Potholes, asylum hotels and HMOs all highlighted as areas of interest for Reform UK's DOGE team at West Northants Council

Though no formal requests have been issued yet, reflections from the initiative at Kent County Council (KCC) and discussions with DOGE officials highlight potential requests for a round-up of financial data that is already publicly available, as well as a focus on potholes, asylum hotels and demand-led services.

West Northants is the second local authority to receive a visit from the Musk-inspired efficiency team, which is reportedly made up of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors.

DOGE chief Zia Yusuf met with council officers and Cabinet members last month, on the invitation of WNC Leader Mark Arnull, to discuss the details of the project.

Since 2021, the council has managed to keep to its balanced budget each year and deliver almost £115m of efficiency savings to protect service provision. However, the report noted that finding new savings is getting more difficult for an authority that is already “lean”.

WNC has confirmed that it has not yet received a formal letter from Reform UK setting out details of the project or what data it would like to access, as was previously seen in KCC.

However, in anticipation of the DOGE requests, some information has already been collated based on what was asked for in Kent. This includes all expenditure over £500, contractual arrangements, audits and inspections, and budget monitoring.

The council has stated that all of the information referenced is already available in the public domain and has provided links to its publications in the report.

Further discussions during meetings with the DOGE team also highlighted other areas of interest. These include information on IT infrastructure, current and previous budget forecasts, temporary accommodation, housing, home to school transport, adults’ and children’s social care, potholes, and asylum hotels / HMOs.

The Cabinet will be able to approve DOGE’s access to the information at its meeting on Wednesday July 16, subject to legal agreements and due diligence checks signed off by the Chief Executive.

The report reads: “The Council does not have to share any data with any third party and could choose not to.

“However, the Council does have a duty to meet its best value obligations and does face a challenging financial landscape that increasingly requires new thinking, new ideas and different skills in order to keep finding efficiencies when the Council is already operating at a low cost in most areas.

“The opportunity to share limited data in a protected and controlled way may assist the Council in meeting that duty.”

WNC has confirmed that no personal or special category data will either be requested or shared with DOGE. An appropriate legal agreement setting out robust confidentiality requirements will also be required to be completed prior to the provision of any data.

Identities of the individuals within Reform’s DOGE team have not yet been disclosed to the council. WNC has said that checks to understand the skills, experience and qualifications of the members involved will be carried out before any data is shared.

Any subsequent reporting on the findings would also be controlled through strict confidentiality requirements.

The Council is already in the process of commencing its detailed financial work required for setting the budget for 2026/27, and says the approach taken will not be “fundamentally different” from previous years.

The authority has confirmed that the DOGE review will come at no cost to the taxpayers, but did note that a small amount of officer time has and will be used to collate the information.