A new report calls for local Mayoral Authority Accountability Committees to hold leaders to account
With great power comes great responsibility – but also accountability. That’s according to researchers at the Institute for Public Policy Research North (IPPR North) who are today calling for “watchdogs with bite” to keep mayors in check and strengthen devolution.
IPPR North says that new Mayoral Authority Accountability Committees (‘MAACs’) – professional, well-resourced bodies – are needed to improve scrutiny on increasingly powerful local leaders.
As power continues to be transferred from Whitehall to local leaders, more mayors are seeing their funding consolidated into a single pot, with fewer strings attached. Researchers say this is the right call, but that current systems of accountability haven’t kept pace with mayors’ increasing power and autonomy.
That’s where MAACs come in. These high profile, committees would have real clout and the ability to enjoy independence, expert staff and the authority to summon local officials and wider place leaders to face questioning – from mayors and their cabinets, to the police and probation services.
Where current scrutiny committees are limited in their power and resourcing, MAACs would have real teeth, and the ability to hold mayors to the standards the public expects. In doing so they could build legitimacy for devolution.
Director of IPPR North and report co-author, Zoë Billingham commented:
“Mayors are getting more power and that’s a good thing. But the systems that keep them in check haven’t kept up, and will hold devolution up if left as they are.
“Accountability is about more than accounts. It’s about people with standing asking the tough questions – and ultimately getting the answers the public need and deserve.
“We need to beef up scrutiny, do it properly, and design a watchdog that ambitious councillors want to be part of. MAACs are the answer to this pressing need and the English Devolution Bill is the government’s opportunity to get this right”.
