Government shutters Office for Local Government

The Office for Local Government (Oflog) is to be closed, the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution has confirmed.

In a letter to Oflog chief executive Josh Goodman, McMahon said that given the fiscal context, resources must be focused “on the front line”. 

The Minister also said it was an urgent priority to fix the local audit system, which was not part of Oflog’s remit.

“Furthermore, it is clear to me that Oflog was hampered with a vague and broad remit that risked duplication of functions performed elsewhere,” McMahon said.

The Minister said the Government would work with the sector to establish other ways to ensure that local authorities are “fit, legal and decent”.

He wrote: “In doing so we will incorporate the benefits of relevant work done by Oflog to date. We will have a small function within my department that will measure local government, with a focus on the government’s key missions, objectives and outcomes, as we fix local audit to reinstate a vital part of our early warning system on the state of local government finances.”

McMahon added that he was “keen to ensure we learn the right lessons from Oflog, and not consider it all wasted simply because its formation was underdeveloped and lacked political clarity.

“We must rebuild the system from the ground up, and I am keen to engage with staff who worked on this project, and the sector on how to do this in the most efficient and effective way.”