Red box West of England Mayor bins system used by predecessor

THE practice of using a ministerial-style “red box” system for communication between the West of England metro mayor and their senior staff has been scrapped under the new mayor amid claims it is old-fashioned.

- John WIMPERIS

Previous metro mayor Dan Norris, a former Labour minister, had his senior officers communicate with him using the red box system. The system is used in Whitehall but an independent review of the West of England Combined Authority had warned it was “not fit for purpose for modern regional government”.

The system is understood to be no longer in use under new metro mayor Helen Godwin. Asked at a meeting of the West of England Combined Authority scrutiny committee by Bristol City councillor Toby Wells if the red box system had been “consigned to the recycling bin,” Ms Godwin said she did not know what it was.

She said: “I’m assuming this is a system from the previous mayor I’m not familiar with.” Mr Wells said: “If you don’t know about it, it probably doesn’t exist any more. Which is a good thing.”