Durham Council awaiting visit from Reform UK’s ‘Doge’ team

The new administration has vowed to review how Durham County Council provides its services and mitigate council tax increases if possible, a report stated. 

The council’s current budget plans – formed under the previous Joint Administration – include a deficit of £31 million next year, as pressures on adult and children’s social care and special needs services increase. 

Reform leaders also pledged to review capital expenditure, existing savings plans, and climate change net zero investment plans.

Durham County Council is one of 10 councils that the party took control of following May’s local elections. 

Reform has brought together a team of analysts as part of its department of local government efficiency (Doge) to audit council books. Councils under a Reform administration will be visited by a team tasked with identifying areas where potential savings can be made for further investigation by the local authority.

Yet, it is not yet known when Durham County Council will receive such a visit, and no formal correspondence has been received so far. 

Earlier this week, cabinet members approved a report detailing the council’s financial and transformation planning in the coming months. 

Council Leader Andrew Husband told a cabinet meeting: “The work of Doge is still to be set out and agreed, and we want to ensure it aligns with our work programme here in County Durham, and that it adds value to the commitments we have made to identify savings and opportunities going forward. 

“It is appropriate that we have appropriate governance arrangements in place for any data-related work undertaken in the council. The report sets out how we will ensure appropriate governance arrangements are established and the required delegations are in place for any Doge work that we agreed to undertake.”

Darren Grimes, the council’s deputy leader, added that Doge will work in tandem with officers to avoid inefficient use of already-stretched resources. 

A council report said cabinet members would need to consider any data security risks when sharing information. Officers at some councils have reportedly blocked the party’s efficiency unit from accessing personal and commercial information. 

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Labour’s Rob Crute, councillor for Blackhall and Hesledens, told a council meeting in June: “I don’t think any of us should be shying from any kind of scrutiny, but I have had concerned members of the public coming to me about the use of their data. We don’t know what it is going to be used for or who is going to own it. 

“We are completely in the dark about what this actually means, and it’s really confusing for members of the public.”

The council added that there would need to be an analysis and understanding of why the authority’s existing processes and internal and external audit and scrutiny functions are insufficient or inappropriate to undertake the reviews.