Local Government Best Value

Alison McGovern Excerpts

Monday 1st December 2025 Written Statements

[The Minister for Local Government and Homelessness (Alison McGovern)]

The Government are committed to taking the action necessary to fix the foundations of local government. Today I am updating the House on the steps that we are taking to support two councils to recover and reform: Birmingham city council and Nottingham city council.

Birmingham city council

Today I am publishing the Birmingham commissioners’ third report, alongside my response.

I welcome the commissioners’ assessment of the period since January 2025, in their first report since the start of all-out industrial action in the waste service. The commissioners highlight that the council has made clear, positive progress in key areas. A landmark equal pay framework agreement has been signed, and there has been externally validated improvement in children’s and adult services. These are important steps towards delivering the improvement that residents deserve and are testament to the committed and focused leadership of Councillor John Cotton and his cabinet, with the support of the commissioner team, and the hard work of council staff.

During this period, the council has been managing the impact of continuing industrial action by Unite the union in the council’s waste services. The Government’s priority throughout this industrial dispute is, and has always been, Birmingham’s residents. While industrial action continues to affect waste disposal services at Birmingham city council, in the spring the Government took decisive action, in lockstep with the council, to ensure that waste in the city can be safely and sustainably managed. The result has been to establish a regular, reliable waste collection service despite industrial action. But this new wave of strikes threatens to derail progress for residents. Despite efforts to resolve the dispute by the council, commissioners assess that the ongoing waste dispute has diverted attention away from the vital improvements that the council has been making and slowed progress in key areas. The council still has work to do to move towards financial sustainability and is being hampered by this ongoing issue. Once again, we urge Unite to call off these strikes and end the disruption and misery caused to local people. Unite has acknowledged that, on occasion, behaviour on the picket line during this dispute breached a court order. This behaviour must not be repeated.

The distraction of the waste dispute is deeply disappointing and frustrating for the residents of Birmingham. We have seen again that, due to protest and picketing action relating to a new industrial dispute between Unite and an agency of the council, Birmingham has had to suspend its waste collections today. Further disruption is in no one’s interest. This remains a local issue for employers and the council to deal with in the first instance, but in the interests of Birmingham residents we remain in close contact with commissioners and the council and continue to monitor the situation. Commissioners continue to support the council in its operational response to the ongoing dispute, and in developing much-needed transformation plans for the waste service.

If the council can continue to progress and focus on improving critical areas of risk, we would hope to review the shape and focus of the intervention, with phased reductions at the appropriate time. I have asked Tony McArdle OBE to set out options for that in the next report from the commissioner team, as part of the work he is leading on the intervention exit strategy.

It is vital that the council is able to continue the pace at which it is delivering necessary improvements. I look forward to receiving an update on the steps taken to tackle the remaining risks and the development of an exit plan through the next commissioners’ report.

Nottingham city council

Nottingham has been in intervention since January 2021, and commissioners were appointed in February 2024.

On 21 November 2025, I published the commissioners’ third report, received in August, alongside my response. I am encouraged by the commissioners’ report, which highlights the steady progress being made by the council in delivering its improvement plan. It is reassuring that the council is now showing some “early signs of a shift towards continuous improvement thinking” and that positive changes are beginning to embed. I note that while noting that some key challenges remain. To maintain capacity and oversight until the current directions expire on 22 February 2026, the Secretary of State has made some changes to roles within the existing commissioner team and appointed Sharon Kemp OBE as lead commissioner, with Tony McArdle OBE and Margaret Lee OBE continuing as commissioners.

I look forward to receiving the commissioners’ next report in December and will carefully consider this before determining the next steps for Nottingham.

Conclusion

I am committed to working with these councils to ensure their compliance with the best value duty and the high standards of governance that local residents expect. This Government are working to deliver a consistently fit, legal and decent local government sector that provides good-quality essential services for all residents.

I will deposit in the House Library copies of the documents referred to, which are being published on gov.uk today. I will update the House in due course.

[HCWS1116]