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Memorandum from the Association of North East Councils (DAR 09 - 03)
Request for views on the performance of Communities and Local Government
Thank you for your letter of 22 September and for giving the Association the opportunity to comment on this issue. The following response is based on input from members.
First, the fact that there is a Government Department called 'Communities and Local Government' is welcomed as it underpins the fact that local government should be about the communities it works with and serves. CLG emphasises the civic and community leadership role of local government as well as confirming the importance of partnership working and this affirms our approach and our focus.
From our perspective, we consider that one of CLG's strengths is that it does genuinely seek to consult its stakeholders in local government, to take their views into account and to build constructive relationships with them. We fully support the efforts CLG is making to work constructively with local government and specifically support all CLG consultations appearing on the CLG web-site (which we believe to be good and regularly updated). The communication links with CLG Director Generals is helpful and enhances and complements our relationships with Government Office for the North East.
We generally find that guidance documents from CLG are good - crisply written and well presented. We welcome the idea, in principle, for one central indicator hub, although implementation did seem rushed with what seemed to be little consultation or preparation. The timetable for availability of National Indicator updates on the Hub is not adhered to, but we appreciate that it is early days and this may well be addressed in time. The Places Analysis Toolkit (PAT) is very easy to use and could be developed further.
One difficulty that we sometimes experience with consultation exercises is that, in seeking responses to a string of very detailed questions, the bigger picture can be obscured. However, this approach is not confined to CLG. There is occasionally a very short timescale placed on consultations which makes it harder to secure councils' cross-departmental or LSP wide / partner agency responses.
CLG has been helpful with the work on '
The extent to which CLG exercises influence within Government is difficult for us to judge in totality, although there is an overall impression that the Secretary of State works hard to maintain the Department's profile.
However, what is clear to our members is a need for improved joined-up working between all Government departments, who often fall a long way behind local authorities in this respect. All too frequently, partner bodies in the public sector appear to be more concerned with meeting the targets set by their sponsor departments within entirely different performance measurement and monitoring methods and timescales than, for example, the LAA targets for the area or indeed for regional or sub-regional priorities. Furthermore, partners in localities are wrestling with issues of misaligned geographies, for example the Police working to Home Office driven 'neighbourhoods' and councils to CLG super output areas. This is frustrating for local authorities and, often, their partners too - and it must also be frustrating for CLG that the focus on securing the development of sustainable communities with an emphasis on quality of life for local citizens and communities is diluted in this way. This points to a broader issue of coordination and communication within Government that needs to be addressed. Given CLG's broader and more over-arching focus than other departments, we would urge CLG to rise to the challenge of driving better co-ordination in government.
This requirement for better co-ordination and communication (with CLG at the centre working with local authorities) is likely to be even greater in future, given the outcomes and policy changes likely to be suggested through Total Place, of which there are two pilots in the North East region.
October 2009
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