The Balance of Power: Central and Local Government - Communities and Local Government Committee Contents


Examination of Witnesses (Questions 260-263)

MR MIKE MORE, COUNCILLOR COLIN BARROW CBE, MS MOIRA GIBB CBE AND COUNCILLOR KEITH MOFFITT

10 NOVEMBER 2008

  Q260  Chair: Because government departments themselves are not allowed to share either.

  Mr More: That is a resource that is simply stopping effective commissioning, because if we are to deal with worklessness on our estates, as the leader has said, a significant proportion is getting that data, developing strategies with JCP mean we are able to do something much more tailored, so we would like to use the analysis in there to build on that. Then on that basis, we would want to move forward and take the opportunity of the Act to look at transfer of powers, so in the context of worklessness, the idea of measured transfer of powers and responsibilities under an umbrella of joint commissioning. So those would be the kind of things that we would be looking for the Act to do.

  Q261  Mr Betts: You have probably heard previous witnesses express, shall we say, limited enthusiasm for the Central-Local Concordat that was announced. I also asked them whether they thought that there ought to be, at least in the medium term, a change in local government's constitutional position, maybe not quite exactly the same standard as the Scottish Parliament, but at least one where central government did not come along every two minutes and change the rights of local government to undertake certain activities. Do you think there is a need for a change, it is something we should be working toward, to put local government in a firmer constitutional position where change happened by consent with yourselves rather than by central government or Parliamentary dictat?

  Councillor Barrow: I have to say that we have not spent a great deal of time in our political group meetings discussing the Central-Local Concordat, there has not been the demand for that debate. It is disgraceful, and I promise I will rectify it immediately, and report back to central government on the progress that I am making with it.

  Q262  Mr Betts: They will get one report on it.

  Councillor Barrow: Let me just say that we are all on the same page about worklessness and the recession, how important it is, but in the last six months, it says here, bidding rounds have opened for six different funding streams designed to help local people into work. They are the Flexible New Deal; the Working Neigbourhoods Fund; the European Social Fund, with three sub-strands administered through the DWP, LDA and London councils; the Child Poverty Unit; JCP programmes; and the LSC adult advancement career services pilot. Also, the Government has issued 11 pieces of primary legislation with significant implications for Westminster in 2008, and 600 new regulations that impact in some way on the City Council. It is pretty expensive to work out what those all are, and what we have to do, and there is a certain amount of greyness about what a lot of those things are. Some of them are obviously very black and white, but some of them are very grey, and that paralyses us. We do not just have the opportunity to get on and do things. In France, if you stand for Mayor, you say, "I want a tram over there, it goes from there to there, and I want to stand for election on the basis that I will deliver that tram". You get voted in, and you deliver the tram jolly quickly, because you only have four years and you are up for election again. If you are asking for a constitutional settlement, that is a model of local government that could not be more different from what we have here. If that is what you are talking about, I would absolutely welcome it.

  Chair: I do have to say though, in the French system they also spend a great deal more money.

  Q263  Sir Paul Beresford: Have you not understated those, because of course Government is giving you that, and then it is going to audit it, and you are going to have to audit it, and it is going to set targets for it, and you are going to have to produce for the targets, and then they are going to come back when you send the information in, and your 45 men or women working on this are going to be 60 or 100.

  Councillor Moffitt: If I could just pick up a point on the Concordat, I am sure your predecessor would be very sad to hear you have not paid more attention to the document he signed, but I think what I find frustrating is the constant tinkering with local government. Actually knowing where we stand would be very helpful. Each new minister comes along with a new set of initiatives, none of which seem to have a very major impact. Here we are in the middle of a violent recession, if you like, and we are worrying about consulting on the 2007 Act, parish councils and leadership models and so on; it feels like the wrong time to be doing it, and actually having a stable framework so everybody knows where they are and what the relationship is, and hopefully a relationship where local government is seen less as the junior partner would be extremely helpful.

  Chair: Thank you all very much.





 
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