North West's new civil service chief a fan of city mayors

May 9 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post

THE new head of the civil service in the North West last night hinted that an elected mayor could be the way forward for Liverpool.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Post, Liz Meek, the new Regional Director of the Government Office for the North West, spoke of the benefits an elected mayor have brought to London.

Mrs Meek worked alongside recently-deposed London mayor Ken Livingstone in a previous position in the capital.

She reveals that she even managed to enjoy her time working with “Red Ken” despite his wish to abolish her job.

“It was a hugely enjoyable job working with him,” she smiles ruefully. “He wanted to abolish us most of the time, but we ended up with a good relationship.”

Then, tellingly, she adds: “London has done well with a directly elected mayor.” But it is her relationship with the government’s Regional Minister, Beverley Hughes, that she is keenest to underline.

Coming to the North West from London, she has direct and personal contacts with power-players like Mrs Hughes, and is eager to make them work for the region’s good.

Summing up her aims, she said: “It’s about decentralising power. Reducing targets and reporting and the onus falls on the local authorities to get it done.

“I’m here to link what’s being done on the ground with government ministers and make sure what is planned actually happens.” Mrs Meek also said she was tired of well-intentioned pilots to assess the unemployment crisis.

Just two months into her tenure at GoNW, she has set out her intention to undertake a swift review of the scores of initiatives in the region.

She said: “In each borough or council, there will be 40 or 50 pilot schemes but the underlying figures show they are not working.

“There’s nothing wrong with each of them per se, but if we are not learning from them, then there is no point.”

She added: “Unemployed individuals get lots of support and money spent on them via lots of different services from their GP through to the social services.

“There’s real money being used up in benefits and policing, for example. It’s our job to think about how we can join things up and deliver a better outcome.”

Her comments come after the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research revealed that Knowsley had the second highest level of Incapacity Benefit in the country.

This is despite the pioneering work being carried out in the borough, which won it lead status in the Mersey-wide quest to tackle “worklessness”.

She said: “It sounds very boring but the multi and local area agreements are the way to do it.

“We can see partnerships strengthening on a local minor strategic level but we haven’t got action across the agencies regionally as a matter of course yet.”

Leaning across the desk in the Cunard Building, she enthuses about the optimism and willingness to “get things done” she has already seen across the City Region.

At a meeting at the Racquet Club shortly before talking to the Daily Post, Mrs Meek gathered together council chief executives, police chiefs, church leaders and business leaders.

She said: “The idea was that they would all tell me what they thought and I would listen to them and not have me talk too much – but I had my say.” She raises an eyebrow.

“However, I am in a listening phase and I would rather not pontificate.”

Mrs Meek is used to handling powerful and sometimes difficult people.

She was working as an information officer in the Civil Service during the handover of power in Zimbabwe. She has also written a pub and club guide to Lagos, Nigeria, before doing battle with Ken Livingstone in London.

richarddown