Lib Dems Attack Plan to Hand Power to Unelected Bureaucrats (South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats)

South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats <info@secambslibdems.org.uk>

Lib Dems Attack Plan to Hand Power to Unelected Bureaucrats

September 27, 2010 7:29 PM

Cllr Fiona Whelan has criticised plans to turn the unaccountable Public Service Boards in the Commissioning Board for local Services

A controversial plan to give unelected bureaucrats new powers over local services has angered Liberal Democrat councillors.

They fear the move could weaken democracy by taking decisions away from elected politicians and giving them to local authority officers.

A report written by officers at Cambridgeshire County Council suggests strengthening the role of the Public Service Board, whose members are council and public service chief executives, by "empowering it to take decisions".

The report suggests that the board could become "the commissioning group for all locally delivered services, with its chair becoming the accountable individual for funding and commissioning decisions".

The chair of the PSB is the county council's chief executive and it meets in private with no papers available to the public. No elected representatives attend meetings or have any input in the board's discussions.

The report was presented to Cambridgeshire Together whose chair is the county council's Conservative Leader, Jill Tuck.

Fiona Whelan, Cambridgeshire Lib Dem Leader said: "It is vitally important that Councillor Tuck puts a stop to this immediately.

"This is an audacious attempt to grab power from the proper democratic process. This would involve decisions being made about local services by officers who were not elected to do so."

Nichola Harrison, Lib Dem Environment Spokesperson said: "We will never accept the weakening of democracy. The county council's bureaucrats are there to assist elected politicians to make good decisions, not to take over the role themselves.

"It is unthinkable that crucial decisions on funding local services should be taken by an unelected board in secret. This has serious implications and cannot be allowed to happen."