Thurrock making progress but “still much to do” – including in relation to governance: Minister

March 7, 2024

The Minister for Local Government, Simon Hoare, has commended the progress made at Thurrock Council since Commissioners were appointed to the local authority 18 months ago, but has warned that there is “still much to do” including to address ongoing governance requirements.

The Government ordered intervention and a best-value inspection of Thurrock in September 2022 in response to urgent concerns about the unitary's level of financial risk and debt. Commissioners took full control of the authority’s financial functions.

A report in December 2022 said the local authority was planning to request exceptional financial support from the Government in order to resolve a £470m funding gap partly resulting from solar farm investments. Later that month the council issued a section 114 report.

In March 2023 the intervention was expanded.

The Commissioner' third report was sent to ministers in January this year and published today (7 March 2024).

It said Thurrock was engaging well with them and “owning its recovery”.

The report said: “Whilst the current financial position remains precarious, the council has demonstrated that it will take difficult service-based decisions. However, given the political fragility of the council, there remains a high risk moving forward.

“Organisationally, there is fresh impetus and the new structure has landed well. The recent recruitment effort was partially successful and will bring some much-needed additional talent to the organisation. However, there are some key vacancies that remain unfilled, and the council will have to rely on interims until such time as these posts are filled on a permanent basis.”

The Commissioners said the agreement of all councillors to adopt the Enhanced Improvement and Recovery Plan in October 2023 was “an important milestone in the intervention that demonstrated to us that there is an appetite for a whole-council approach to improvement in Thurrock”.

However, the report warned that there was “a risk of distraction as the election nears and shorter-term priorities take precedence over those that are longer-term”.

The Commissioners also said:

The behaviour of a small number of members had the ability to impact the progress of the intervention. “Too much Commissioner and officer time has been spent dealing with these members who do not show the respect and courtesy to officers that we expect to see, and we have been clear with senior members that we have high expectations of member conduct.”
Despite the actions of a few, they had seen a strengthening of member-officer relationships that was promising, “but as yet not consistent across the Council’s functions”.
Decision making in Thurrock continued to show signs of improvement and it was encouraging that, after many years of indecision, members had recently agreed to the Regulation 18 consultation on the Local Plan. “We have also seen an increased quality of decision making on a range of issues at Full Council. In the coming months, we are keen that these practices become imbedded with a consistency in good chairing of meetings and a focus on the pertinent issues that sometimes get lost to the theatre of political point scoring.”
Difficult decisions lay ahead for the council, including consideration of a budget for 2024/25 that includes savings of £18.2m. [Thurrock’s Budget Council meeting was held on 28 February] “We have been clear from the outset of intervention that the council faces huge financial and governance challenges. The undoubted progress that has been made must not cloud the judgement of members and officers concerning the scale of the task that remains in front of them.”
Work to increase the capacity and capability of the council continued “at pace”. There had been partial success with the recruitment of a permanent Monitoring Officer, Daniel Fenwick from Liverpool City Council, and an Assistant Chief Executive.

Specifically in relation to governance, the report said:

The work on improving governance had matured since the Commissioners’ last report. The improved decision-making, particularly at Full Council, had been aided by “improved forward planning and grip by senior officers”. However, progress was sometimes hampered by inconsistencies in process and a lack of focus from members in their discussions.
The review of Overview and Scrutiny undertaken by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny was the most developed piece of work. “We are satisfied that the scrutiny function will be much improved when the reviewed system launches for the new civic year.”
Training and development for members had been a success of the last period with a substantive range of training delivered. Officers had also taken part in mandatory training on effective report writing that had gone some way to improving the quality of decision papers the Commissioners see. The council has also implemented a stronger process of quality assurance.
The Commissioners had also seen “a real grip” on improving the information the council holds about its own performance. A Performance Management and Assurance Framework (PMAF) has been developed, alongside a provisional scorecard.
On risk and internal audit, whilst there had been some progress notably in recruitment to key roles, a key action remains outstanding regarding the implementation of a new risk policy and mobilisation of a properly resourced team; this was expected in the first quarter of 2024.
There had been good progress with the review of the financial and contract regulations within the Council’s Constitution. “The member group is well-engaged and now that CIPFA is in place to undertake a review of the whole Constitution the council need to ensure that pace and rigour are brought to the project.”
Progress had also been made in relation to the council’s role as the accountable body of the Thames Freeport. “We look forward to working with the Freeport to put in place the necessary legal agreements to secure good governance across the Accountable Body role.”
A Planning Advisory Service led independent review of the planning service and the planning committee had been published and was “a forthright, open and focussed analysis of the challenges in planning and makes clear recommendations on the progress required”.

Despite this, the Commissioners said there “remains a significant body of work to undertake and deliver to address the governance needs of the organisation”. This will continue to be added to as the council continues to examine its services.

“Given that work on governance is broad and progressing at different paces across the council, we will ask the newly appointed Monitoring Officer to conduct a governance review when he joins us in March,” the report said.

The Commissioners concluded: “Thurrock is a council that is owning its recovery, taking hard decisions and making the organisational investments to do so. However, it still has a considerable way to go to build capacity and capability to deliver the required change.

“In 2024, the council should focus on delivering the change as opposed to planning for it. It is our view that the council should use targeted external support to do this.”

In a written ministerial statement today (7 March), Minister for Local Government Simon Hoare said: “I am pleased to see the strengthening of member officer relationships and that all councillors agreed to adopt and commit to the Enhanced Improvement and Recovery Plan in October; it is important that there continues to be a whole-council approach to Thurrock’s recovery.

“While the progress to date is to be commended, there is still much to do, including addressing ongoing governance requirements and ensuring the council has underpinning plans to implement its recovery, including a corporate plan and operating model. The financial situation should not be underestimated, with Commissioners making clear that the challenge remains substantial.”

Hoare added: “There has undoubtedly been good progress at Thurrock, and it is imperative focus is maintained in the months ahead on the long-term priorities, to continue to build upon and drive the necessary improvements.”

Responding to the Commissioners’ report, Cllr Andrew Jefferies, Leader of Thurrock Council, said: “The recognition of our progress is encouraging and we will continue to build on what has already been put in place. I remain focused on meeting the significant challenges that lie ahead on our council’s improvement journey.

“We will continue to work together to drive forward with the changes needed to shape our recovery.

“Thurrock is a borough that will succeed and flourish. We want to be the energetic, hard-working and ambitious council local people need and deserve.”