A year ago, Max Caller, an Inspector from
the government, was in Northamptonshire County Council examining current and
historical documents concerning the council and talking to officers,
councillors and other stakeholders. The inspection report he eventually
published had a headline stating
Northamptonshire Council Council had failed and the
most quoted comment was that local government was about “doing the boring well”.
Revisiting it, it’s interesting to examine
whether we’re making progress. The Caller report also stated that “The
council’s approach comes across as sloppy, lacking in rigour and without
challenge“. There was particular concern about the secrecy of the
administration and the lack of information given to councillors event when they asked
for it. Genuinely, the pace of change has meant that it’s really hard to keep up
for those in the organisation, let alone the public.
It’s being eight years since Northamptonshire
County Council has held a meeting to genuinely ask the public what they think
of the budget proposals affecting their local services and spending their
council tax money. After only fourteen people attended a meeting in Kettering,
the then Tory leadership axed consultation as a waste of money.
In the 2013/14 budget consultation there were
public sessions in advance of budget scrutiny workshops for Councillors on the
key thematic areas of the budget. These continued in subsequent years but not this year. For the
first time, there is no opportunity for the public to
make their voice heard about the council’s budget plans.
There are other ways local people can express
their views of course,
but the process of having budget consultation meetings is about inclusion,
engagement and above all transparency. The failure of Northamptonshire County
Council to have any consultation events with the public is evidence that the
“carry on regardless” attitude is still present with council tax payers treated
as non-stakeholders event though they are paying for the services. Also,
as consumers of those services, they are in a key position to challenge in a
way that provides insight into how services might be
more effectively run. There are positive reasons why challenge provides better
services, better decision making and more valued services.
However, above all, the public should have a right to
comment about local services as it is morally the correct thing to do. This has
been raised by the Labour group with senior officers. When commissioners came
to discuss the budget with the Labour group I questioned whether there would be
consultation meetings and was assured that, consultation meetings would take
place. Labour’s Cllr Mick Scrimshaw as Chair of the new over-arching Overview
and Scrutiny Committee has sought that there is at least one meeting that
the public will be allowed to address on 23rd January. This meeting will take place at the
end of the scrutiny process, where the committees response will be finalised,
and there will be a recap on the individual meetings councillors will have had.
Although Labour are not in control of the Council they have recognised and
acted on this glaring omission. It’s unsurprising that the Tory administration
don’t see the need for people to have their say. Acting, as usual, for the few not the
many.
