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 11 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
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