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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