Brokenshire praises commissioners for Northants turnaround
0Communities secretary James Brokenshire has thanked commissioners sent into Northamptonshire County Council for improving the financial situation at the authority.
In their second report, released last week, commissioners said that the improvements they have initiated to the governance and financial operations of the council are having a “discernible beneficial effect”.
In February, Room151 reported that Northamptonshire predicted that it is set to balance its 2018/19 revenue budget, seven months after its former director of finance issued a section 114 notice predicting a £64.4m overspend.
The commissioners said: “For the Council to be on the cusp of realising a balanced position between income and expenditure in 2018/19 without the use of any extraordinary support or exotic accounting solutions is a significant achievement.”
However, they said that improvements to the quality of services “will take longer to bring about and while we have encouraged transformational activity, and are pleased with its implementation thus far, we have much more to do in making change happen, and have it understood and made sustainable”.
Thanking the commissioners, Brokenshire said: “May I commend you on the speed at which you have tackled the financial issues at Northamptonshire and set the pace for change.”
