Dudley Council leader welcomes best value notice from government
Dudley Council’s leader says he welcomes a notice issued by the government expressing concerns about how the authority is delivering best value.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government issued a non-statutory best value notice to Dudley Council on July 17.
The document is a formal notification requesting the authority demonstrates it is working to improve in a number of specified areas including financial stability, reducing staff turnover, effective governance and scrutiny plus working relationships between officers and elected councillors.
Cllr Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said: “I welcome the latest scrutiny of the council’s finances.
“The best value notice is very much out of date as the recommendations referred to the LGA peer review and the same CIPFA review into our finances dating back to 2023/24.
“We have completed or are complying with every single one of those recommendations.
“I don’t believe any council has improved this fast and as effectively as Dudley has and I hope ministers see this and use Dudley as an example of how this can be done – even if it is extremely challenging for members and staff alike.”
Dudley Council is carrying out a major reorganisation after a series of reports in 2023 and 2024 from external auditors, The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny (CfGS) which concluded the council was at risk of going into effective bankruptcy and had significant weaknesses in senior leadership and the behaviour of some councillors towards officers.
James Blythe, deputy director, local government stewardship and interventions, who issued the notice, said: “Whilst we recognise the improvements already made, we want to see the council continue addressing the serious issues identified in this notice at sufficient pace.
“Ministers remain concerned as to Dudley’s capacity to comply with its best value duty under the Local Government Act 1999 and have therefore decided to issue Dudley with this best value notice.
“The department will look to the Independent Improvement Board and your external auditor for updates and broader assurance that the necessary changes are being made at sufficient pace.”
Cllr Harley added: “The public need not take my word but should heed the words of the Independent Improvement Board and the words of CIPFA sourced finance chiefs who recognise the turn around and clear sustainability of our finances.
“There have been many of these issued this week and, as stated, this should have been issued more than a year ago when we were starting our financial recovery.
“However, the text of the notice asks we share progress with them and I’m very willing to do that as it shows the improvement made.”
