The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has today (8 May 2025) issued Newham Council a non-statutory Best Value Notice.
A Best Value Notice is a mechanism that allows the department to assure itself that the Council is making sufficient progress against its statutory Best Value Duty in how it operates and delivers services, with the department setting out the areas where it expects the Council to make further progress over the next 12 months.
The Notice will not affect the day-to-day running of the Council.
MHCLG identified three areas where it wants to see progress over the next 12 months:
- Value for Money issues around governance, identified by the External Auditors’ report.
- Cultural and Governance issues identified in a review of scrutiny arrangements by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny in 2023 and an LGA Peer review of October 2024.
- Concerns about the delivery of some Council programmes, particularly following the Regulator of Social Housing C4 rating in October 2024.
Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE said: “I welcome MHCLG’s acknowledgment of the steps we have already taken since October 2023 and the progress made so far, including introducing independent external challenge overseeing our Transformation and Improvement Board. But it is clear we still have a way to go.
“The Council is already on a significant change and improvement journey to enable us to meet our statutory requirements, transform how we operate and deliver our Building a Fairer Newham Corporate Plan. We have already strengthened governance and processes as part of our Action Plan following the Corporate Peer Challenge we instigated in October 2023 with the Local Government Association (LGA).
“We are also currently finalising an Action Plan with the Regulator of Social Housing to improve our housing services, following the unacceptable C4 rating the Council received last year.
“To meet the exceptional financial pressures the Council faces as a result of temporary accommodation and rising social care costs, which led to us requesting Exceptional Financial Support from government last year, we are making savings to the Council and transforming how we operate and deliver services.
“I am determined that the Council rapidly responds to the Best Value Notice and demonstrates that it is well equipped to deliver for our residents as we accelerate our journey of improvement and change”.
Read the Mayors full statement here (PDF).
