Improvement and Assurance Board

Following the end of the government statutory intervention and Commissioner appointments on 9th June 2024, we established an Improvement and Assurance Board to ensure focus on continuous improvement and that our plans progress at the required pace.

The Board is scheduled to run for 9 months, until March 2025. Its purpose is to:

  • provide advice, challenge and expertise to support the council in the continued implementation of its improvement plans;
  • provide assurance that the improvement trajectory is well set, well communicated, and with the necessary capacity and capability in place to deliver;
  • ensure transparency within the council, to stakeholders, government and the public; and
  • make recommendations to the council about future priorities, beyond March 2025, to secure continuous improvement.

Board members

The independent members of the Board are:

Chair of Improvement and Assurance Board - Mike Cunningham QPM

Mike was lead Commissioner during the statutory intervention at Liverpool City Council, which took place from June 2021 to June 2024. Before this, he had a career in policing which spanned more than 30 years. Most recently, he was Chief Executive of the College of Policing from 2018 to 2020, the standards setting body for policing in England and Wales. He has also been one of His Majesty’s Inspectors of Constabulary, inspecting forces in the north of England and Northern Ireland, and he was the national lead inspector for the development and implementation of inspections into police efficiency, legitimacy, and leadership. Before that, he was Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police.

Independent Board Member - Stephen Hughes

Stephen was also part of the Commissioner Team during the statutory intervention at Liverpool City Council which took place from June 2021 to June 2024. He joined the Team in November 2022, as Finance Commissioner. Stephen has spent all his career in public service. He was Interim Strategic Director of Resources at the London Borough of Brent and was Strategic Director of Resources at Birmingham City Council, before becoming Chief Executive for 9 years, until 2014. Since then, he has had a range of different roles providing financial and management advice to multiple public sector organisations. Stephen is currently a member of the Improvement Board of West of England Combined Authority and he is also a Non-Executive Director at HS2 Ltd, having Chaired its Audit Committee and now its Commercial and Investment Committee.

Independent Board Member - Richard Ennis

Richard is the Corporate Director of Finance (S151 Officer) for the London Borough of Hillingdon. Previously Richard worked for Homes England as Executive Director of Corporate Services, including as Chief Finance Officer of their banking arm, for 10 years. He has been a Chief Executive of a Combined Authority and a Resources Director (S151) in many London Boroughs. He has set up property companies and worked on 17 joint venture companies. Most recently, Richard led the delivery of the first railway station in the West of England in nearly 100 years and personally led the funding deals on the 10,000 homes Bristol Temple Quarter development, along with setting up the West of England green investment and skills funds.  

Progress updates

On 5th August 2024, the Minister of State sent a letter to Liverpool City Council confirming his plans to assess the progress made by the Council since the end of the intervention.

In October 2024, the Leader of the Council, Councillor Liam Robinson, submitted a progress report to the Minister on behalf of the Improvement and Assurance Board. It was accompanied by a letter from the Chair of the Board, Mike Cunningham. The report provided an update on progress following the end of the statutory intervention in June 2024. 

The Minister responded to the progress update in December 2024. He welcomed the continued progress described by the Council and Chair of the Board,  and asked for a further update in March 2025. 

On 24 March 2025, the Leader of the Council submitted the final progress report to the Minister on behalf of the Improvement and Assurance Board.  The report noted the consensus from the Board that the Council was able to independently lead its own improvement journey be accountable to its residents. The report was accompanied by a letter from the Chair of the Board. 

The Minister responded to the final progress report with a letter to the Leader of the Council on 17 July 2025. In it, the Minister confirmed that he was content to end the level of departmental support provided to Liverpool City Council since June 2024.

You can view the correspondence related to the Improvement and Assurance Board below.

Related information

Commissioners archive pages (intervention expired)