Agent151’s election lessons

Agent151 is a senior local authority finance director and s151 officer.

European and council elections were held in May. The results have been discussed ad nauseam. The new landscape already feels quite familiar. However, we should consider whether there are particular lessons for us folk to assimilate, especially in the current austere local government climate.
From a financial viewpoint, one of the issues is whether, as an organisation, you are ready to deliver the victorious party’s manifesto. Preparation for this begins way before the election is even a blurry shape upon the horizon by working with politicians of all parties to ensure they are properly briefed on the local financial situation. This means sessions (and I mean sessions plural – one won’t do the trick!) with each of the political groups explaining in simple terms such arcane mysteries as the grant settlement, the medium term financial strategy, and the council tax base.
This time around, the important message for each group to comprehend was that they would have no money to spend on expensive promises to the electorate. Not a difficult one, you might think, considering the frequent reminders of public sector austerity from central government and the media. You would be wrong, of course.
Election campaigns are, after all, about promising things. The manifesto itself, mostly drafted in a flurry of activity in the weeks preceding the election, is a document in which the s151 officer should take a particular interest. A quiet word at the drafting stage is the most direct opportunity to ensure that it does not contain unaffordable promises. Unfortunately, this kind of support is sometimes rejected by local politicians on the grounds the contents are secret. By implication this reveals a paranoid belief that the s151 officer will be bursting to blurt the highlights to opposition parties.
Of course, such a belief couldn’t be further from the truth – we s151 officers are by nature entirely impartial and very good indeed at keeping secrets. Perhaps in such cases the local politicians’ secrecy is itself just cover for discomfort at having their homework marked. One way around this impasse
is to offer the dedicated services of a deputy who will be subject to a strict ban on discussing what they see or hear with anyone else – including you.
Nearly all manifestos fail to say how their promises will be funded, and the ones that do refer only to the sort of cuts local politicians imagine will go down well with residents: fewer senior managers (hurrah!); a reduction in the use of consultants (yippee!); fewer agency staff (whoop whoop!). Such proposals ultimately deliver comparatively little in cash savings. As s151 officer, your job, of course, is to anticipate the extra sum that will be needed to balance the budget and to line up palatable options for the victorious majority members.
The next election issue is the event itself – the poll followed by the count. Your finance staff members are potentially a valuable asset to the Returning Officer if you can make them available and it won’t interfere with business as usual such as closing the accounts. After all, accountants are particularly good at counting. They also have skills with spreadsheets, which have been the saviour of many a count. Hopefully they will emerge after the training and pressures of the event having enjoyed a great
team-building experience. It’s possible, however, that they will have endured the relentless, vulture-eyed scrutiny of politicians, the anger and rudeness that the stress of a manual count can bring on in those being judged, and a good deal of disorganisation and procedural dysfunction. The tediously long paper-based manual process, its vulnerability to error, and the large numbers of staff needed all argue strongly for the introduction of electronic voting as soon as possible.
Finally, with new members installed, the task is to complete their induction in a way that does not put them off finance-related matters forever. In their first few weeks, the members will be treated to a succession of presentations of such mind-boggling awfulness that they might imagine they have, due to a council administrative error, ended up a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, and will be hoping, by the time you get to them, for some waterboarding as a bit of light relief.
Bearing in mind the somewhat dry nature of local government finance, audit committees and pension
panels, it’s fair to say that you have a bit of a challenge on your hands. But you’re equal to the task, I’m sure. Now, about those glove puppets I ordered….