Scathing report into Liverpool City Council cites 'secret cabal' as it highlights shocking failuresDamning inspection report lifts lid on serious problems and a 'dysfuntional and intimidating' culture at troubled authority
The brutal inspection report from Max Caller has just been published by the government after Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick ordered commissioners to intervene in part of the running of the rocking council.
Mr Jenrick said that Mr Caller's report, which has been put together over the past three months, revealed a 'deeply worrying' picture of a council with a 'dysfunctional culture of intimidation' and evidence of records being destroyed or thrown away.
In the report's executive summary, Mr Caller is scathing about the council.
He stated: "The city council has many hard-working, long serving, committed and dedicated officers delivering key services in difficult circumstances.
"The council itself, has councillors of all parties who encapsulate the best traditions of local democracy, working for their residents and striving to deliver the best possible outcomes for people and place
"This Inspection report risks devaluing all the good work that is done, as it focuses on serious failings that have been evidenced in both governance and practice in those areas of the council subject to this Inspection, and the corporate blindness that failed to pick this up and remedy the position.
"Indeed, the position documented by the Inspection provides the best empirical evidence of Conquest’s Third Law of Politics ‘The behaviour of any bureaucratic organisation can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies."
He added: "To remedy these failings will require changes to introduce and embed good practice right across the Council, politically and managerially, building on the start that has been made by the Council’s current Chief Executive. These recommended changes will involve revising electoral arrangements,strengthening personal accountability for both Members and Officers, and introducing best local government practice together with cultural change.
"The evidence and events over the Inspection period leads to the conclusion that there can be no confidence that the council will be able to take and implement all the required decisions in a sensible timescale.
"As a consequence, the imposition of commissioners, supported by directions is recommended to stand behind the council and ensure that the right decisions are taken at the right time.
"The road to recovery will be hard, as it is inevitable that more bad things will emerge through the process.
"The outcome will be a Council with transparent decision taking that can legitimately withstand challenge and can be proud of what it delivers."
Terrified inspection witnesses granted anonymity over safety fears
Whistleblowers who came forward to help an investigation into Liverpool Council feared for their safety, the inspection revealed.
In a letter accompanying the inspection's conclusions Max Caller, the lead investigator, set out the troubling environment discovered within the authority.
Writing to Local Government secretary Robert Jenrick he described how he was approached by a number of people keen to support the investigation but terrified for their safety.
Their bravery - and the documents they were able to supply in a regime that struggled to comply with record keeping guidelines - proved crucial to his team's work.
And because their words could be backed up by evidence Mr Caller said they would remain anonymous.
He wrote: "The presence of the team on site has acted as a ‘lightening rod’ resulting in people coming forward to speak to us that we could not have identified from the outside.
"It would be my normal practice to include in the report a complete list of people to whom we spoke or received documentation from.
"However, the number of individuals who spoke to us as ‘whistle-blowers’ or who did not want to be identified, because of concerns about their safety, but who provided information that could be separately verified meant that I concluded that it was safer to not include this information at all."
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