Forty years ago, I was on a school trip to the Lake District, writes Cllr Bill Revans.
We spent a lovely hot summer’s day listening to Live Aid in between swimming in Derwentwater.
Reflecting on the profound impact of Live Aid, it is clear how music has the extraordinary power to unite and inspire change.
This momentous event, held across two continents, saw musicians and audiences rally together, transcending borders to address some of the world's most pressing issues: poverty, inequality, and hunger.
I’m now back in the Lake District carrying out a Corporate Peer Challenge for the Local Government Association of Westmorland and Furness Council.
Somerset Council and Westmorland and Furness Council were formed on the same day.
In Cumbria, the government decided to split the council in two.
This would have been the Liberal Democrats' preferred option for Somerset; but the Conservative government went with the One Somerset option.
I still worry that a council the size of Somerset is too remote from its residents.
Peer challenges are not the same as Ofsted inspections in schools or CQC inspections in health and care.
The team is made up of councillors and officers from similar councils.
The process is formative; aimed at seeing what’s going well and what could be improved.
Westmorland and Furness is a very similar area to Somerset.
Mixed rural and urban, significant inequalities, ageing population, significant economic changes ahead.
The splitting of the former county council services like social care and highways has meant that some of these services have had higher costs, but like Somerset Council, savings have been made by combining the former district councils’ functions.
As a teacher, I never liked summative outcomes from inspections.
Too often in the schools I worked in, they were delivered with funereal declarations that the school was 'Inadequate' or 'Requires Improvement'.
'Good' was met with relief and I am sure 'Outstanding' schools celebrate.
When I was marking students' work, I liked it when schools used 'WWW' and 'EBI' for marking work: What Went Well and Even Better If.
It means learning is a journey and it’s genuinely about progress and learning.
Similarly, peer challenge is more of a dialogue, based on performance data, council reports and conversations with a variety of councillors, officers and residents.
By the way - Somerset had its review back in the autumn, which you can read at somerset.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/somerset-councils-corporate-peer-challenge-2024.
We have also had a review of our finances carried out independently by the Chartered Institute for Public Finance Accountancy (CIPFA) for the government and their recommendations are available at gov.uk/government/publications/somerset-council-external-assurance-review-2024-25.
And there are many reports into Somerset Council’s finances from our auditors and our professional finance team.
I’m always surprised when people say local councils lack transparency and openness.
Council accounts are the most transparent of any in the public sector.
Looking at Westmorland and Furness’s data, I couldn’t help but compare it with Somerset’s.
They perform better in some areas, and we perform better in others.
That is to be expected.
But three facts stood out for me:
Firstly, Somerset Council spends a higher proportion of its core spending power than any other unitary council in the country on social care, looking after our most vulnerable residents.
This is great - I want us to be a caring council, but we do need to get much better at keeping ourselves healthier and active for longer.
Secondly, our percentage of school leavers who are not in education or training is far too large.
We have excellent colleges, apprenticeship programmes and employment opportunities here in Somerset, so we need to understand why a few youngsters are opting out and how we can support them to make better choices.
And thirdly, Somerset’s council tax is 20 per cent lower than Westmorland and Furness.
No one likes paying more taxes, but the financial sustainability of Somerset Council is going to be tricky when we remain significantly underfunded due to historical decisions.
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