Liverpool City Council: Commissioner 'can't rule out' staff changes

Mike Cunningham is leading oversight of Liverpool City Council

The lead commissioner brought in to oversee Liverpool City Council has said he cannot rule out further changes to staff.

The government assigned Mike Cunningham to oversee parts of the local authority after a report found failings including a "serious breakdown of governance".

It also identified concerns about bullying and intimidation.

Mr Cunningham said it was "inescapable" that more problems would be found but he thought "things are already better".

The authority has been under scrutiny since police began investigating building and development contracts in December 2019.

The police probe has seen five men, including then mayor Joe Anderson, arrested. All the men deny any wrongdoing.

The government ordered an inspection, led by Max Caller, which found "multiple apparent failures" and a "deeply concerning picture of mismanagement" in some functions at the Labour-run authority.

The Caller report, published in March, found the council frequently agreed deals that did not provide good value for taxpayers.

Mr Cunningham says "changes in the atmosphere are already being felt"

Mr Cunningham told BBC North West Tonight some staff had already left the council and there was "certainly potential" for further people to have to go and he "can't rule that out".

He said it would be "naive" not to recognise that more people may need to leave.

"If during our work, someone comes to us with an allegation or a complaint of bullying, intimidation or inappropriate behaviour, we will make sure it is taken very seriously and followed through and appropriate actions are taken," he said.

Commissioners are currently sharing responsibility for decisions on highways and regeneration and Mr Cunningham said this could be extended "to look at other parts of the council".

They have the power to take over decision-making of elected councillors if deemed necessary.

Commissioners share responsibility for highways and regeneration decisions

Mr Cunningham said after six weeks at the council he believed the Caller report was "on the money" but he said new mayor, Joanne Anderson, had shown "a clear determination to improve".

He said while nobody "relishes an intervention like this" he had found "no kind of resistance or pushback to the role of commissioners".

There was an acceptance that we have a job to do, he said.

Mr Cunningham said some "really great" people had worked under "appalling circumstances" but "changes in the atmosphere" were already being felt.

"We think that things are already better [but] we are certainly not assuming that everything in the garden is yet rosy," he said.

He said his first report to Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick in September would set out "the baseline position upon which we will then measure improvements".