Some of England’s most prominent councils are among the third that have shunned the opportunity to have a corporate peer challenge, The MJ has learnt.
More than five years since the Local Government Association (LGA) launched its offer to support sector-led improvement, at least 90 councils have yet to sign up to the improvement device – 35% of the 257 authorities that responded to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Separate LGA data for 2016/17 showed take-up was higher among Lib Dem-controlled councils (43%) compared to 27% of Conservative-controlled councils.
The LGA has said it wants to encourage all councils to take up the offer ‘because experience demonstrates that a peer challenge every four to five years is an effective tool for improvement’.
However, the LGA had previously dismissed calls to publish the list of councils that have not yet engaged with sector-led improvement, explaining it was taking ‘more of a carrot than a stick approach’.
The LGA’s approach has been criticised by some in the sector, including one chief executive who has called for corporate peer challenges to be made mandatory to increase accountability to the public.
Writing in The MJ earlier this month, former president of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, Mark Rogers, called on the LGA to secure an agreement to ensure all councils participated and to publish all reports in full.
However, The MJ found more than a dozen councils had not published their corporate peer challenge.
Chairman of the LGA’s improvement and innovation board, Paul Bettison, said: ‘The corporate peer challenge programme is just one part of the overall sector-led improvement programme.
‘The majority of councils take up the offer of a corporate peer challenge and it is up to councils to decide how and when to publish feedback.
‘The corporate peer challenge programme is a highly effective tool that delivers a range of benefits and impacts for participating councils and the sector as a whole. We will continue to work with councils to ensure this remains the case.’
Councils that have not had a corporate peer challenge include:
Adur, Ashford, Babergh, Bexley, Birmingham, Bolton, Bromley, Broxbourne, Camden, Charnwood, Cherwell, Cheshire East, Chichester, City of London, Copeland, Cotswold, Coventry, Crawley, Dartford, Daventry, Derbyshire, Dover, East Cambridgeshire, East Hampshire, East Staffordshire, Eastbourne, Epping Forest, Fareham, Forest of Dean, Guildford, Harrogate, Havering, Herefordshire, Hillingdon, Horsham, Hull, Hyndburn, Kensington & Chelsea, Kettering, Kingston, Leicester, Leicestershire, Lewes, Malvern Hills, Manchester, Melton, Mid Suffolk, Mid Sussex, Mole Valley, New Forest, Norfolk, North Hertfordshire, North Tyneside, North West Leicestershire, Northampton, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Peterborough, Reading, Richmond upon Thames, Rossendale, Runnymede, Rushcliffe, Rutland, Sedgemoor, Selby, Sheffield, Shepway, Shropshire, South Derbyshire, South Hams, South Northamptonshire, St Albans City & District, St Helens, Suffolk, Tandridge, Tendring, Test Valley, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Warrington, Waverley, Wealden, Welwyn Hatfield, West Devon, West Lancashire, West Lindsey, Westminster, Worcester, Worthing, Wycombe