Birmingham City Council pledges to speed up response to Kerslake recommendations

COUNCILLORS and officials at Birmingham City Council have pledged to speed up the response to implementing the recommendations contained in the Kerslake Report.

Sir Bob Kerslake’s independent review of the governance and organisational capabilities of the council last year followed a number of well-publicised failures in areas such as education and children’s services.

A business-led panel set up to oversee the council’s response to the report had been critical of the local authority, saying it was uncertain whether the council understood the scale of change required to meet the recommendations.

Panel chairman John Crabtree had said the improvements needed were not “bureaucratic niceties” and had to be implemented far quicker.

Council leader Sir Albert Bore told the latest meeting of the Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel that the changes needed were being implemented and the council was fully aware of its obligations.

“We want to reiterate the delivery of our action plan,” he said. “It’s a commitment to meeting the long-term sustainability of the future council programme.

“There has been far greater membership involvement, especially over the implementation of the Kerslake Report.”

He said a series of review and scrutiny committees would monitor developments and changes to the Birmingham Partners agreement would help to improve levels of engagement with the various communities.

“I believe the pace we have injected in the Future Council Programme is one people can recognise and realise will be maintained,” he added.

Council chief executive Mark Rogers told the panel there was an increased awareness of the need to keep pace with requirements and he acknowledged that the council had not always been quick to embrace change.

“We accept that we are behind were you – the panel – would like us to be but there will be additional training in October to ensure we stay on track,” he said.

He said the council had received £4.3m from the Department for Communities and Local Government and this would be ringfenced for the training of officers and members so it did not interfere with the day-to-day running of the authority.

New strategic and communication strategies have been agreed and he said staff identified as the best to deliver the first changes had now been put in place.

“There is a robust approach to delivering priority outcomes and there’s a clear three-year framework to do this,” he said.

“Engagement will be increased dramatically during the autumn and we have taken expert advice to make sure the strategic plan does not shy away from political issues. It will be a broad-balanced approach representative of the type of authority we want to become.

“We have talked about personal development and there’s a greater transparency in what we do. We’re not perfect but now there’s a greater attention to detail and I can assure everyone the programme is being delivered on time.”

Sir Albert said the council had recognised it did things wrong but had shifted its mindset to improve things.

“The training programmes we are putting in place will better deliver community services,” he added.

The panel said it would be reporting the progress to Local Government Secretary Greg Clark and would meet again in December to chart progress.