Memorandum from the Local Government Association (DAR 09 - 08)

 

 

 

1. As the membership organisation for councils, it is unsurprising that the Local Government Association Group (LGA) has a huge number of interactions at various levels with the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG). It is in the interests of our 423 members that we have a strong and productive working relationship with the department. In our evidence, a number of points that we will make are to be found in our more detailed publication "One country, two systems" which was published in December 2008. It is also important to note that our member councils also interact extensively with the department, through Government Offices, with the local government finance and institutional sides of CLG, and on specific issues like housing, planning, the fire service and community cohesion.

 

2. We would like to see a Department for Communities and Local Government that engages appropriately with stakeholders, and provides sensible and useful policies for local government that enable councils to get on with their job of serving local residents.

 

Role of CLG within Whitehall

 

3. CLG has a unique position within Whitehall as its success as a department is largely defined by how effective it is in influencing other government departments. There are examples where CLG has been successful in that regard - for example, at an early stage in engaging Ministers and senior officials in Total Place, and in taking a much more proactive role in Multi-Area Agreement partnerships to negotiate agreements with other government departments. When it is able to, CLG operates well as a "local government Cabinet Office", bringing policies into line to ensure national policy objectives can be realised in the most productive way for councils. However, it is our experience that, on balance, CLG has too often failed to influence other government departments sufficiently well. For example, on the children and young people's agenda, it is rare to attend DCSF project board or stakeholder events and find that representatives of other Whitehall departments have engaged CLG in their policy areas.

 

4. We recommended in "One country, two systems" that CLG should concentrate on its core business of co-ordinating the government's overall policy towards local government. We suggested that this could be best achieved by creating a new Cabinet Committee on

local government with a remit to consider any policy affecting councils, and make CLG its secretariat and its Secretary of State its chair.

 

Understanding of local government

5. We have concerns that CLG fails to take into account the day-to-day realities of the a workings of councils and provides far too much central guidance which is burdensome and ultimately does not help further CLG policies. This is reflected in an extensive and, in our view, excessive system of monitoring established by CLG which can be disproportionate and distracting for councils trying to get on with the job of achieving the stated policy aims. We would welcome a lighter touch and more flexibility from the department.

 

6. We have been pleased to see recently a number of top level appointments within CLG such as the arrival of Irene Lucas, David Prout and the recent 12 month secondment of Nick Walkley, from the local government sector. This will undoubtedly strengthen the department's understanding of local government.

 

 

Stakeholders and policy development

 

7. We believe that the department genuinely wants to engage with and promote the role of local government. As a key stakeholder, there are regular bilateral meetings arranged both at Ministerial level with LGA Office-Holders and at senior civil servant level with senior LGA staff. We are often, as you would expect, engaged in many other meetings, events and pieces of work with CLG staff. The quality of engagement varies depending on the individuals involved and the specific policy area.

 

8. We have examples of specific policy areas - such as the development of the new approach to planning for major infrastructure projects - where an intelligent and proactive stakeholder management has helped ensure passage of legislation which some would have predicted initially would be too widely opposed to succeed. There are also examples such as Zero Carbon New Homes where difficult policy issues have been shared in an open and frank way, with all key stakeholders round the table. The result (despite some real technical complexities) has been a very well run consultation and a sense on all sides that the department was genuinely listening. At the same time, there are examples where it appears policies are developed in isolation from each other by the lead departments with nothing apparent externally to suggest CLG is 'holding the ring' or exercising effective 'editorial control'.

 

9. On some issues, we may receive lots of prior notice and consultation; in other areas, which can involve important policy decisions, such as whether we are prepared to put our names to a CLG document, we are given very little notice to take an informed view.

 

10. We are concerned that stakeholder management is not regarded as a core priority for the department. Some senior managers do not appear to set clear standards, systematically promote good practice, and challenge poor practice when it occurs.

 

11. CLG has been reorganised four times in the last eleven years and, while there have been some notable exceptions, this has been accompanied by series of changes at Ministerial level which has hampered the development of the department and its relationship-building with stakeholders. (For example, there have been two different Secretaries of State while our current Chairman ClIr Margaret Eaton has been in office.)

 

The internal workings of CLG

 

12. One of our main concerns is that not only does CLG struggle to influence other Whitehall departments; it also fails to act as a coherent body within the sector itself and too often is not joined up in its approach with either stakeholders or councils.

 

13. This is an issue for the leadership at CLG, with some senior managers certainly doing too little to spot and resolve internal tensions and sometimes, in fact, exacerbating them.

 

14. There is too often a lack of focus on decision-making and implementation. For example, CLG have frequently not been sufficiently aggressive in de-cluttering legislation, and a lack of attention to the complexities and practicalities of policy implementation on the ground has caused difficulties for councils.

 

Financial Management

 

15. We have concerns over the financial management of the department which, in turn, impacts on the resources of councils and, ultimately, residents. The National Audit Office report "Financial Management in the Department for Communities and Local Government", published in July, demonstrated that the "Department cannot accurately report expenditure against its Strategic Objectives or other outcome indicators". Its slow decision-making and financial management has a direct impact on our members: for example, under spending by £722m, when the bulk of the department's expenditure is grants to local government having clear knock-on effects.

 

October 2009