Nottingham City Council avoids being taken over by Government officials

Nottingham City Council has avoided being taken over by Government commissioners, following mistakes including the misspending of £40m and issues caused by the failure of Robin Hood Energy.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has confirmed it will not directly intervene with the Labour-run authority.

Instead, the powers of the independent Improvement and Assurance Board, currently overseeing progress on the cash-strapped authority, will be strengthened.

The Government had previously said it was 'minded' to send in the commissioners after investigations uncovered almost £40m had been wrongfully moved out of the Housing Revenue Account.

Any financial decisions could have been taken out of the hands of elected members and senior officers and handed to Government-appointed officials.

It was found that the housing cash, which was supposed to be specifically for housing tenants, had instead been pumped into other services through the general fund.

The internal investigation marked another financial blunder at the authority following the collapse of Robin Hood Energy in 2020, costing the taxpayer an estimated £38m.

To make further improvements, the Government has said the council must comply with all future recommendations set out by Sir Tony and the improvement board.

Senior leaders at the Labour-run authority must report to the Secretary of State on six-monthly intervals with the intervention of the board to last until at least September 1, 2024.

In a report, the Government said: "The Secretary of State notes the improvements made by the authority with oversight from the Improvement and Assurance Board over the last 18 months.

"The building blocks for recovery have been put in place, and it will be essential this is continued through further constructive partnership working with the Improvement and Assurance Board, sector organisations and the local community.

"The Secretary of State is satisfied that the council is failing to comply with its best value duty.

"However, following detailed consideration of representations received by the authority and other interested parties, he has decided to modify the 'minded to' proposal.

"[Instead, he issues] directions [for] the Council to follow the advice of the Nottingham City Council Improvement and Assurance Board as a necessary and expedient action to secure compliance with their best value duty.

"He expects significant progress to be made over the next three months, and he will again consider exercising his powers from the 1999 Act, including the appointment of Commissioners, in the new year."

Leader of Nottingham City Council, David Mellen, welcomed the news:

"The decision not to appoint Commissioners shows that our representations about the positive progress we were making with the current Improvement and Assurance Board have been listened to and taken into account by the Government.

"I would like to thank the significant number of partners and stakeholders who wrote to the Government in support of the council and the progress we were making.

"This was acknowledged by the Secretary of State who said that he wants to offer help not punishment.

"We know there is a lot more work to do but we have demonstrated our determination to address the issues which led to the non-statutory review and I am confident we will continue to work well with the board to make the progress needed to emerge a better council."