Memorandum by the Commission on London
Governance (RG 97)
The Commission on London Governance is a cross
party advisory body established by lead members from the London
boroughs and the London Assembly. Its great strength is that it
is made up active politicians involved in local service provision.
The Commission's began work in early 2004, before the announcement
of the ODPM's review into the powers of the GLA and before the
extension of Sir Michael Lyons's terms of reference.
The Commission was tasked with reviewing London's
governance arrangements from the perspective of public service
delivery. We issued and distributed a consultation paper, received
written evidence, held structured meetings with resident associations
and held oral evidence session with politicians, think tanks and
professionals with expertise in the relevant fields.
The overwhelming message we received is that
Londoners find the present governance arrangements confusing and
overly complicated and that this lack of transparency hinders
effective engagement with serviced providers. There is a lack
of understanding of who provides what service and how those services
are funded. There is a widespread desire for service providers
to be more accountable to local residents; making themselves available
to answer questions and to explain changes to services.
Our proposals set out in our final report "A
New settlement for London" have the agreement of all parties
on the Commission. The aim is to provide a package of measures
that both streamline and increase the accountability of service
provision in London. As part of that package we have sought to
deepen the process of devolution by dramatically scaling back
the role of the Government Office for London and expanding the
powers of the Mayor where there is a clear strategic need, subject
to enhanced checks and balance from the Assembly.
The Commission also looked at ways of enhancing
the role of local councils by for example, expanding its commissioning
role and re-nationalising the business rate to support local quality
of life improvements. We also explored ways in which local authorities
could come together to more effectively procure and commission
services together and provide peer review and performance improvement
through a distinctive regional vehicle.
At the very heart of our work is further consideration
of the vital role of the local councillor. We believe that enhancing
the role of the councillor through having a statutory right to
be consulted by all service providers in their ward will increase
the visibility of the councillor in the locality, strengthen the
ability of the councillor to broker local solutions, so making
them the public face of local service delivery.
Taken together we believe that this package
of measures can make a real difference to increase the accountability
of service providers and public engagement in London.
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