Since it took control of a number of local authorities in May, the Reform party has been planning a Department of Local Government Efficiency (DOLGE), modelled on Elon Musk’s US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The idea, as in the US, is that teams of outsiders, notably young IT specialists, should go into public bodies with access to all systems and data, and a remit to search out and eliminate inefficiencies.
The initiative got off to a poor start when the DOLGE visited Kent County Council, newly under Reform control. The then Reform Chair, Zia Yusuf, spoke to the press, and announced that they had found £350m being ‘wasted’ on recruitment. However, it later became clear that they didn’t understand some basic principles of government financing, and that they had misunderstood the purpose of the scheme and the funding model.
Shortly afterwards, Yusuf resigned from the party, as did the head of the national DOLGE team, who was revealed to be a 29-year-old, whose documented business experience consisted of three company directorships, one insolvent, one with no accounts filed since 2023, and one with total assets of £834.
It is easy to mock such a chaotic launch, but Reform may have struck a nerve, and will probably keep pursuing this idea. Council Tax is unpopular and badly in need of reform. Most people have little understanding of the complexity of what local government does and spends its money on. So the idea that there is a lot of waste which could be cut to bring down bills is bound to appeal.
Further, most people are unaware of how local government budgets have already been cut. Since 2010, funding per head has fallen by 18%, and as much as 26% in the poorest councils – and many are on the verge of bankruptcy.
The DOGE model
Nigel Farage has recently been playing down his association with Donald Trump and Elon Musk, having noticed that neither is popular on this side of the Atlantic. But the DOLGE is modelled on DOGE, and recent developments in the US should ring alarm bells.
DOGE argues that the federal government manages data inefficiently, with different departments running different and incompatible systems. If these could be unified, it might produce real administrative savings and simplify life for citizens. But ever since DOGE began entering government departments and taking control of systems and data, there have been concerns about privacy and security.
There have been multiple legal challenges to DOGE’s right of access to sensitive personal data held on government systems, and about its transfer to private sector commercial organisations, notably Peter Thiel’s company Palantir. The data it seeks includes Social Security numbers, medical records and tax and banking information.
DOGE challenged
This week the issue came to a head. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers and the Alliance for Retired Americans, had brought a lawsuit in a Federal Court in Maryland. They alleged that allowing broader access to the personal information would violate the federal Privacy Act, as well as the Administrative Procedure Act. They argued that “The agency is obligated by the Privacy Act and its own regulations, practices, and procedures, to keep that information secure – and not to share it beyond the circle of those who truly need it.”
The Judge agreed, and issued an injunction barring DOGE from access to Social Security data. But, after an appeal in Maryland was rejected, the Trump administration took the issue to the Supreme Court.
This week, by a majority of six to three, the Court lifted the injunction, ruling that “members of the DOGE team assigned to the Social Security Administration should have access to the agency records in question in order for those members to do their work.”
The judgement was supported by the six conservative members of the Supreme Court, three of whom are Trump appointees. The remaining three judges dissented.
A statement for the groups who had brought the original case said: “This is a sad day for our democracy and a scary day for millions of people. This ruling will enable President Trump and DOGE’s affiliates to steal Americans’ private and personal data.”
And in a separate order, the Supreme Court granted another request filed by the Trump administration, allowing it to shield DOGE from freedom of information requests seeking thousands of pages of material. This means that the government will not have to respond to requests for documents about its activities. The three liberal justices noted their disagreement with that decision, too.
Is this what we want?
So, the signs are not good for personal privacy in the DOGE/DOLGE world. When, and if, Reform reconstitutes its DOLGE team, we will see how keen they are to follow their US leaders. Do they have the power, and will their supporters really approve?
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