Government set to continue scrutinising Birmingham

Government monitoring of Birmingham City Council looks set to continue indefinitely, with its finances in the spotlight along with the city's hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel was tasked with scrutinising the authority over a series of troubles.

It had looked set to move on in August but remained amid the row over the collection of bins in the city.

No timeline has been put on the tenure of an upgraded arrangement.

The latest approach has been floated to Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid in a joint letter from council leader Ian Ward and panel chairman John Crabtree - and says both parties wish to engage in "collaborative working" and report jointly to Mr Javid over "new challenges".

Robert Alden, the Conservative opposition leader, said a continuing arrangement pointed to a "broken council".

The panel was set up in 2014 following an inquiry into the so-called Trojan Horse case and struggling departments, including children's services which had been consistently rated as inadequate - a situation which resulted in plans for it to be run by a trust.

The letter said a partnership approach should cover a period of change in the city, including the arrival of a new council leader, the launch of a Children's Trust in April and the city's status as Commonwealth Games host.

It added: "The council also recognises that it has not yet brought its day-to-day expenditure into line with its revenue."

The tone of the latest letter from the panel might be all about collaboration, but the fact that it is still in place at all says a lot about the trials and tribulations the local authority faced last year.

The panel, in essence, put Birmingham in "special measures" after a damning independent report found it was systematically failing.

Last summer it looked like the panel's work may have concluded - but then the bin dispute happened, and they've been back in the picture ever since.

How the council manages its finances remains one of the biggest concerns and this latest letter talks about the fact this year's budget relies heavily on reserves - a situation that is unsustainable.

But the panel says, with transparency from senior leadership, the relationship between it and the council will now be more of a partnership.

Mr Ward said: "I've made it clear since becoming leader of the council that I want to work more closely with the panel, so I welcome this move to a more collaborative approach.

"We recognise there is still much work to be done to ensure that the council is well placed to deliver our improvement priorities."