When I threw my hat in the ring to become Mayor of Liverpool in 2021, I knew that the path ahead was never going to be easy.
As it turned out, Max Caller's Best Value Inspection report which led to the appointment of commissioners turned out to be just the start of an incredibly challenging couple of years in which decades of historic bad practice, processes and ways of working have been uncovered and exposed in the full glare of the public spotlight.
Because we have been determined to own and face the issues head on, in an open and transparent way, it has led to sometimes unrelenting negative media coverage. At times it has felt like one bad headline after another, and for our staff, seeing their employer trashed, it's been incredibly tough. But I have been hugely impressed by their strength and resilience, determined to see the council through difficult times. Their public sector ethos is undimmed – each day they are determined to make a positive difference to the lives of people in Liverpool.
I am pleased to say that we are now starting to come through the other side – a view also echoed by the commissioners, who are overseeing our improvement journey. The council is now entering a new era - one of transformation and fundamental change. There is a saying that you sometimes have to hit rock bottom before you can enact real transformation. And we now have an opportunity to overhaul, redesign and recreate the way we do things on a scale never seen before in the history of the council.
At a time when we have fewer staff and a smaller budget, we have to find new ways to maximise the impact our services make. This means doing away with silos, and embedding collaborative working, shared intelligence and joined-up thinking throughout our organisation.
We are tackling historic issues with a root and branch approach. We are not papering over cracks. We are going back to the drawing board and completely redesigning the way we do things. We are putting in place more streamlined and efficient processes, and modernised and improved services that will offer better value for money. Across the council, there are going to be 45 transformation projects across all directorates. Every project will be looking to change a way of working, a process, a system - or all three. Our residents are front and centre of everything we do, and this is all about changing how we work to better meet their needs.
We know that actions speak louder than words and we are prepared to take bold and dynamic steps to give the people of our city the council they deserve.
To underpin and embed these improvements, and drive them further and faster, we have started a search for a new chief executive and a restructured management team. We are looking for the brightest and best in local government to help us become a leading council.
The changes will give us more capacity and capability so we can achieve better outcomes, drive improvements at pace and better serve our residents.
There are several brand-new positions to address some of the fundamental issues affecting the quality of life in our communities, such as poor quality housing, which will enable us to deliver services in a smarter and more efficient way at a neighbourhood level.
We are not starting from scratch – a tremendous amount of hard work has been going on over the last couple of years, which is already starting to deliver results.
Work at stalled regeneration sites is now progressing, we have halved waiting times for calls to our contact centre and are seeing better outcomes in our children's services and for families.
The proportion of good and outstanding schools has increased to 95% for the primary sector (90% in 2020) and 71% of secondary (47% in 2020).
I was delighted to see our Public Health team recently recognised for their work to re-design sexual health services to better serve our residents.
These are just some examples of our success as we overhaul, redesign and reshape how we work.
We know that we are nowhere near the finish line yet. We are on a journey, striving to improve, and become the authority we know we can become. We have the people, the will and the passion to succeed.
My term as Mayor will end in May, and I am now convinced that when I depart, I will have achieved my aim of setting the council firmly on the path to a more positive future, delivering best value and social value for our residents.
Joanne Anderson is Mayor of Liverpool City Council
