Gove establishes Oflog to 'increase transparency of local government performance'

Levelling up secretary Michael Gove used the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Annual Conference in Bournemouth on Tuesday to officially unveil Oflog - the Office for Local Government - which is tasked with increasing performance transparency and identifying councils at risk of potential failure.

Gove told the LGA conference: “Oflog will improve the transparency of local government performance by publishing data in a clear and accessible way on the new Local Authority Data Explorer".

“Initially, this includes a subset of service areas for data – adult skills, adult social care, finance, and waste management. These service areas will be expanded to cover the breadth of what local authorities do, and the initial metrics will be improved over time,” Gove explained.

The Oflog policy paper Understanding and supporting local government performance highlighted that the government has had to, in recent years, “intervene in an increasing number of local authorities”, the most current example being Woking Borough Council.

Alongside the establishment of Oflog, DLUHC has also launched a consultation into new statutory guidance Best value standards and intervention - a statutory guide for best value authorities.

Gove said: “This new guidance sets out seven themes of good practice for running an authority to secure continuous improvement and provide value for money. These include the characteristics of a well-functioning local authority and those used to identify challenges that could indicate failure.”

The consultation ends on 15 August 2023.