stopped in 2006 because he no longer agreed with the methods.

“The methodology is incomprehensible to anyone who is not a CPA anorak.”

He said he did not disagree with the commission’s assessment the city needed to get its finances in order.

“Let me make clear that I am not disagreeing with the central contention that came from the CPA that Liverpool should have a robust medium term strategy. That goes without saying.

“The failure to have one is wholly unacceptable and we deserve to be brought to task for this.

“What I find wholly unacceptable is the statement that Liverpool is now the lowest performing council in England. This is manifestly untrue.”

He said the council had made huge strides in services like children services, adult social services, the environment, and administering benefits.

davidbartlett