Integrity of Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority leaders questioned

The role of mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough was created in 2017

An authority found to have "significant weaknesses" needs to do more to improve how staff view the "integrity" of its elected leadership, a report has said.

Last year an external auditor raised concerns about the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

A recent staff survey found there was "less comfort with the integrity of the elected members".

The authority said it was an "isolated comment" whose inclusion in feedback reflected a commitment to transparency.

Staff were surveyed in March to get their thoughts on how the authority, which was established in 2017, was being run.

The authority is led by the directly-elected Labour Mayor Nik Johnson. He chairs the authority's board which includes of the leaders of the seven local district, county and unitary councils, and the police and crime commissioner.

The concern about integrity was one of a number of areas highlighted as an "area to do more on".

Staff also said they were not confident that a "clear" and "strategic" direction was being "communicated".

A report to the authority said that while the "the integrity of the current senior leadership is recognised... there is less comfort with the integrity of the elected members who make up the second strand of leadership".

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A spokesman for the partnership said: "The reference to staff concerns about the integrity of elected members reflects one comment made by one individual member of staff in our recent staff survey.

"While this isolated comment is not part of a wider narrative about sustained concerns about the behaviour of elected members at the current time, this was an issue identified in the Best Value Notice and has been a focus of the combined authority's improvement and transformation journey.

"The inclusion of this individual piece of feedback, just one of 47 responses, highlights our commitment to being transparent about the journey we are still on."

The spokesman said new protocols for officer and elected member working were poised to be introduced, and a new induction process had been brought in.