Dawn Baxendale incoming city council chief executive salary to be $495,000 plus relocation expense’s

Damning inquiry calls for troubleshooters to force failing Birmingham City Council to improve
Troubleshooters must be sent in to Birmingham City Council to force the authority to improve, a Government-backed panel has concluded.

 

 

 

A damning report by the Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel warned the city council's "denial, defensiveness and push-back about the extent of its problems, risks and challenges" has prevented it making the improvements it urgently needs.

In a report submitted to Local Government Secretary James Brokenshire, the Panel said:

• The city's two bin strikes had cost £14 million and done nothing to improve services

• Generous payments offered to refuse workers could encourage other staff to take industrial action

• The council promised to spend more than £110 million on the Commonwealth Games - but its plans for raising the money appear to have failed

• Birmingham as a whole is getting richer, but too many people aren't sharing in the benefits

• The city council is improving but not fast enough

The Panel said: "In the light of the exceptional risks that the Council is facing and particularly its industrial relations context ... we therefore recommend that the Secretary of State should put in place external independent challenge and support, additional to that proposed by the Council, to replace the Panel."
The Panel, chaired by top local businessman John Crabtree, was set up by the Government in 2015 after an inquiry found found that the authority is even failing to get “basic services” right.
It has now produced its final report, saying that it's helped the authority as much as it can.

Mr Brokenshire will announce his response to the findings later. However, he is unlikely to ignore the reccomendations.

The findings include:

Industrial relations are poor

The panel warned that Birmingham City Council's were "a major issue" and highlighted the two recent bin strikes in the city - saying they had cost taxpayers £14 million despite doing nothing to improve services.
What's more, the panel pointed out that way the bin strike was resolved meant other staff would be tempted to make demands on the council.

Birmingham City Council agreed to pay refuse workers settlements worth £3,500 each.

The panel said: "The total cost of the two major disruptions to the waste collection service is estimated to be £14m with no discernable improvement in the service to justify the expenditure.

"In addition, the Council’s Cabinet reports draw our attention to the risk of ‘contagion’.

"The suggestion is that how the recent waste dispute was settled could lead to similar demands and industrial disputes in other services."

Council leader tries personally to lead negotiations

The panel expressed concern about council leader Ian Ward and other senor councillors personally taking part in negotiations with trade unions.

They said: "Unusually the Leader and Cabinet members have been directly involved in day-to-day negotiations with Trades Unions which presents the risk of a return to the position ... when blurring of member and officer roles was a key cause of concern."

Commonwealth games are a major risk

And the panel said the 2022 Commonwealth Games, to be held in Birmingham, were a "particularly significant risk" to the authority's finances.

Birmingham City Council promised to provide £110m for the games, plus money for the Commonwealth Games Village, and came up with ideas to raise the cash including a temporary airport levy, hotel tax or workplace parking levy - but none of these "appear likely to come to fruition", the Panel said.

The panel said: "A particularly significant risk to the Council’s medium term financial plans is that relating to the Commonwealth Games.

"In December 2017 the Council committed to providing £145m capital (of which £75m would be provided by partners) and £40m revenue to support the delivery of the Commonwealth Games.

"This represents 25% of the cost of the project with the government contributing 75%. In addition the Council is responsible for delivering the Commonwealth Games Village.

"So far none of the sources of external funding put forward in December 2017 as potential contributions to the Council’s costs – including a temporary airport levy, hotel tax or workplace parking levy – appear likely to come to fruition.

"As a result the Council has had to provide for all its contributions in its forward capital and revenue plans, further increasing the risk to the delivery of its medium term financial strategy.

"In addition, the Council recently reported that some £30m of planned partner contributions is at risk of non-delivery."

Staff are unhappy

Surveys of staff show that many are still unhappy, the panel said.

"Recent performance reports suggest that the Council’s sickness levels are high, and rising, and staff morale features in the Council’s most recent corporate risk register."

Birmingham's population don't share in the wealth

And although Birmingham is getting richer, too many people in the city are still missing out on a share of the benefits.

The panel said: "We cannot say that the Council is now fully grasping and delivering on, as much as it should or could, all the opportunities available to it to ensure its citizens benefit from the economic renaissance the City is seeing."

Massive savings are still needed

The council plans to find savings of £46m in 2019-20, and of £86m from 2019-20 to 2022-23. But the panel said it did not know where the money would come from.

"What is worrying is that the Council has not yet clearly articulated the nature of the transformation of services, beyond Children's Services and Adult Social Care, that will be needed to deliver these savings, and so achieve financial sustainability."

Birmingham Council has been in denial about its problems

The Panel said the council had refused to allow it to help as much as it wanted to.
It said: "Years of the Council’s public denial, defensiveness and push-back about the extent of its problems, risks and challenges, and its focus on ridding itself of Government intervention as quickly as possible, almost at any cost, has prevented the Council taking all the necessary steps to deliver real and lasting change."

But there have been improvements

Birmingham City Council is making progress - but not quickly enough, the Panel said.
It said: "The amount of progress made recently should not be underestimated.

"But, have we seen as much improvement as we, and the Council, expected to see or would have liked to see over the last year? Unfortunately we have not.
"While progress has been made in putting many improvement foundations in place there have been set-backs, disappointments and slippages."

The panel said chief executive Dawn Baxendale's "hands on" approach has been "welcomed" by senior managers.

The panel also praised council leader Ian Ward and Deputy Leader Brigid Jones, saying a "change in leadership style" has meant the council's Cabinet - which includes the most senior councillors - "operates more like a team".

Birmingham City Council responds

Leader of Birmingham City Council Cllr Ian Ward said: “As the Panel stands down and we move onto the next important stage in our improvement journey, my challenge and the challenge for everyone at Birmingham City Council is to build on the progress made to ensure that we provide the best possible outcomes for our citizens.

“We recognise that there are still challenges ahead around finance, industrial relations and embedding improvement. Given the recommendations of the panel that further independent challenge is required – I look forward to an early conversation with the Secretary of State over what shape that engagement will take.

“It's testament to the hard work and collective determination of staff, management and councillors that we have continued to make progress at what is a very testing time for local government.

"But the journey does not end here. We will not slow the pace of transformation as we continue to modernise and improve the support and services we provide for the people of Birmingham.”

Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council, Dawn Baxendale, said: “This marks the end of a four year improvement journey for the City Council, and we thank the Panel for their consistent support.

"We have made significant progress in improving our relationships with external partners, building a focus on performance and much better control of our finances but challenges remain and there is more work to do.

"My focus is now to work with my Officer team and Members to make sure that we do not lose the drive around our improvement."

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