Agenda item

The Chief Executive gave a presentation to Business Panel. Councillor Muldoon said that he agreed that this system of assessment would seem like your mates marking your homework, and  asked how objective was peer to peer review. Councillor Muldoon asked whether it was sufficiently objective and robust. He added that Local Government would need to address resilience, adding that he had not seen any at Lewisham.

The Chief Executive said once appointed he had abolished performance related pay, because he thought it did not act as an incentive to the public sector.

The Chief Executive said in terms of objectivity, there was no accepted professional practitioner in the governance and management of local authorities.  In the absence of a code of practice, one would have to make a rounded judgement. He added that there ought to be a small number of people trained in inspectional judgement. They would do the work for 18 months to avoid group think. The Chief Executive said there were accepted standards in the past, plus key lines of requirements. Now local authorities would just be judged against the norm.

The Chief Executive said it was difficult for the LGA, as it is a membership body, and members did not want to be judged by their association. The Chair asked if the Chief Executive thought the Council should ask to have a Statutory Review Mechanism. The Chief Executive said he did not think the Council could argue for one, but as a professional he could.

Councillor Milne said because of the nature of local government, people within would be best placed to review it. He said he had a conversation with a senior policy officer recently, who said it would be useful to have people from a different background, as they would see things differently. The Chief Executive said he agreed with the concept of using people who were not from a local government background.

Councillor Mallory asked if there had been any developments on governance and community engagement. The Chief Executive said that he acknowledged that the council was reducing its capacity, and had been impressed by the power of community groups to achieve things the council could not. The Chief Executive said that the Council should encourage and support community groups to do the things they want to do, instead of asking them to provide services the Council can no longer provide. He said the Council should promote a living dynamic community.

The Chair asked the Chief Executive if there was any important message he would like to give Business Panel. The Chief Executive said there should be a sense of connection of localities. Councils should be looking at economies of scale, larger areas, rather than boundaries. Examples would be the level of transportation provision, utilities, health care services and issues around further education for the wider community to include Greenwich and Lambeth. The Chief Executive said local government should be looking at governance issues more broadly. Business Panel said they would be happy to receive further proposals, and any useful update. The Chair thanked the Chief Executive for his report and presentation.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.