Written evidence submitted by the Women's
Resource Centre (LOCO 40)
SUMMARY OF
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. As central government devolves power to local
communities the transfer of responsibility must be paired with
accountability. In instances where power is decentralised it is
vital that there is an effective regulatory body which oversees
the actions of local authorities and holds them to account.
2. Local authorities should be regularly audited
by a regulator to ensure their compliance with existing equalities
legislation. Providing guidance and promoting best practice has
been proven to be insufficient, a regulatory mechanism which monitors
local authorities is essential.
3. Arguments in favour of decentralisation are
founded on the assumption that local government has greatest understanding
of local needs. Research however shows that many local authorities
fail to comply with the Public Sector Duty to Involve. To ensure
that local authorities meet the diverse needs of communities central
government must make sure local authorities working inclusively
and engage a diverse range of groups in local decision-making.
4. Decentralisation is not appropriate in all
instances and can lead to inconsistency in local services, ineffective
communication and duplication. Local provision is unacceptable
on issues such as violence against women services where the consequences
of these problems are life threatening.
5. We urge the Select Committee to acknowledge
the benefits of cross locality working and promote its role in
creating efficiency savings. Where decentralisation is deemed
appropriate central government must make sure the aforementioned
regulatory frameworks are in place.
6. Where appropriate voluntary and community
organisations should be given the opportunity to decide if they
wish to bid to provide public services. Where they do provide
services they should receive adequate support from central government
to assist them to do so.
LIMITATIONS OF
LOCALISM
Case study: Violence against Women
7. Efforts to empower local communities should
be linked with discussion of how local authorities can work together
to tackle the issues affecting citizen's lives. Allowing local
authorities to set their own policies on important topics can
lead to inconsistency in local services, ineffective communication
and duplication. Working across boroughs, however, can provide
strong and cost effective public services across cities.
8. Violence against women services provide a
clear illustration of where partnership working between authorities
creates cost savings and ensures comprehensive service provision.
Violence against women holds no boundaries. As women flee their
homes and seek sanctuary in other areas, anonymity assists them
and their families to rebuild their lives and escape abusive partners.
Variability of local funding is insufficient on this topic as
it subjects women to a postcode lottery for access to life saving
services.
9. When women seek VAW support they should be
able to choose where and how they access services, according to
their specific and complex needs. Due to regional geography, home,
work and school for survivors may all be in different boroughs
and borough boundaries are not the same as the boundaries of social
relationships. Unlike the often disjointed statutory services
characteristic of the borough system; cross locality funding provides
women with choice.
10. Cross locality funding provides boroughs
with a much wider pool of expertise than they could ever hope
to fund locally and enhances the quality of services provided
to women from their area. It is not cost effective to have separate
provision of the same service in each area and cross locality
funding ensures efficiency as well as a coordinated and comprehensive
support.
11. Cross locality funding can have a significant
impact on delivering VAW strategies at national, regional and
local level. It contributes to consistent service provision across
the UK and helps to harmonise local and central government actions.
12. Cross locality funding offers an opportunity
to holistically address the causes of VAW and can facilitate partnership
working to increase effectiveness. For example, VAW organisations
can work across sectors with drug and alcohol organisations to
tackle the causes and consequences of both social problems.
13. The Women Together Against Abuse Partnership,
a ground-breaking multi-agency response to domestic violence in
London, would not have been possible without London Councils funding
(a pan-regional fund for the capital) as these organisations are
based in a number of different boroughs. VAW services are stronger
when boroughs act together and synchronisation creates greater
impact.
LIMITATIONS OF
LOCALISM: THE
IMPORTANCE OF
EQUALITIES
14. As funding contracts in the economic downturn
local councils cannot be relied upon to fund key women's services.
Already in the infancy of public sector spending cuts some local
authorities have cut Domestic Coordinator posts due to the need
to create efficiency savings.
15. Funding violence against women's services
is discretionary and as such local councils are not required to
fund essential VAW services. Increased dependency on local funding
will compromise the sustainability of women's services and subject
organisations to short term funding cycles and further financial
struggles. We are concerned that adequate funding will not be
a priority for local boroughs; this view is supported by the fact
that only two local authorities in London (the UK's largest city)
have chosen domestic and/or sexual violence indicators for their
Local Area Agreement targets.
16. There is an active risk that equalities will
be marginalised in the recession as councils seek to focus on
financial "priorities". There is a likelihood equalities
may be misinterpreted as an issue that is "frivolous"
at a time when councils are seeking financial survival. As opposed
to being acknowledged as a vital way to effectively meet the diverse
needs of communities.
17. Regional and government funding transcends
the politics of local decision-making and secures funding for
"less" popular groups such as LGBT people and women
with no recourse to public funds. Local authorities do not have
a strong record on commissioning specialist services and central
government funding helps to provide funding where there is most
need. As local authorities are placed under pressure to make their
money go further whilst reducing council tax, it is likely that
funding for specialist services will be reduced in the economic
downturn. Reliance on local funding would jeopardise diverse services,
as the arguments around funding priorities can be dictated by
local politics rather than actual need.
18. Arguments in favour of decentralisation are
often founded on the assumption that local government has greatest
understanding of local needs. However, research shows limited
progress on equalities and a lack of sustained and meaningful
engagement with voluntary community organisations (VCOs).
19. Voluntary organisations are embedded within
communities and have a comprehensive understanding of the issues
occurring at grass roots level. Organisations that are led "by
and for" minority groups are operated by those who have greatest
understanding of their communities' needs.
20. Equality and diversity provide the key to
effective service delivery and to effectively meet the diverse
needs of communities local authorities must work with equalities
voluntary and community organisations.
21. Women's organisations have a unique reach
in communities and work with some of the most marginalised and
vulnerable women in society. However, "despite accounting
for 7% of the voluntary and community sector (VCS), women's organisations
represent just 2% of VCS representatives on Local Strategic Partnerships".[9]
22. Women's organisations provide a vital opportunity
for politicians to connect with the needs of women and as the
government seeks to empower communities by devolving powers to
local areas, it is essential that women's organisations expertise
is harnessed and they are integrated into decision-making processes.
With over 30,000 women's organisations in the UK, their exclusion
has hugely negative implications on issues of equality, effective
service delivery and community empowerment.
23. The recent Women's Resource Centre report
"Power and Prejudice: combating gender inequality through
women's organisation" highlights the barriers to women's
organisations engagement in local-decision-making. The publication's
findings are essential reading for select committee members and
show that many local authorities do not deem gender equality to
be a priority and fail to meet their legal obligations under the
Gender Equality Duty and Duty to Involve.
24. Misapplication of the Gender Equality Duty
is common and there is a lack of understanding amongst local councils
about the conditions needed to achieve women's equality or the
differing needs between women/girls and men/boys. Due to a myth
of gender equality authorities often pursue gender neutral policies
or misinterpret gender equality to mean treating men and women
the same. These problems contribute to the under valuation of
the importance of women-only services and increases authorities
reluctance to engage with women's voluntary and community organisations.
This in turn limits local authorities' capacity to ensure that
the needs of the women within their communities are effectively
met.
A MODEL FOR
LOCALISM
25. As power is devolved to local authorities
it is essential that a strong equalities framework is embedded
at a local level. Local authorities' legal obligations under equalities
legislation must be nationally recognised. Issues such as VAW
should be made a priority and authorities must link equalities
to performance management and strategic planning processes.
26. The aforementioned actions are imperative
as we are concerned that changes to the Equality Act will further
contribute to the de-prioritsation of gender. Under the proposed
Public Sector Duties local authorities will no longer be required
to prepare Gender Equality Schemes.
27. Gender Equality Schemes are an important
mechanism through which councils outline their equality objectives
and demonstrate how they have taken into account how their policies
and practices affect gender equality. Most importantly, they provide
an action plan that sets out timelines and measurable targets
to address gender inequality in their local area and provide a
mechanism through which local councils can be held to account.
28. Arrangements for oversight of local authority
performance are vital. To be effective an equalities framework
must be reinforced by the introduction of a regulator that audits
and oversees the actiops of local government.
29. Providing guidance and promoting best practice
has been proven to be insufficient in encouraging local authorities
to promote equalities and engage with voluntary and community
organisations.
30. Devolution of power to local communities
should be contingent on local authorities working inclusively
and engaging with a diverse range of equalities organisations.
The decentralisation agenda centres on the premise of empowering
communities but without active engagement with equalities VCOs
there is limited likelihood that the voices of marginalised groups
will be represented.
31. Local authorities must work in partnership
with equalities organisations and integrate them into local-decision-making
to ensure equalities strands are addressed. Their expertise will
assist local authorities in meeting the diverse needs of communities.
32. Where appropriate voluntary and community
organisations should be given the opportunity to decide if they
wish to bid to provide public services. Where they do provide
services they should receive adequate support from central government
to help them do so.
33. Where local government subcontracts to the
voluntary sector it should promote consortia bids from equalities
organisations from all equality strands as a way of ensuring the
needs of whole communities are met.
October 2010
9 Urban Forum, Oxfam, Women's Resource Centre, 2007,
Where are the women in LSPs?
http://www.wrc.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2008/w/womenlsps.pdf Back
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