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5.25 pm
Mr. Jonathan Shaw (Chatham and Aylesford): I offer my congratulations to my two hon. Friends who made their maiden speeches today and who are no longer in their seats. Unfortunately I was not in the Chamber to listen to my hon. Friend the Member for Hamilton, South (Mr. Tynan), but I was present to hear my hon. Friend the Member for Wigan (Mr. Turner), who made a terrific speech. He made heart-rending remarks about our late colleague, Roger Stott, and no one could doubt his passion for his constituency.
I shall concentrate on the modernisation of local government and the plans in the Queen's Speech to change voting procedures and introduce flexibility. I have been a local government worker and served on a local authority and I have many friends and family members who work in local government, so I have no doubt that local government needs to change. However, we need to remember the great debt owed to local government workers who provide essential services to our local community. Too often, they are easily denigrated and criticised. It is my experience that the overwhelming majority of local government workers are greatly committed to the public services that they provide. Ever increasing demands are made on them by both political parties when in government.
The day-to-day pressures faced by local government workers mean that it is not always easy for them to embrace change positively. Several years ago, I was a child protection worker, which involved knocking on doors, after calls had been made, investigating whether children had been abused. Those situations were often very dangerous, and one knocked on a door without knowing what was behind it.
Against that background, it is difficult to be enthusiastic about bureaucratic structures and changes--they are the last thing on one's mind. One cannot be blamed for just
wanting to get on with one's job. That is the same for teachers, planners, housing officers, those responsible for empty housing--my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning knows that that issue is close to my heart--and many others. As we introduce change, therefore, it is vital that we be a little more understanding and be seen to be listening. If we are to make those changes successfully, we need to bring local government workers with us. Local councils will then be more popular with the communities whom they serve and will be more responsive to them. That is exactly what the Government want; indeed, it is what I want.
There are three, or possibly four, alternatives for structural change, but I think that most councils, particularly district councils, will opt for a leader with a cabinet. Many councils made an early change to that model. My local authority, the Tory-controlled Kent county council, adopted that model and Labour-controlled district councils have done so too. We hear criticisms from Conservative Members, but Conservative-led councils have already embraced that new system. That model is my preference, and it legitimises what has already been happening for several years, in that senior council members effectively form the executive. What is important is that the change will make them more accountable.
I have served on local authorities for many years and I have sat on too many unnecessary committees, providing little opportunity for councillors, particularly back benchers, seriously to question the chairs of committees or departmental directors. It can be disappointing for someone elected to a local authority, brimming with enthusiasm to serve one's ward and council, to be marooned on the public conveniences sub-committee.
Research shows that the majority of councillors retiring at the last local elections were overwhelmingly young and had served only one term of office. People want to serve their wards and use their knowledge base to represent the people who elected them. Many such councillors have partners or families and they attend scores of committees, leaving them little time to get out and about in the wards to try to understand their constituents' problems; so it is little wonder that they become frustrated with their often limited role.
If that role is to be enhanced within the new structures, it is essential that scrutiny committees have the necessary resources, as Select Committees here do. Council members will then be able to develop real interests and pursue matters. For example, a local authority back bencher might be interested in special needs education. At the moment, there may be little opportunity to debate that issue on the education committee, and because there is little time to get out and about in the wards to understand the issue, it will receive little scrutiny in the chamber.
The new structures offer back benchers the opportunity to get out and about in their wards, to talk to parents and to people in schools, and to really get into a subject such as special educational needs. They will then have the opportunity in a scrutiny committee to put the director and the chair of the education committee through their paces for a couple of hours. In that way they will be able to discover whether the policy matches up to what is happening in the wards. That will stimulate public interest and local councils and it will be far better for local democracy. The new system will also be far more
attractive to the opposition if they can question the chair of education at a two-hour public hearing rather than under one small committee item.
The new proposals will provide better opportunities for all parties and individuals and for local community groups. If they know that the particular issue in which they are interested--whether it relates to disabilities, social services or transport--will be the subject of a two or three-hour scrutiny committee, information can be provided in the same way as it is provided to a Select Committee. Press releases can inform people of what will be discussed, and that will create a more accountable local council than the present often, though not always, clapped-out structure.
I also welcome the more direct consultation to which councils will have to have regard. There will be a direct impact on staff and we need to ensure that staff have proper training and are made aware of good practice. This is where beacon status plays an important role. Consultation must mean far more than sending out a leaflet with a box to tick.
I recommend that Front-Bench colleagues look at an exemplary model of good practice and consultation in my constituency--the Snodland partnership. Snodland is a community of 10,000 people in my constituency. We heard Conservative Members rightly trumpeting their areas for having one third of the pig production in the country. In this area of my constituency, we have 10 per cent. of the UK's paper and board manufacturing--some 1.4 million tonnes. Snodland's industries are mainly paper and cement.
The Snodland partnership has brought together the town council--a Labour council--the borough council and local industries, and £500,000 was put in the pot. The partnership involved the community, which was consulted time and time again. All the people in the town--young and old--were consulted before works began. They knew what was to happen and were asked what they wanted.
Within a year, we have gained a refurbished high street and a clinic providing advice for teenagers--there is concern about the number of pregnancies in the community. There is a roller-blade park, a community minibus and a millennium museum, which I had the honour of opening a few weeks ago.
Out of the partnership has arisen a chamber of commerce, which--with local schools--organised the first "Snodland in Bloom". I presented the certificates, which I was pleased to do. All the pictures were put in the library, and I asked whether parents were coming in to look at the pictures. The librarian said yes and that, as a consequence, children were joining the library. There is the benefit of community involvement--a small thing like that can make a real difference to the community. I congratulate all involved, particularly Snodland town council, and those in Tonbridge and Malling.
I welcome the creation of more flexibility for people to vote. We all--irrespective of political parties--lament low turnouts. Local councillors who have worked hard for their areas can sometimes muster only 15 or 16 per cent, and that is lamentable. However, I am unconvinced that annual elections will increase turnouts. The evidence from the House of Commons research paper shows that there is little difference in turnouts between annual elections and all up in four years.
If the third up every year proposal is an attempt to address councils about which the Government are concerned--where there may be a one-party state--it will not do the trick. At the moment, local councils should decide how often they hold elections. There is a danger with the third up every year system in terms of councils with no overall political control, and where there is seemingly no end to that. In such councils, there is drift, and all concerned have one eye on the election. I can think of councils in Kent where there has never been agreement between the political parties about an agenda for the next four years. There is continual infighting and, year on year, everyone has their eye on the election. There is no leadership, and local communities suffer.
Rolling registers, voting at any polling station and voting by post have been suggested. The Milton Keynes referendum is an excellent example of a turnout in the region of 50 per cent. If we can galvanise public interest, turnout will increase.
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