Most members of the local government finance community have been expecting and planning for big cuts for a couple of years, even if they mentally labelled the changes ‘Operation Hope Not’ (‘Honey, I shrunk the council’, PF January 2011).
Now it is happening and we are also looking at the likelihood of a hard-nosed, private sector-style approach to superfluous rules and services. It might look like a bad time for good governance.
But it shouldn’t be. I have spent the past six years as an interim auditor and it has concentrated my mind on governance issues. More than ever, we need to be running open, listening organisations. That means sensible and workable processes, simply written and easy-to-read policies and procedures, and, above all – a commitment from senior managers and elected members to lead from the front.
We need to be open about what we are doing and talk to the people in the front line – and listen to what they say. We might not be able to promise much but we must be honest. There will be cuts, but we can tell people that we will not impose them randomly, and that we will treat everyone fairly. And when we know where the cuts will be, we will need to give support and practical help to those leaving.
Next, we need to make sure that we get the balance right in everything we do – and challenge established ways of doing things if we can do them better in other ways. If we are assessing performance, it is important to measure something that will help us understand and improve what we do, not just anything we can measure. We need to be sure of the options and the reasons, as well as the costs. We need a business case for all changes.
There are also many ways to streamline some tasks. The best internal auditors can help managers assess risks and cut out wasteful parts of the system.
As the cuts start to take effect, there will be more cases of wrongdoing. We will need to investigate how they happened, learn the lessons and close the loopholes.
Throughout, we must plan for, expect, and demand good governance. We need to make integrity part of how we do everything and lead by example – generously, kindly, and pausing to reassure and encourage.
