Ditch diversity schemes, says Gove, as he bails out councils
MICHAEL GOVE has urged councils to drop “discredited” diversity schemes as he bailed them out with £600million in emergency funding.
The Local Government Secretary threatened to withdraw future funding from councils which pursue their own “hobby horses” and “politically correct” schemes rather than putting money into frontline social care.
It comes after the Local Government Association warned that one in six councils was at risk of declaring effective bankruptcy because of shortage of funds.
Yesterday The Telegraph revealed that the vast majority of town halls are set to put up council tax by the maximum 5 per cent allowed.
Announcing the extra cash in a written ministerial statement, Mr Gove said that local authorities would have to respond by spending their money more wisely.
Future funding would be linked to how good the productivity plans were deemed to be, he warned.
“We are asking local authorities to produce productivity plans setting out how they will improve service performance and reduce wasteful expenditure to ensure every area is making best use of taxpayers’ money,” he said.
“I encourage local authorities to consider whether expenditure on discredited equality, diversity and inclusion programmes meets this objective.”
A study two years ago found that across 397 councils, there are 794 equality, diversity and inclusion members of staff.
Conservative Way Forward found that the average cost per council was £67,000 – totalling £30million a year across the country.
Mr Gove criticised councils for “spending money on unconscious bias training and a variety of politically correct exercises instead of devoting money to the frontline.”
“Similarly, South Cambridgeshire council is essentially trying to have a four-day week part–time working for a five-day pay settlement,” he said.
“So what we need to do is to make sure that those local authorities which are pursuing their own hobby horses are forced to justify their decisions to local people.
“People will expect money to be spent on frontline services. Instead of politically correct projects, instead of pursuing the obsessions of Liberal Democrat or Labour ideologues, we want services to be improved.
“What should money be spent on? Diversity, equality and inclusion tsars, or disabled children who need support in school? It seems to me that the answer is obvious.”
Mr Gove said an extra £500million would be made available for top-tier authorities who provide social care.
And he said all councils would benefit from changes to the “funding guarantee”, which sets out the minimum percentage annual increase in money available to all councils before any decisions are made on how high to increase council tax.
The guarantee will be increased from 3 to 4 per cent – a key demand of lower-tier district councils.
More than 40 Conservative backbenchers recently signed a letter to the Prime Minister, which was organised by the County Councils Network, warning that without emergency cash, many councils will be forced to cut crucial frontline services and hike council tax in an election year.