Town hall 'used own staff to boost library membership figures'

A council tried to boost its position in government rankings by getting its own workers to sign up for its library service, it was claimed today.

Officers at Lambeth allegedly concocted a plan to encourage staff to join libraries so that the Audit Commission would give a glowing comprehensive performance assessment of the borough.

Most emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act referred to the plan as a "CPA quick win".

But Julian Ellerby, director of campaigns and communications, said: "I would like to sell this to staff as 'we care about you therefore we want to do this for you' - my nervousness is that with the inspection coming up, it might look a little bit like a last-minute effort."

Opposition Liberal Democrat councillor Jeremy Clyne said: "It's incredible the amount of effort that went into getting a few more readers so as to improve the council's rating, when staff should have been spending their time improving the actual service."