Blog: Friday 12th July 2024 - The Code of Practice on Good Governance for Local Authority Statutory Officers

The Code of Practice on Good Governance for Local Authority Statutory Officers

Back in November the then Secretary of State argued that "systemic problems with leadership and governance" were to blame for the financial failure of councils rather than what he accepted was a "tight" financial situation for local government. Many disagree and point out that local authorities trying to do more for their hard pressed communities, with what is in effect half of the spending power they once had, results in some taking risks they shouldn’t, cutting corners and seeing opportunities where they don’t exist. Either way, what it is undeniable is that poor governance, and with it the workings of the three statutory officers and their relationship with their colleagues and members, has played a significant part in the problems suffered by a number of authorities and has led to the issues of more than one of the s.114 reports issued. This was highlighted in the report of Grant Thornton, published in partnership with LLG, ‘Preventing Failure in Local Government’ last December.

The three statutory officers, the head of paid service, the chief finance officer and the monitoring officer, exist for a good reason, which is to ensure governance delivers. That might not present an exciting prospect for those wearing the optimism blinkers of the “just get it done” variety, but the statutory officers’ role, indeed the job rightly of all officers, is to not just deliver but, in doing so, to properly and openly manage the risk that comes with opportunity. It is to provide that their authority’s decisions are implementable, financially sound, lawful and (it would be nice to see) comprehensible to others. To do this effectively, the three must work together. Both they and the organisation around them need to fully understand what the statutory roles actually are and what the post-holders need in order to carry out their functions properly.

The job of the statutory officers brings with it a huge element of job satisfaction, knowing how all of the moving parts fit together to make a whole and in being there when it all works as it should - or in preventing it failing when it doesn’t.  Acting together as the governance ‘golden triangle’, their role may be summarised as holding sufficient skills, information and tools to understand a problem and the solutions presented, and then being able to speak truth unto power about it. To be able to do that, they must understand how power in all its persons and forms exists in the system, how they may best talk to those who wield that power and how to make themselves understood in doing so. No easy feat, with a requirement to have a finger in every pie to even begin addressing the issues. As said as a test of a good general counsel, “Do they want to hear my advice, even when they know they probably won’t want to hear my advice?”

Writing the Code has been one of the most important pieces of work I have done in recent years. LLG, CIPFA and Solace originally approached us with the project as ‘an offer you can’t refuse’, which we thought a great idea, because of the experience and expertise that Bevan Brittan possesses in having supported the local government statutory officers’ roles and in delivering the sector’s projects for many years. Since producing a first draft as a full guide, we and the three organisations have been working together to hone it down to the Seven Standards of the Golden Triangle you will see in the Code of Good Practice at its launch next week, each standard being supported by a number of requirements placed upon the three officers and their organisations.

Over the next year, we will be discussing it with local authorities and their officers alongside the work that LLG, CIPFA and Solace will be doing to see how this is received and the extent to which it is adopted by authorities. We have seen some effect already, indeed we have seen some authorities act on the draft issued for consultation in their discussing it at depth with their management teams and members and making changes to how they do things. Following on, LLG have said they are looking to undertake research to see not just whether the code has been adopted, but the extent to which it will have had an impact in producing changed practices and improved governance within authorities.

We wait also to see how this will feed into the new government’s approach to the best value and intervention actions with local authorities underway, and the challenges to come, and the extent to which the Code will become a tool for inspection and improvement practice. Added to this, is the curiosity of the how or if policies on such things as the proposed new ‘duty of candour’ will sit alongside the Code’s view on the statutory officers’ duty of enquiry.

Philip McCourt

Bevan Brittan