ConservativeHome's Local Government Blog

Keep Big Brother out of the Town Hall

Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers Alliance says councils should avoid spending money on surveillance

It is a truth self evident that we live in an increasingly Big Brother society. With a Government seemingly obsessed with gathering as much data as possible on individuals, we are beset by ID cards, DNA databases, health snoopers and CCTV cameras. Whilst the warnings – most recently from former MI5 Chief Stella Rimington – tend to caution us against a “police state”, it is almost unnoticed that in practice much of these measures are in fact wielded by bureaucrats rather than the police.

Giving the police unprecedented powers to snoop on the public is worrying enough, but if anything it is even more concerning that it is local government who are the people behind the spy cameras.

There was a widespread sense of anger when it emerged the Poole Council had been using so-called “RIPA” powers, introduced on a wave of Government rhetoric about fighting terrorism, to covertly film a family whom they suspected to be lying about being in a school catchment zone.

Eric Pickles answers more of your questions

We have already published the first installment of answers to the questions you recently posed about local government reorganisation to shadow communities and local government secretary, Eric Pickles. Here is his second set of answers, covering how Conservative councils can be Conservative, local councils' use of anti-terrorism powers to spy one people, the Conservative revival in the north of England and the regularity of rubbish collections.

His final responses will be published tomorrow morning.

Questions from David Cooper and Deborah: What are your recommendations for strengthening the resolve of Conservative councillors, especially those in authorities that have recently changed hands, to deal with executive officers who either drag their feet over plans for efficiencies and savings or condone/encourage unacceptable treatment of council taxpayers in the name of the council? And how should the Conservative Party deal with those councillors who wore blue rosettes to get elected but who do not follow Conservative principles?

Eric Pickles: I believe in democracy, and as such I think elected representatives should make decisions in the interest of their communities, not unelected and unaccountable officials. The first question I always ask our council leaders is 'how would your electorate know you are a Conservative council?' It is surprising how many don't have an answer. It was the case that some of our Councils were delivering a version of Labour lite – delivering the government's agenda in an efficient and effective way that you would expect from a Tory council. But the time has come to break the consensus. I recently called on out councillors to "just say no" to the government if a Whitehall proposal wasn't in the best interests of their electorate. I am delighted that many of my local government colleagues have accepted that challenge. The clear illustration of this is the number of councils who have signed up to our council tax freeze policy. Those Councils make me extremely proud.

People who live alone face surveillance from council tax inspectors

The 7.5 million people who receive a 25% discount from their council tax bill because they live alone are more likely to have to prove it in the months ahead.

One council, Thurrock in Essex, asks people to sign a declaration that permits the council to enter their home to prove that they are single occupants.

A spokesman for the Local Government Association told The Telegraph that the crackdown was necessary because of fraud:

"Millions of pounds are being ripped off from the taxpayer by a minority of people who deliberately cheat the system by claiming discounts. Councils are clamping down hard on fraudsters who pretend to live alone when there are actually more people living in a house and try cheating the tax payer.  Pretending to live alone to defraud the taxpayer is not a victimless offence. This is money that could be spent on the genuinely vulnerable or keeping council tax down."

Eric Pickles MP, Tory spokesman on local government, is concerned, however, at local authorities' use of surveillance powers to check on single occupancy:

"Day by the day under Labour, the rights and liberties of law-abiding citizens are being undermined, with more and more state officials trying to enter and spy on people's homes. It may be appropriate for local authorities to check that council tax discounts are not wrongly claimed. But it is wholly disproportionate to threaten higher council tax bills if residents do not allow state officials into their bedrooms.  This is another worrying sign of function creep. State duties originally intended to tackle fraud are now being over-used by bureaucrats in a heavy-handed, intrusive manner."

Councils are using surveillance powers to stop misuse of disabled parking badges and against littering

The Conservative leader of the Local Government Association, Sir Simon Milton, has warned councils against over zealous use of surveillance powers that they were given to fight terrorism and criminal offences.

Sir Simon fears that councils may be using these powers too freely and will undermine public confidence in councils having them at all.

Reports in this morning's media note how a family in Dorset was watched for three weeks in order to establish whether or not they were actually in the correct school catchment area.  It was found that they were.  The Telegraph reports that local authorities are launching more than 1,000 covert surveillance operations every month.  The newspaper highlights that Newcastle has used its powers 24 times to investigate parking fines and by Conservatives in Kensington and Chelsea to investigate the misuse of disabled parking badges.

Sir Simon appeared to imply that the surveillance powers were appropriate in dealing with fly tippers, rogue traders and those defrauding the council tax or housing benefit system.  Action against littering was not, he has written, a "necessary and proportionate" use of local authority's surveillance powers.

Dominic Grieve, the new Shadow Home Secretary, welcomed Sir Simon's intervention:

"The public will be alarmed that such strong powers introduced under the guise of counterterrorism are being used by councils. They must be as tightly controlled as if they were being used by the police or security services."

Sir Simon said that the media also had a responsibility to use language more carefully. Talk of snoopers patrolling council parks to check that people were allowing their dogs to foul green spaces would, he implied on this morning's Today programme, produce a different response to news that a park-keeper was empowered to stop fouling of places where children play.