Memorandum submitted by the Local Government
Information Unit (LGiU)
INTRODUCTION
1. The Local Government Information Unit
(LGiU) is an authoritative and informed source of comment, information
and analysis on a range of local government and public policy
issues. It has provided support to councils and championed local
democracy for 25 years. Our 150-strong local authority membership
includes Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councils. The
LGiU shares its expertise with government and campaigns to extend
local authority best practice, freedoms and responsibilities.
Our teams of policy analysts provide policy advice, training,
consultancy, public affairs services and other resources to our
members and other organisations. The LGiU was awarded Think-tank
of the Year 2008 by Public Affairs News.
2. The LGiU welcomes the inquiry on adapting
to climate change. We believe adaptation is fundamentally a local
issue with local authorities taking a central role in grappling
with the complex impacts of climate change—risks and opportunities—and
setting in motion plans to build the resilience of their services
and communities.
3. This submission is supported by the ideas
and expertise from our work with the Local Government Flood Forum,
the Local and Regional Adaptation Partnership and our policy development
work for councils. We also specifically convened a roundtable
of elected members to discuss adaptation and conducted a survey
of 53 local authorities.
SUMMARY
4. In response to the consultation request
the LGiU has two main points:
(i) Local authorities across the UK have little
idea of the work of the Adapting to Climate Change Programme (ACC)
and are poorly prepared for the challenges of adapting to climate
change.
(ii) The LGiU advocates a new framework for managing
adaptation to climate change:
(a)A new national source of information and support
for adaptation is needed. This could be coordinated by Defra,
building on existing structures, or be a new organisation modelled
on the Carbon Trust and Energy Saving Trust such as a "Climate
Adaptation Trust".
(b)In order to coherently manage adaptation new Local
Adaptation Management Boards should be considered to bring
the relevant stakeholders into a democratically accountable decision
making body.
(c)A new approach is needed where organisations locally
and nationally, including central government, work better together
and combine risk management with economic opportunity and social
justice. The LGiU calls this approach "Positive Adaptation".
(d)Those organisations taking a positive approach
to adaptation and having the resources in place to do so successfully,
be recognised as "Climate Ready".
CONSULTATION QUESTIONS
AND RESPONSES
What is the extent to which the Adapting to Climate
Change Programme will increase resilience by embedding adaptation
and climate change risk assessment into the work of government
departments?
5. It needs to be acknowledged that the
ACC team is relatively new and has grown significantly in the
last year. Nevertheless their reach beyond Defra is limited and
could not be described as embedded. The LGiU works primarily with
the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) and
has found it difficult to establish contact with civil servants
who recognise the importance of climate change adaptation. More
often than not it is seen as Defra's responsibility.
6. At the local level the LGiU survey showed
that over 50% of the respondents knew very little or nothing at
all about the UK Adapting to Climate Change Programme. Only around
7% of the respondents knew a great deal about the Programme.
7. When asked about government departments'
contribution to climate change adaptation, over 50% of respondents
to this question are unaware of CLG's initiatives. Of those who
were aware of CLG's initiatives on adaptation, respondents mainly
referred to the department's planning and renewable energy policies.
The elected members' roundtable also expressed concerns about
the inconsistency between Government departments on approaches
to responding to climate change.
8. The ACC needs to be more accessible to
local authorities. Adaptation is fundamentally a local issue with
local authorities taking a central role in grappling with the
complex impacts of climate change—risks and opportunities—and
setting in motion plans to build the resilience of their services
and communities.
9. Local authorities also need a more coherent
national message on the impacts of climate change and consistency
between government departments' adaptation approaches. Local authorities
need the confidence that the key departments they work with such
as CLG, Department of Health (DH) and Defra are communicating
and working together on developing support for local authorities
to implement local adaptation measures.
What is the extent to which Government departments
have identified the risks from a changing climate that will stop
them from meeting their objectives?
10. There are signs that government departments
are becoming aware of the importance of climate change such as
the DH Heatwave Plan. However, it is not at all clear that this
has been translated into a realisation that they might not meet
objectives.
11. As ever departmental responses rely
heavily upon political leadership which has been weak so far and
politically it is obvious that mitigation is the priority. To
help fill this gap the LGiU is convening a learning network of
Councillors to debate the local political response to climate
change.
What is the suitability of the processes and structures
in and across government departments for identifying, mitigating
and managing these risks and determining the future priorities
of central governments approach to adaptation?
12. The LGiU is involved in the Local and
Regional Adaptation Partnership (LRAP), which is the body that
is intended to coordinate activity across government departments
and their links to the local and regional agenda. LRAP has many
strengths but it is noticeable of the relevant government departments
that could participate, only CLG regularly attends and other relevant
departments such as Department for Business Innovation and Skills
(DBIS), Department for Transport (DfT), Department for Children,
Schools and Families (DCSF) and DH do not attend.
13. The LGiU would argue that all adaptation
is local so it is hard to see how government departments can determine
future priorities without a meaningful dialogue with the local
and regional levels.
14. The elected members at the roundtable
recognised that "until local authorities are actually seen
themselves to be implementing initiatives and taking some real
steps ... it'll be very hard to push our constituents to do much."
15. The Government should support this leadership
role from local authorities to implement adaptation within their
own councils. Local solutions to adaptation based on local needs
and priorities should be promoted. The roundtable discussion highlighted
that there are no "one size fits all" adaptation solutions.
How well has the overall direction for work on
adaptation been set, the effectiveness of the statutory framework,
the allocation of powers and duties and how well issues like social
justice are addressed in adaptation policies?
16. Local government was excluded from the
Reporting Power because it already reports progress on adaptation
through the National Indicator 188.
17. As the statutory framework for local
authorities, only 10% of survey respondents consider NI 188 to
be effective in supporting them on planning to adapt to climate
change. Local authorities are concerned that the climate change
indicators focus too much on scores and may not be comprehensive
enough to support practical implementation.
18. On a wider issue the LGiU has been arguing
that local authorities do not have sufficient powers to manage
the natural resources in their area and are reliant upon quangos
for expertise and resources. These defined purpose quangos are
less likely to be able to integrate social justice into their
decision making than local authorities.
19. Consequently, local authorities should
be given the powers necessary to lead on adaptation. These powers
named Local Stewardship of Natural Resources (Local SONAR) would
include the ability to convene all stakeholders, raise funds and
measure progress.
20. Notwithstanding the above the LGiU has
argued to the CLG Select Committee that in order for local government
to be seen as a political institution with a strong community
leadership role it needs the authority and means to act, including
adequate financial resources and a reasonable degree of autonomy.
Whether short-term priorities for action including
identifying and protecting key infrastructure and systems have
been identified and how well these are addressed?
21. Only around 30% of survey respondents
had a "great deal" or "a fair amount" of knowledge
about the Government's short term priorities for action on power,
food, water and transport. Most respondents "knew little"
or were "not at all aware" of action on defence and
security.
22. The impacts of climate change on key
infrastructure and systems such as power, food, water, transport,
defence and security have direct implications for local authorities.
As key service providers for the community, disruption to any
of these systems will affect the services that local authorities
have a duty to deliver both in the short and long term.
23. Local authorities and communities want
to be confident that the Government has plans in place to protect
the key infrastructure and systems that people so heavily depend
on. By offering local authorities information of and involvement
in the development of these actions, it can help councils better
prepare and adapt their services.
FUNDING SUPPORT
AND TRAINING
24. There is a lack of local government
awareness on Government's funding support and training on adaptation.
The practical support is inadequate and access to them lacks coordination
and publicity.
25. In broad terms there are many gaps in
funding support and training. The LGiU has been calling for a
new national source of information and support for adaptation.
This could be coordinated by Defra, building on existing structure
or be a new organisation modelled on the Carbon Trust and Energy
Saving Trust such as a "Climate Adaptation Trust" (CAT).
26. The suggested functions of the CAT are:
(a) Subsidising schemes and equipment to implement
adaptation solutions in communities.
(b) Conducting social research into community
uptake of adaptation solutions.
(c) Providing specific advice for organisations
on available strategies and adaptation technologies.
(d) Setting standards for good practice.
(e Disseminating good practice across communities
and business.
(f) Facilitating dialogue between business and
communities about adaptation.
(g) Carrying out applied research into new adaptation
technologies.
(h) Providing incubators and accelerating development
of promising adaptation technologies.
(i) Leveraging funding from the private sector
for the development and implementation of adaptation measures.
(j) Allowing organisations to sign up for and
join a club of organisations committed to adaptation (the two
degree club?)
(k) Promoting community initiatives on adaptation.
(l) Providing grants for improvements to houses.
(m) Accrediting experts to give advice on adaptation.
27. The CAT could bring these policies and
support together and deliver them in a coherent and consistent
manner so that stakeholders responsible for developing an adaptation
plan or solution could have coordinated access to them. Existing
funding streams could be pooled together and coordinated and used
more efficiently.
The state of the funding, support, training and
other resources available for building capacity to adapt to climate
change
28. Awareness of ACC activity is very low
in local government and the roundtable highlighted that generally
awareness of adaptation is low and consequently capacity to adapt
is extremely low. Over 70% of respondents claimed that Government's
funding, support and training for local authorities to increase
community understanding of the impacts of climate change and build
council capacity to adapt as "unavailable" or "inadequate".
29. The survey findings reinforce the roundtable
discussion where funding was identified as a key challenge for
many local authorities. There needs to be a step change in the
support given to capacity building, in particular dissemination
of good practice and signposting of funding sources.
The state of the funding, support, training and
other resources available for specific actions to adapt to climate
change, such as investment in flood risk management or the resilience
of critical national infrastructure
30. In many ways the mechanisms put in place
to manage flooding will set the template for the governance of
adaptation. Government has been clear about the central role local
government plays in flood risk management but has struggled to
find a formula that successfully integrates the Environment Agency,
the water industry, local authorities and other stakeholders all
of whom have ownership rights and or statutory responsibilities.
31. The LGiU has lobbied for the establishment
of flood management boards that bring together the local and national
stakeholders into one decision making body which is close to the
people and democratically accountable.
32. This board model is worthy of further
consideration in wider adaptation management, such as by establishing
Local Adaptation Management Boards. These ensure a local
partnership approach that brings together the most relevant organisations
with a clear focus and responsibility around adaptation. This
Board would be accountable to the local authority or local strategic
partnership, so that adaptation is also considered at the wider
strategic level and with clear political leadership.
33. Notwithstanding the issues of governance
it is also becoming clear that there is a significant shortage
of flood engineers. There are still some remaining staff from
borough engineering departments and at least there is a professional
framework to build from. Many of the challenges of adaptation
are new meaning that not only is there a shortage of staff there
is also no professional framework to build on.
The state of the funding, support, training and
other resources available for helping individuals and organisations
conduct their own climate change risk assessments and judge what
actions they need to take
34. At present the scenarios developed by
UK Climate Impact Programme (UKCIP) whilst scientifically robust
are difficult to work with and use at the local level. It will
be difficult and counter productive to dumb down this rich information
source but it does need to be complemented by solution scenarios
which will help local decision makers to understand what options
are available to them in a given set of climate scenarios.
The state of the funding, support, training and
other resources available for the monitoring and evaluation of
work on adaptation, including thoughts on how progress on adaptation
can be quantified and success measured
35. Current thinking around adaptation focuses
on processes. The idea of Climate Ready is to try and describe
an organisation that is prepared to adapt. Whilst this does not
currently form a quantification of adaptation it is an approach
worthy of further consideration.
(a) Community resilience and duty of care:
Local authorities are responsible for managing local resilience.
As part of its responsibility to protect the community from dangers
posed by impacts of climate change, local authorities need to
reduce these dangers and ensure local areas and the environment
are safe. As members are acutely aware of the sense among the
electorate that they have the right to a safe, clean environment,
local authorities will have to react responsibly or fail in their
duty of care to their communities.
(b) Service provision: Local authorities,
as key service providers for communities, need to prepare for
the diverse impacts of climate change on local services. Local
authorities have a duty to prevent disruptions to local services,
ensure people are prepared for the unavailability of certain services
and prepare service provision that can operate in changed circumstances.
(c) Financial savings: It is likely that
local authorities can make financial savings in the medium to
long term by investing in adaptation to climate change. For example,
investment in flood defence in the short term can result in financial
savings in the long term.
(d) Business opportunities: Adaptation
is about creating jobs and enabling the economy to be flexible
to the impacts of climate change. These impacts will generate
business opportunities, such as tourism and new technologies for
flood defence. Local authorities can support local businesses
and create an enabling environment to seize these opportunities,
especially in response to the government's recent commitment to
move to a low carbon economy.
(e) Knowledge and expertise: Adaptation
is also about bringing benefits to the communities and ensuring
people are prepared for the impacts of climate change. Communities
want to have the confidence that their councils have the knowledge
and expertise in the area of adaptation to understand community
needs, from advice on new business opportunities to mechanisms
to deal with floods and heatwaves. Vulnerable groups of society
would also want to be sure that councils have plans in place to
support and protect them from the impacts of climate change.
The state of the funding, support, training and
other resources available for the effectiveness of communication
within and between departments and between government, local government,
business and the general public on adaptation
36. The roundtable identified the importance
of partnership working between the Government, local authorities,
businesses, third sector organisations and academia, but acknowledged
that it was presently poorly developed.
37. Any messages that communicate adaptation
to the general public need to strike the right balance between
risk awareness and the availability of solutions. The LGiU is
advocating an approach called positive adaptation (see next question).
38. There is a danger that adaptation is
seen as a predominantly technical agenda. Scientific and academic
models of the impacts of climate change are being developed. The
UKCIP is complex and it would be a lost opportunity if the Climate
Change Risk Assessment were similarly opaque. Policy solutions
are only possible if people and politicians are involved. The
LGiU would advocate the use of visioning as a way of helping the
general public to understand the impacts of climate change and
to then decide how they should respond.
The state of the funding, support, training and
other resources available for whether work on adaptation should
be embedded into existing sustainable development frameworks and
if so how that might be achieved
39. The LGiU is promoting the idea of positive
adaptation. This approach is presented as an alternative to the
current risk based and risk avoidance approach. Climate change
is inevitable therefore it is sensible to put in place strategies
that ensure the country, businesses and communities extract the
maximum benefit. Adaptation will create the need for new technologies,
new businesses, new housing and new ways of living. All these
new ways of living do not necessarily have to be worse than the
current one.
40. The philosophy behind positive adaptation
is the beneficial integration of economic, social and environmental
issues. As such it closely mirrors the thinking behind sustainable
development. It should be relatively straightforward to demonstrate
linkages between sustainable development policy and adaptation
to climate change.
CONCLUSION
41. This paper represents the current thinking
on adaptation in the LGiU. It draws directly upon experience of
working in adaptation. In addition, the paper is informed by other
work of the LGiU such as our consultation response to the Secretary
of State for Local Government on "Stronger Local Democracy".
42. The write up of the elected members'
roundtable and the full results of the survey are available to
the committee upon request.
2 October 2009
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