Written evidence submitted by the Local
Government Information Unit (LGIU) (L&CG 17)
INTRODUCTION
1. The LGiU is an Award Winning Think-Tank. Our
mission is to strengthen local democracy to put citizens in control
of their own lives, communities and local services. We work with
local councils and other public services providers, along with
a wider network of public, private and third sector organisations.
Through information, innovation and influencing public debate,
we help address policy challenges such as demographic, environmental
and economic change, improving healthcare and reforming the criminal
justice system. We convene the national Children's Services Network
and have launched two social enterprises Local Energy ltd and
the Centre for Public Service Partnerships. LGiU welcomes the
opportunity to submit written evidence to the Committee, and would
value the opportunity to expand on the issues we have raised in
oral evidence.
2. LGiU welcomes the Committee's Inquiry,
which comes at an important point in evolution of the relationship
between central and local government. Some important steps have
been taken towards empowering local communities, but governance
in Britain remains among the most over-centralised in the world.
LGiU has welcomed the moves in accountability from the centre
to community partnerships and away from constraining targets,
but believes more is needed. A fundamental shift is needed in
the balance of power from Whitehall to local communities. At
present, decisions about services and public spending priorities
are taken too far from the people who will be affected by them,
and who want to influence them. Yet challenges for communities
at a time of scarce resources, societal and environmental pressures
can be best managed at local level. It is urgent that communities,
neighbourhoods and citizens are engaged on issues that affect
them, and strong responsive councils should be the framework for
achieving this.
Should the relationship between central and local
government be codified?
3. LGiU believes that the ability of locally
elected representatives to make democratic decisions and to represent
and support the participation of people locally should be protected
within the constitutional framework. The chequered history of
local government over the last fifty years shows how the relationship
between central and local government has been subject to the widely
varying views on the role and responsibilities of local government
on the part of central government. We support a broad statutory
statement of the role and responsibilities of local government
in order to:
- Create the foundation for a positive and sustainable
partnership between central and local government by providing
clarity and mutual recognition
- To provide a coherent framework, necessary as
the complexity of multi-level government expands
- To underpin further devolutionary measures
- To bring balance to the framework incorporating
the three spheres of central, local government, and the citizen,
confirming that the primary accountability of local authorities
is to local electorates
- To energise local government by providing authority
for the responsibilities which will be handed down in the Localism
Bill.
Should codification of the relationship between
central and local government be considered in the context of a
wider constitutional codification?
4. The 1998 Devolution Acts have set the UK on
a course of constitutional renewal unseen since the passage of
the 1911 House of Lords Act. This and the Coalition Government's
emphasis on political reform have opened up the debate for further
constitutional change and the LGiU believes that this should include
consideration of the place of local government in the constitution.
If codification is appropriate, what degree of
independence from central government and what powers should local
government be given?
5. The Coalition Government has set out new powers
for local councils in the Decentralisation and Localism Bill.
Through extra borrowing powers, the removal of ring-fencing and
the general power of competence, the Government have devolved
power to councils and this is to be welcomed.
6. The LGiU believes that democracy is strongest
and the state is most effective when it takes action at the appropriate
level, and in a proportionate way. In most areas of activity
by the state there is an important role for both central and local
government.
7. Codification of the role of local government
should recognise the local democratic mandate, the leadership
role of local government and of councillors in the world of local
governance, and include:
a. A statement of the purpose of local government,
for example:
i. to promote the economic, social and environmental
well-being of their areas
ii. to enable and promote democratic understanding
and participation in communities and neighbourhoods
b. A statement improving local accountability
by recognising and protecting the roles and responsibilities of
elected representatives
c. A commitment by government to consult and
involve local government on all matters affecting its responsibilities
d. A statement that administrative arrangements
for ensuring local authorities comply with their responsibilities
should be proportionate and serve a clearly defined purpose, and
that any intervention by central government should be proportionate
and with the aim of supporting improvement
e. A commitment that local authorities be able
to control and exercise discretion over their financial resources,
so enabling them to tailor expenditure to local needs and priorities
f. Provisions strengthening arrangements to ensure
that central government expectations are fully funded.
8. Specifically on finance, the LGiU produced
a paper on the future of local government finance (Paying for
it, attached) in which we support local taxation as one of the
cornerstone foundations of local democracy. Without the ability
to raise funds locally, local government is entirely financially
dependent on national government which undermines the ability
to act upon local views and needs. Without local taxation we arguably
lose local government, to be left with only local administration.
People want to know how their local taxes had been set, what
they provided, and who was accountable for the level of tax and
the services. For all the very welcome localist rhetoric of the
new government, until local government wins its financial freedom
it will not truly be free. Strong local democracy is about meeting
community needs through listening and leading to weigh competing
interests and priorities. Resources are critical to this. The
national political debate at the last General Election was dominated
by the tax and spend plans of the different parties. Tax and spend
must become fully a part of the local political debate, or our
local democracy will remain profoundly flawed.
How, if at all, should the status of local government
be entrenched, or protected from change by central government?
9. LGiU firmly believes that local government
is part of the elected, accountable state and as such should be
protected within a constitutional framework. At present local
government is a creature of statute, subject to the political
priorities of central government. The principles of subsidiarity
and local self-government that inform the balance of power between
central and local government that are embodied in the European
Charter of Local Self Governance should be given formal effect
in UK law. This would need to balance the various obligations
and recognise the overall responsibilities of local authorities
and their interaction with citizens and central government in
one place.
10. Parliament should have an oversight role
in respect of any new constitutional settlement or codification.
Does the devolution settlement provide a relevant
model for a possible codification of the status of local government?
11. The Scottish Concordat between the Devolved
administration and Scottish local government sets out a relationship
based on 'mutual respect and partnership'. The Concordat is an
active consideration throughout policy making in Scotland, acknowledging
that while the Scottish Government must set the over-arching outcomes
of policy, it pledges to stand back from micro-managing service
delivery.
12. The Scottish example also provides a good
example of the pitfalls of a Concordat with complaints from Scottish
authorities that the deal is not binding on individual councils,
only being signed by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
(COSLA) and the First Minister.
13. The demarcation lines set out in the 1998
Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Devolution Acts provide a much
sounder basis for an on-going constitutional arrangement. Lines
of funding, roles, and responsibilities between the administrations
and Westminster are clearly set in law and cannot be reversed
on the whim of the Westminster Parliament. This has enabled the
devolved regions to move forward with confidence in their responsibilities
with the knowledge that these will not be removed.
Are there examples of constitutional settlements
between central and local government in other countries that are
relevant to an appropriate model for the UK?
14. The Australian constitutional settlement
provides a good model. The Danish and Swedish models are also
helpful to consider.
What is the value of existing attempts to codify
the relationship between central and local government, through:
the Central-Local Concordat or the European Charter of Local Self-Government?
Should this Charter be placed on a statutory footing?
15. The LGiU has long argued that the principles
of the Charter should be incorporated into the UK constitution.
16. The European Charter of Local Self-Government
provides us with a current statutory basis to entrench the roles
and responsibilities of local government.
17. The following issues must be addressed in
order to comply with the European Charter:
- A statement of the purpose of local government,
for example:
- to promote the economic, social and environmental
well-being of their areas
- to enable and promote democratic understanding
and participation in communities and neighbourhoods
- A statement improving local accountability by
recognising and protecting the roles and responsibilities of elected
representatives
- A commitment to a formal concordat between central
and local government
- A commitment by government to consult and involve
local government on all matters affecting its responsibilities
- A statement that administrative arrangements
for ensuring local authorities comply with their responsibilities
should be proportionate and serve a clearly defined purpose, and
that any intervention by central government should be proportionate
and with the aim of supporting improvement
- A commitment that local authorities be able to
control and exercise discretion over their financial resources,
so enabling them to tailor expenditure to local needs and priorities
- Provisions strengthening arrangements to ensure
that central government expectations are fully funded.
Central-Local Concordat
18. There has been a profound failure of the
central-local concordat to function in any significant way, as
was made clear from evidence to the CLG committee inquiry into
the Balance of Power in 2008. Evidence from other central government
departments including the Department of Work and Pensions and
the Department of Health indicated that they had little or no
knowledge of the Concordat. In practice the Concordat was one
between the Local Government Association and the Department for
Communities and Local Government, having little meaning in other
parts of Whitehall or wider understanding and support in localities.
19. LGIU believes that a renewed concordat would
have to be a contract with the whole of Government in order for
it to have any weight. The previous concordat was essentially
an extension of regular meetings between the Local Government
Association and CLG, something that was not inclusive to local
government or its wider partners. The negotiations for a renewed
Concordat should be transparent and accountable to parliament.
Those with a stake in local government should be allowed to contribute
in a consultative phase. Accountability could be achieved either
through increased powers to the CLG Committee, or through a Joint
Committee of both Houses of Parliament, tasked to scrutinise legislation
to ensure that takes account of local government.
20. A set of principles incorporated into a statutory
framework should have a clear set of objectives and provide:
a. Clarity in three spheres: among politicians
locally and nationally; among civil servants in departments responsible
for services that have an impact on localities; in the courts,
as a guide to the interpretation of legislation
b. Sustainable partnership: in the form of
a concordat giving practical effect to the partnership and providing
a positive culture among both national and local politicians,
civil servants and officers.
c. Strengthened Parliamentary oversight: with
the submission of annual reports from government to the Joint
Committee, enabling the Committee to monitor the operation of
the concordat and of the central-local partnership. Other options
include pre-legislative scrutiny for the implications for local
government of Public Bills, assessing the appropriate degree of
subsidiarity in the allocation of responsibilities and level of
decisions, and the funding of mandates
d. Continuity: because careful parliamentary
and sectoral consideration would be needed before it was amended
in the future; the framework will be stronger if the principles
are based on a consensus when they are agreed.
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