Reform's "DOGE" does nothing.

[JohnD]

"Jennifer Williams in Manchester and Mari Novik in London

Published YESTERDAY


Reform UK’s “Doge” team has carried out no audit work in the town halls it won nearly six months ago and no agreements are in place for it to do so, councils have said.

The party seized control of nine councils across England last May while taking minority leadership of three others.

Leader Nigel Farage promised a new unit in the mould of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, aimed at tackling “wasteful spending” and “complacency” within local government.

The team, initially headed up by former party chair Zia Yusuf, visited several Reform-led councils in the weeks that followed.

At the time Reform said Doge would be “auditing local government spending to increase transparency and ensure taxpayer money is spent solely on activity that benefits residents”.

But despite a handful of exploratory visits to town halls, to date there has been no agreement struck for Doge to analyse confidential internal information."

FT.com

 

[JohnD]

"A council spokesperson said this week that since June, “all work on local government efficiency in Kent has been led and delivered” by the council’s own internal team of councillors. In Kent, that team has been named the Department of Local Government Efficiency, or Dolge.

Initial conversations were also held over the summer with West Northamptonshire council, which outlined a range of data that could potentially be provided subject to appropriate legal agreements.

The council confirmed this week that there had been “no further discussions” with Doge, adding that it was still waiting for the return of due diligence documents for Reform’s “nominated representative”.

No external Doge work has yet been carried out at Lancashire county council. The new administration launched its own internal efficiency review within weeks of taking over. A contract worth up to £520,000 for ergonomic chairs highlighted by Reform during the election as an example of waste remains in place.

Staffordshire, Nottinghamshire, Durham, Lincolnshire, North Northamptonshire and Derbyshire confirmed they had not been visited by Doge and that no visit was scheduled. Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Leicestershire, where the party does not have a majority but is the largest group, confirmed the same position."