The Audit Commission has stressed it has no preference over waste collection frequency in its response to a letter from communities secretary Eric Pickles which accused it of promoting fortnightly waste collections, letsrecycle.com can reveal.
I believe that Whitehall should be supporting regular and frequent rubbish and recycling collections
Eric Pickles, Communities and Local Government Secretary
In a letter drafted by its interim chief executive, the local authority watchdog said it would be reviewing policy to ensure it “remains relevant” with the new government's goals. And, the Commission also said Mr Pickles had used “significantly out of date” documents to support his original criticism.
In Mr Pickles' letter, sent earlier this month to the Commission, the minister ordered it to repeal internal guidance – called the ‘Waste Management Quick Guide' – which he claimed promoted the use of “unhygienic” and “unpopular” fortnightly waste collections (see letsrecycle.com story).
The letter of response drafted by the Audit Commission last week (June 21) by interim chief executive Eugene Sullivan explained that it was not the Commission's role to impose certain waste collection services on councils and that it had “never issued such guidance”.
“It is for councils to decide the appropriate arrangements for their area,” he said. “We do not impose particular policy approaches on democratically elected councils. Neither the Local Government Association nor individual councils have raised concerns with us on our approach to this issue.”
However, in response to Mr Pickles request for the guidance to be repealed, Mr Sullivan said: “We are reviewing all our internal guidance to staff in the light of emerging government policy to ensure that it remains relevant.”
“Incorrect”
Furthermore, Mr Sullivan said that the claim on the Communities and Local Government website that the guidance had been issued to councils was “incorrect”.
He said: “The document referred to was internal briefing material for Audit Commission staff prepared in 2007 and never published or issued to councils. I would be grateful if the website statement could be amended accordingly.”
And, Mr Sullivan said that, while the Audit Commission had power to inspect councils to insure services were value-for-money, inspections had “reduced significantly in recent years”. He explained that while 43 inspections covering waste services took place in 2002/03, this had fallen to just two in 2009/10.
When assessed in detail by letsrecycle.com, the guidance said there were benefits to alternate weekly collections, but it was not suitable for all areas. The document also questioned the impact of large-scale incineration on local authority recycling performance (see letsrecycle.com story).
Pickles
Issued to letsrecycle.com alongside the Audit Commission response was also a copy of the letter sent to it by Mr Pickles.
In his letter, the communities secretary said that, when in opposition, shadow Conservative ministers had criticised Audit Commission guidance which seemingly “cajoled” local authorities into adopting “fortnightly rubbish collections of household rubbish”.
Included in the letter were a number of excerpts from Audit Commission guidance which were used by Mr Pickles to support his criticism.
Explaining the reasons behind his call for the Audit Commission to repeal its guidance, Mr Pickles said: “As the new secretary of state for communities and local government, I am keen to ensure that the pledges we made in opposition are delivered upon in government.
“While the decisions on rubbish collections will ultimately be a matter for local discretion, I believe that Whitehall should be supporting regular and frequent rubbish and recycling collections, rather than forcing and encouraging councils to make cuts to vital frontline services.”
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