Lgafirst#590

No.590 August 2015 www.local.gov.uk

the magazine for local government

Interview:

“ Devolution should not just be there for cities or regions with elected mayors� Lord Kerslake, LGA President

8

10

14

Academies Councils best on maintaining standards

Finance Spending Review: A shared commitment

Housing Unlocking the potential for growth

the-day responses • Parliamentary Bulletin led • monitor legislation • Select Committees Square debates • complex issues • local so national problems • cross party • on-the-day Parliamentary Bulletin • politically-led • mon • Select Committees • Smith Square debates issues • local solutions to national problems party • on-the-day responses • Parliamentar politically-led • monitor legislation • Select C Smith Square debates • complex issues • lo to national problems • cross party • on-the-d Parliamentary Bulletin • politically-led • mon • Select Committees • Smith Square debates issues • local solutions to national problems party • on-the-day responses • Parliamentar politically-led • monitor legislation • Select C Smith Square debates • complex issues • loc national problems • cross party • on-the-day Parliamentary Bulletin • politically-led • mon • Select Committees • Smith Square debates issues • local solutions to national problems party • on-the-day responses • Parliamentar politically-led • monitor legislation • Select C Smith Square debates • complex issues • lo to national problems • cross party • on-the-d Parliamentary Bulletin • politically-led • mon Annual Conference• Select Committees • Smith Square debates and Exhibition 2016issues • local solutions to national problems party • on-the-day responses • Parliamentar 5-7 July 2016 politically-led • monitor legislation • Select C Bournemouth International Centre Smith Square debates • complex issues • loc national problems • cross party • on-the-day Parliamentary Bulletin • politically-led • mon • Select Committees • Smith Square debates #LGAConf16 issues • local solutions to national problems party • on-the-day responses • Parliamentar To book your place visit: www.local.gov.uk/events politically-led • monitor legislation • Select C Square debates • complex issues • loc The national voice of localSmith government national problems • cross party • on-the-day

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT EVENT OF THE YEAR

New and views

I

f you, like me, had the pleasure of attending the LGA’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in Harrogate, I hope you have recovered from what was a busy but productive event.

I saw many of you sharing best practice in the Innovation Zone, taking part in debates at fringe meetings and exchanging ideas at workshops. The conference continued to live up to its reputation as the most popular event in the local government calendar.

This edition of first reports on some of conference’s key stories and speakers, including Communities Secretary Greg Clark and Acting Labour Leader Harriet Harman, and interviews the LGA’s new President, Lord Kerslake.

It also takes a look at Chancellor George Osborne’s Summer Budget, and at ‘A Shared Commitment’, a new LGA report that looks ahead to the Spending Review in the autumn. This report sets out how a new model of financing local government and a shared partnership between local and central government could help protect the hundreds of services our councils provide.

Finally, I would like to thank you for the many positive comments about the new-look first. This is your magazine, and I’m keen to hear your ideas about what issues we should be covering so we can provide the news, views and analysis that matter most to you.

Cllr Gary Porter is Chairman of the LGA

contents news 5

L iving wage to cost £1bn a year E-cigarette lighters safety alert

5

6

interview Conference round-up

6

21

16 Lord Kerslake, LGA President

“I sense a mood where local government rightly feel they’ve earned the credibility and respect to be listened to by this government”

16

Editor Dawn Chamarette Design & print TU ink www.tuink.co.uk Advertising Ottway Media Solutions Write to first: Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ Email first@local.gov.uk Tel editorial 020 7664 3294 Tel advertising 07917 681135 Photography Photofusion and Ingimage unless otherwise stated Cover and interview Tom Fenn Conference Chris Sharp Circulation 18,400 (August 2015) To unsubscribe email first@oscar-research.co.uk The inclusion of an advert or insert in first does not imply endorsement by the LGA of any product or service. Contributors’ views are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the LGA.

August 2015

14

features 9

Summer Budget briefing 10 A shared commitment 12 Healthy ageing while saving billions 14 Unlocking housing growth

comment

21 C live Betts, Chair, Communities & Local Government Select Committee 22 Chairman & Group Leaders 24 25 26 Councillors’ say 27 Local Government Ombudsman 28 Letters & Soundbites

30

regulars

29 C artoon 30 P arliament 31 E lections

first contents | 3

news in brief

Access local data on your tablet

news

L

Call to close loophole on roadside litter louts New powers are being called for by councils to tackle the spiralling problem of car litter louts, who are covering swathes of the country’s roads in rubbish.

Local authorities outside London are currently powerless in fining the nation’s car louts because as the law stands they must identify who has thrown the litter, which is extremely difficult.

Now the LGA is calling for the legal loophole to be closed, giving these councils the power to fine the owner of the vehicle – regardless of who threw the litter.

This would involve the Government introducing new regulations to bring the rest of the country in line with the capital, where vehicle owners can be fined. The LGA has raised its concerns with the Government on this area, including contributing background information to a recent parliamentary debate on litter, in a bid to ensure that councils are granted new powers to tackle the “staggering and spiralling” problem of car litter louts.

Councils are doing everything they can to tackle road rubbish – but it is difficult,

dangerous and expensive to clear up.

Recent examples include 80 tonnes of litter collected from 18 miles of A-roads in north Hertfordshire countryside during an annual clear-up – the equivalent of 10,000 sackfulls.

Along a 16-mile stretch of the A42 in Leicestershire, 20 tonnes of rubbish was collected. And in Dorset, it took five nights to collect two tonnes of litter along a five-mile section of the A338, costing taxpayers £10,000.

LGA Environment Spokesman Cllr Peter Box said: “Road litter is a huge and spiralling problem which is threatening to overwhelm some of the nation’s roads. It is difficult – and dangerous – for councils to clear up.

“The litter louts who blight our roads and cost council taxpayers millions in cleanup costs are currently getting away scot free thanks to a legal loophole.

“It’s time for the lazy, selfish people who toss rubbish from moving cars to learn this behaviour is simply unacceptable.

“We are calling on the Government to give councils the appropriate powers urgently to tackle this issue head-on.”

G Inform, the LGA’s benchmarking service containing over 2,300 items of up-to-date published performance, financial and contextual data about your area, is now available on your tablet and iPad. Already an essential tool for many authorities, this new version will make accessing information and reports easier than ever, wherever you are. Just by visiting the main website as usual you can review all the available information via a tablet user interface, enabling users to: quickly search for data about different services and topics; view reports that can then easily be shared; and compare your area’s performance to other similar areas. www.lginform.local.gov.uk

Toolkit supports health network

A

toolkit to support Local Healthwatch (LHW) organisations has been produced by the LGA and Shared Intelligence. Two years since the launch of LHWs, many are starting to make a genuine impact both in carrying out their broad statutory activities and contractual functions, and in their role on their local health and wellbeing boards. ‘Healthwatch Governance: a self-assessment toolkit for local Healthwatch and local Healthwatch Commissioners’, sets out some key governance questions for LHW and local commissioners to consider in development discussions and in renegotiating contracts. See www.local.gov.uk/publications

District and county share offices

H

orsham District Council staff have moved to a floor of the Parkside offices, joining West Sussex County Council colleagues.

The single site enables them to provide a better service for residents and will reduce costs for both authorities. West Sussex Leader, Cllr Louise Goldsmith, said: “Sharing facilities provides a better service for our residents.” Horsham Leader, Cllr Ray Dawe, said: “It forms a major part of the district council’s business transformation programme which is modernising our working practices and giving us considerable cost savings while providing the public with all the same quality frontline services.” They are pictured cutting a ribbon across a new reception with Gill Steward, Chief Operating Officer of West Sussex and Tom Crowley, Chief Executive of Horsham.

4 | first news

www.local.gov.uk

Living wage expected to cost councils £1bn a year LGA analysis has revealed it could cost councils more than £1 billion a year to pay for the National Living Wage by 2020/21.

The new National Living Wage, for workers over the age of 25, will start at £7.20 from next April and rise to £9 an hour by 2020, the Chancellor announced in his Summer Budget.

The LGA supports the proposal but calculates increasing pay to meet the new rate in 2016 would cost £6.8 million. Based on current staffing levels, the extra annual cost for council employees’ pay could then rise to £111 million in 2020 as the national living wage moves towards £9.

It estimates an additional £330 million would be needed in 2016 to initially cover increased contract costs to home care and residential care providers in order for them to pay council care staff the national living wage. This will rise by around £170 million

a year reaching £1 billion a year by 2020.

Cllr Gary Porter, LGA Chairman, said: “Almost half of local authorities already pay staff the voluntary living wage. This not only helps support those on the lowest pay but also improves the motivation, loyalty, productivity and retention of hard-working council staff.

“Councils support proposals to introduce a national living wage to help ensure staff receive a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. However, our analysis shows the cost to councils of implementing the change will keep growing and reach £1 billion by the end of the decade.

“If government were to fully fund the cost of introducing the national living wage to council staff and care workers, councils could avoid extra financial pressure being placed on them as they continue to protect services, such as caring for the elderly, collecting bins and filling potholes.”

Next phase of Care Act must be delayed

T

he rollout of the second phase of the Care Act should be postponed with the £590 million earmarked to fund the reforms diverted to help plug the social care funding gap and deal with pressures facing the system, according to the LGA. In a letter to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the Chancellor, George Osborne, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, Cllr Izzi Seccombe, said: “It would be deeply damaging to press ahead with a costly and ambitious reform programme if the very foundations of the system we are reforming cannot be sustained.”

The letter comes as council leaders warn the social care funding gap in England is growing by at least £700 million a year. Cllr Seccombe said the approach councils had

taken to date to manage shrinking budgets – including cross-subsidising social care through cuts to other services – was no longer sustainable.

The LGA emphasised that it did not want to see the legislation “suspended indefinitely” but that a delay would have wider benefits including allowing the Government more time to model the potential costs and develop final guidance and regulations, which would also give councils extra time to plan for implementation.

The first phase of the Care Act came into force on 1 April. Further elements including a cap on care costs and an extension to the financial means test threshold are due to become legally enforceable from April next year.

E-cigarette chargers spark safety alert

T

he LGA and fire authorities have issued a nationwide safety alert after a spate of blazes caused by unsafe or incompatible e-cigarette chargers.

Representing all 49 fire and rescue authorities in England and Wales, the LGA fears many cases go unreported and has called for e-cigarette manufacturers to do more to warn of the dangers. This includes displaying prominent safety warnings, highlighting this issue, on e-cigarette packaging.

Fire chiefs say many blazes are taking place because some smokers are not using compatible chargers. Too much current goes into the batteries and they overheat and explode. Battery material shoots out up to three metres and can cause a fire if it lands on anything combustible.

Latest reported figures from fire services reveal that since 2012 they have attended 113 calls to e-cigarette-related blazes. There were just eight call-outs in 2012 but this soared to 43 in 2013 and there were at least 62 in 2014.

E-cigarettes are used by over two million people each year. Recent blazes involving e-cigarettes include the death of a 62-year-old man after an e-cigarette battery on charge exploded and ignited oxygen equipment he was believed to have been using.

Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Chair of the LGA’s Fire Services Management Committee, said: “The recent spate of fires connected with e-cigarettes is highly disturbing and we are issuing a nationwide alert to users to be vigilant at all times. We are warning them that it is simply not worth risking their lives to save a few pounds by buying dodgy, dangerous or incompatible chargers.”

Jude Taylor wins LG Challenge 2015

T

he winner of this year’s LGA Local Government Challenge is Jude Taylor from Staffordshire County Council. She fought off competition from nine other leading lights in local government, receiving up to £10,000 from the Bruce-Lockhart scholarship.

Voting delegates and judges were won over by her project “Thinking Active,” which aims to combat vascular dementia through physical activity. The problem of dementia is one of the largest and fastest

August 2015

growing health and social care challenges.

Jude will use her prize money to start the delivery of her project, working with voluntary sector organisations in Staffordshire to begin with, but eventually rolling it out far and wide.

Jude is pictured speaking at the LGA Annual Conference in Harrogate, where she was presented with her accolade by Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Greg Clark.

first news | 5

Launch of ‘A Shared Commitment’

L

GA Chairman Cllr Gary Porter launched a vital report setting out a new model of financing local government that would transform the way public services are delivered.

Looking ahead to the autumn, ‘A Shared Commitment: Local Government and the Spending Review’. Shows how a radical shift in how public money is raised and spent, combined with devolution of decisionmaking to local areas, would help protect hundreds of council services.

Covering infrastructure, transport, housing, skills, social care and health, it would enable councils to build new homes, help young people improve their skills, increase employment and support elderly and disabled people to live healthy, independent lives.

At the same time, the measures deliver almost £2 billion worth of savings while ensuring the quality of front line services.

The LGA says all the proposals are achievable through a strong partnership between local and national government.

See p10 for an overview of the proposals.

To download the full document visit www.local.gov.uk/publications

A sell-out exhibition

T

his year’s LGA Annual Conference and Exhibition at Harrogate was the largest for some time, with nearly 1,600 delegates and a sold-out exhibition area with more than 100 stands for exhibitors and sponsors. There were more than 50 sessions and 70 speakers at the Innovation Zone – sharing their experience and new projects on the themes of political leadership, commercialisation, digitisation, community action and working with partners.

Among those featuring in the packed programme of plenary sessions, workshops and fringe meetings were two secretaries of state, ministers, shadow spokespersons, acting party leaders and leadership contenders, political commentators and think tanks. To ask about taking part in the 2016 event contact events@local.gov.uk. Next year’s LGA Annual Conference is at Bournemouth on 5 to 7 July.

To book your place as a delegate visit www.local.gov.uk/events

Heseltine: ‘you’ve never had such an opportunity’ Lord Heseltine opened the devolution session at the LGA’s Annual Conference by saying there were unprecedented opportunities for all local authorities to secure devolved powers.

“You’ve never had such an opportunity – from the greatest metropolitan centres to the most rural parts of England: all of them have been offered a part in the process,” he said.

“You have to design structures – they may be called combined authorities – that reflect your local economies.”

He added that councils are at the forefront of economic growth, and that local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) were integral to Britain’s international competitiveness.

“For Britain to win abroad you have to be in the front line of our attack. I make no

apology for emphasising your economic role: transport, education, skills, housing and much else are integral parts of our international competitiveness,” Lord Heseltine told delegates.

“And vital also are the new-found

partnerships with the private sector and academia. The LEPs are proving invaluable in making a reality of the devolution agenda and for me it would be inconceivable for them not to be bound in to your future business.”

Webcasts of the LGA’s Annual Conference are at www.lga.public-i.tv

6 | first news

www.local.gov.uk

‘We must not send young home seekers into exile’

news in brief

Housing, along with finance and devolution, was a key issue in speeches to the LGA’s Annual Conference by both Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Greg Clark and Acting Leader of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman.

Mr Clark said too many young people were being ‘exiled’ from their places of birth because of the lack of affordable homes, and that councils can reverse this with their neighbourhood plans.

He said: “The basic condition of a community is that successive generations of that community should be able to live there.

Otherwise they are in effect exiled from their families, exiled from their roots and their shared history, exiled from each other.

“If we want to maintain the chain of community – and a place for the next generation – then we must make sure we have the homes to welcome them to. The responsibility lies with us – national and local leaders alike.”

He added: “The neighbourhood planning process allows them [local people] to use their knowledge of, and love for, their communities, to consider where and how homes can best be provided. In building more homes, communities must have the confidence that they will become better, not worse, places to live. “ Ms Harman said the country faced the biggest housing crisis in a generation, and “we want people to be able to buy their own homes”. But, she added: “The Government’s proposals on extending the Right to Buy to housing associations risk making the housing crisis worse.

“Their promise that every home sold would be replaced is not worth the paper it’s written on bearing in mind that though they made that promise for council house sales, for every ten sold only one was built.

“And forcing councils to sell their highvalue properties would strip you of the ability to manage your own housing stock and lead to some quite bizarre outcomes like councils being forced to sell off new properties before even the first tenant has gone in.”

Referring to decentralisation of power, Mr

S

August 2015

Clark said “divisions between neighbours must be overcome”.

“Some places have done it through combined authorities, others through unitaries, others still through mergers. I will never impose an arrangement – and neither can one tier impose its will on another tier; rather, a local consensus will need to be agreed,” he told delegates.

Local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) were the way forward, he added: “In a few short years, the LEPs have guaranteed a strong voice for business in local leadership.

“At their best, business leaders have made an amazing contribution to their local areas – bringing employer knowledge of skill requirements, development opportunities and entrepreneurship to complement the civic leadership of local councils.”

He added: “I would not expect to approve any deal that did not have a clear role for the LEP.” Praising councils for their “professional, responsible, creative and effective” response to local government cuts in recent years, Mr Clark concluded by looking ahead to the autumn: “The Spending Review provides an unmissable opportunity to show my colleagues in central government how the nation benefits, as well as local people, if things are done differently.”

In her speech, Ms Harman referred to the LGA’s analysis of the challenges facing local government due to budget cuts, as outlined in its report ‘Future Funding Outlook for Councils’.

She said: “You have already undergone many years of falling funding, cut by 40 per cent over the period of the last parliament, disproportionately hitting more deprived areas.

“On top of this, even without any further reductions in next week’s Budget or the Autumn Statement, you’re set to face further cuts of £3.3 billion in 2016/17.

“The report you published last week shows this will leave councils facing a funding gap of £9.5 billion by the end of the decade.

“I know it’s a great deal easier to say than to do – but it’s to your credit, on behalf of people in your areas, that you’ve risen to the challenge so far by looking afresh at what you do and how you do it.”

NHS offers New Towns support peaking at the LGA’s Annual Conference, NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens asked councils to identify developments in the pipeline where they want NHS support with designing neighbourhoods to promote healthier lifestyles. In addition, he said planners could factor-in shared land and buildings for clinics, schools, police and fire stations.

Councils have until 30 September to register an interest by submitting the form in the Healthy New Towns programme prospectus at www.england. nhs.uk

LGA chief executive to move on

T

he LGA’s Chief Executive, Carolyn Downs, has announced that she is moving on to be Chief Executive of Brent Council. Carolyn, who has headed the LGA since November 2011, said: “I always said I would take the job for four years and that I would go back to run a council.” Opening the LGA General Assembly for voting on the LGA’s presidents and chairmanships, she told delegates: “Change is good for an organisation as it refreshes both ideas and energy. The new politicians and the new chief executive will take on an organisation which is in strong shape, and that is entirely down to the hard work of all those members and officers who have given so much time and energy over the past few years. I have no doubt that the LGA will go from strength to strength. More widely, devolution provides the opportunity to cement our role as the legitimate and democratic face of much needed public service reform in all our communities.”

first news | 7

features

Councils best on school standards The Government must remove the obstacles that prevent councils from intervening at the earliest opportunity when something goes wrong within academies and free schools

Cllr David Simmonds is Chairman of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board

O

ver the past five years we have witnessed a huge transformation in our education system with an explosion in academies and the introduction of the free schools programme. What hasn’t changed is local government’s desire to ensure every school is performing to the highest standard and that every pupil is given the very best chance in life.

Government needs to recognise councils as education improvement partners and not a barrier to change. Our good track record of raising education standards speaks for itself, with more than 80 per cent of our schools currently rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted.

With such a tremendous wealth of knowledge and experience across the country, struggling schools – whether they be maintained, academies or free schools – should be able to benefit from it.

Schools spend billions of pounds of public money, yet at present, there is no rigorous accountability for academies that are ‘coasting’; no clear understanding of what happens when one falls into this category;

8 | first feature

and no risk assessment in place for those rated as ‘good’ or above.

The new Education and Adoption Bill is the ideal opportunity for government to strip away the current barriers that are stopping councils from intervening at the earliest opportunity when something goes wrong within a school. Our statutory duty to ensure every child receives a good education means that we should be able to provide support to school leadership teams to ensure standards rapidly improve and help raise teaching standards and children’s life chances without having to deal with the current bureaucracy and red tape that holds us back.

We want our successful, high performing maintained schools and councils to be recognised by government and allowed the chance to sponsor those schools, including academies, which are struggling. We already know from the Department for Education that of the 20 largest academy chains, only three are performing above the national average on an ‘added value’ measure, compared to 44 out of 100 councils. Our schools have a wealth of expertise to share and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said in a recent blog that it’s not the fact of being an academy that leads to excellence.

With government already halting the expansion of some of the largest chains in response to over-rapid growth, we are concerned that there is a lack of potential academy sponsors available to take on large numbers of additional schools, with some

councils finding it increasingly difficult to find chains to open new schools as academies, as required by law.

For parents, who are far more concerned with the quality of their child’s education in the classroom than the legal status of the school, it is the council that they still turn to for advice and support.

In September 2014, eight regional school commissioners (RSCs) were appointed by government with a remit to hold academies to account. But with such a large, remote and diverse range of schools under their watch, they still lack local knowledge and the capacity to tackle all problems associated with the rising failings of academies. Already a number of councils are reporting requests from RSCs requiring local authority support and parents are confused by the different regional boundaries assigned to them.

The picture is very clear. It is councils that are best placed to oversee school effectiveness and take immediate action where required. With RSCs strictly limited to overseeing academic standards, the early warning signs of failing – such as safeguarding concerns or financial problems – risk being overlooked.

It is not acceptable that we have to wait for poor exam results or an Ofsted inspection to trigger intervention. With oversight by councils and strong links built with RSCs, mums and dads would be reassured that a council’s regular contact with their school will ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

www.local.gov.uk

Devolved spending powers ‘will improve services’ Welfare reductions were a key feature of the Budget. The LGA warns that reducing the workingage welfare bill requires key responsibilities and budgets to be devolved in order to provide tailored support locally

H

ard-pressed councils, facing £2.5 billion of savings in this financial year, will have breathed a sigh of relief after the Chancellor’s Summer Budget contained no further plans for in-year reductions.

The July announcement set out £12 billion of welfare savings and £5 billion from tackling tax avoidance. But another £20 billion of consolidation measures, aimed at achieving a budget surplus in 2019/20, are due out in this autumn’s Spending Review.

Cllr Gary Porter, LGA Chairman, said councils would now be looking to the review, which will shape the future of public services over the next decade.

He warned: “Without reform of the way public services are paid for and delivered, we predict councils could face a further £3.3 billion reduction in central government funding for local services in 2016/17 and a funding gap of £9.5 billion by the end of the decade.

“The LGA has set out how radically devolving powers and funding to local areas will allow councils to protect and improve vital services, tackle the big issues facing our residents and boost the prospects of the nation. Without this, the Government’s aims to boost house building, abolish youth unemployment and find £12 billion of savings from working-age benefits cannot be achieved.”

The LGA’s proposals are set out in

£

£

£ £ £ £ £ £££

its Spending Review report, ‘A Shared Commitment’ launched at its annual conference in Harrogate last month (see p10 and www.local.gov.uk/publications for more details).

Welfare reductions

Chancellor George Osborne’s seventh budget marked further progress on devolving powers to Greater Manchester, including putting fire services under the control of the future directly-elected mayor, and granting the city region more powers over planning. The Government is also working on devolution deals covering authorities in and around Sheffield, Liverpool, Leeds and West Yorkshire, and Cornwall, and remains open to proposals from other local areas interested in exchanging significant devolved powers for a mayor.

The LGA wants ambitious deals for all types of areas, including towns and counties, and maintains councils should be free to put in place the appropriate model of governance for their communities. The governance of fire and rescue services should also be a matter for local determination.

Welfare reductions were a key feature of the Budget, with the LGA warning that reducing the working age welfare bill requires “key responsibilities and budgets to be devolved to local areas to provide more responsive and tailored support that

This is an edited version of the LGA’s On the Day Briefing.

See www.local.gov.uk/briefings-and-responses for the full report on the Summer Budget

August 2015

£

£

£

helps to reduce demand”.

And the Chancellor’s final, surprise announcement of a new national living wage, starting at £7.20 from next April and rising to more than £9 by 2020, was welcomed by the LGA. But it said that the move would affect local government pay negotiations and could increase contract costs and council wage bills, and called for any new burdens to be fully funded. The Government has said it will fund public sector pay increases of 1 per cent per year for the next four years

Travel expenses There was a small bonus for councillors, with the Government confirming it will exempt their council-related travel expenses from income tax – but, disappointingly, not until next April.

The first Conservative Budget since 1996 covered several other issues affecting local government, including social housing rents, business rates and avoidance, adoptions, crematoria, local pension schemes, a levy on large employers to fund new apprenticeships, free childcare and shale gas.

first feature | 9

A shared commitment on spending Without reform to the way public money is raised and spent, local authorities face a funding gap of £9.5 billion by 2020.

Councils are ready to work with government to protect valued services, but the right conditions must be put in place

T

he Spending Review this autumn will shape the future of our public services over the next decade.

Its goal should be to identify how we can spend smarter rather than spend less.

That is the central theme of the new LGA report ‘A Shared Commitment: Local Government and the Spending Review’, which was launched at the LGA’s Annual Conference last month.

It outlines how radically devolving powers and funding to local areas will allow councils to build new homes, increase employment, and support elderly and disabled people to live healthy, independent lives and save the taxpayer money at the same time.

Without this, the Government’s target of building hundreds of thousands of new homes, finding £12 billion of savings from working-age benefits, creating two million jobs and abolishing youth unemployment, cannot be achieved.

Councils stand ready to work with public sector and have an indispensable role in delivering these goals but need the right conditions to be put in place.

Local government received a larger reduction in funding than the rest of the public sector over the last five years, yet continued to deliver core services by finding new ways of working. Councils have demonstrated that they are capable of taking tough choices when called on to do their part in keeping public finances under control.

However, the old equation that required

10 | first feature

councils to protect services while cutting budgets is no longer sustainable.

Unless there is a radical shift in how public money is raised and spent, LGA analysis shows that councils could face a £3.3 billion reduction in central government funding for local services in 2016/17.

Without reform, councils will face a funding gap of £9.5 billion by the end of the decade. Further reductions in government grants will result in councils having to make difficult decisions about services. With limited scope for further efficiencies, this can only put at risk valued public services which look after the vulnerable, keep residents healthy, prepare people for work and build stronger, safer, more vibrant communities.

A new partnership would allow them to improve outcomes for people, drive growth, and in so doing, save the taxpayer money. It would allow councils to tackle the big issues facing their residents and, by working locally, boost the prospects of the nation as a whole, freeing councils to deliver more than £80 billion in economic growth and almost £2 billion savings to the public purse.

Key proposals in ‘A Shared Commitment’ include;

Social care An adequately funded adult social care system is essential to a sustainable NHS. The social care funding gap – growing by at least £700 million a year – needs to be closed to protect services. The Better Care Fund needs to be expanded and supplemented by a

separate £1 billion transformation fund. This would pay for preventative services to alleviate pressure on the NHS and can be funded through a share of VAT raised from sugary snacks and drinks.

Housing If the Government is to meet its pledge to build 275,000 affordable homes by 2020, councils need to be given the power to play a leading role. We need more flexibility to borrow to allow us to invest in housing, www.local.gov.uk

colleges to work together to ensure young people and the unemployed develop the vital skills to build, essential for creating the homes and jobs our communities need.

Skills/Welfare to have the freedom to set Right to Buy discounts and to retain 100 per cent of the receipts locally in order to replace housing sold through the scheme quickly.

A growing skills crisis in the construction industry threatens to undermine our efforts to build desperately needed homes. For too long we have trained too many hairdressers and not enough bricklayers. The post-16 education budget and Apprenticeship Grant for Employers should both be transferred to local areas to allow councils, schools and August 2015

A local approach to skills and training will also allow councils to significantly reduce youth unemployment and disengagement.

The LGA predicts it would also contribute to reducing the welfare bill by up to ÂŁ1 billion and add ÂŁ374 billion of lost growth to the economy.

Transport Funding for the concessionary bus fares scheme has reduced by 27 per cent since 2010. This has led to 2,000 services reduced or withdrawn with more than 70 per cent of councils unable to plug the funding gap.

The scheme must be funded in full and the Bus Services Operator Grant devolved to be managed locally. This would ensure commercially viable bus routes are not supported by public money which would be better spent providing essential public transport to those who need it.

Resources The one-size-fits-all approach to council tax is out-of-date and does not provide a fair deal for taxpayers. Councils need to be able to revalue properties should they choose to do so and introduce new bands where needed. Council tax referendums should be abolished and local authorities able to vary discounts. The power to set business rates should be devolved to councils, who should also be able to retain 100 per cent of all business rates income.

first feature | 11

Healthy ageing could contribute billions to UK economy The LGA has made recommendations to the Government on how to make sure councils can release the potential of our ageing population, while also saving billions

K

eeping our ageing population healthier could unlock almost £80 billion a year to the UK economy by 2030, according to a new study by the LGA. The new report, ‘Ageing: the Silver Lining’, highlights that people over the age of 55 contributed £40 billion to the national economy in 2010.

It predicts this could increase to £77 billion by 2030 if the right conditions were in place to help older people to stay healthy and active in their communities.

Economic gain would be seen through older people providing a net benefit to society through the taxes they pay, their contribution to the labour market, their spending as consumers, the contribution they make to childcare and the care of loved ones and friends, voluntary work, and political, cultural and community activity.

However, the report warns that this opportunity could be missed if councils are not given the resources and flexibility to help older people to stay healthy and active in their communities.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Having a happy older population is not only better for people, but will have clear benefits in helping

12 | first feature

to balance the nation’s books through contributions in employment, spending, caring and volunteering.

“We now need to give councils the powers to bring together services for older people. This will keep people healthier for longer and avoid wasting this vital contribution to the economy.”

The report makes a number of recommendations to government to make sure councils can unlock the potential of our ageing population.

These include the development of a cross-government national ‘Ageing Well’ strategy which recognises the scale of the opportunities for the older population.

Continuing to enable the devolution process by giving councils the freedom to combine public health, transport, housing, leisure and culture, economic deployment and civic engagement to help keep people active is also key.

In addition, there needs to be the development of ‘age-friendly communities’ to reflect society’s changing demographics and ensure services are designed with older people in mind. This would mean that councils could ensure the right type of housing is available to older people and that appropriate transport links are accessible.

Health and wellbeing boards could play an integral role in bridging the gap between health partners and acting as the glue to bring these services together, ultimately preventing people becoming isolated and developing associated health problems.

The report also outlines the need for government to agree a new and improved financial settlement for local government.

Council leaders have long warned that funding for social care needs to be put on a sustainable footing, and that without a radical overhaul in how public services are funded an ever increasing proportion of council spending will continue to be consumed by adult social care, with the gap in social care budgets growing by at least £700 million a year.

Cllr Seccombe added: “We need a properly funded and sustainable social care system as well as services which help to keep people active and engaged in their communities. But as council budgets continue to come under pressure, it is a sad reality that we will have to continue making difficult decisions about all of the services we provide. www.local.gov.uk

Hunt launches carers’ strategy Speaking at the LGA’s Annual Conference this month, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced an initiative to find out how the growing number of carers can best be supported.

Under the theme of personal responsibility, he praised Britain’s six million carers, but indicated that a national change of culture is necessary and more of us will need to look after ageing relatives, friends and neighbours to ease pressures on the NHS and council residential care.

“Carry on as we are and we will need 38,000 more care home beds in the next five years – the equivalent of around 20 new care homes a month. The impact of this on local authorities, who fund 40 per cent of all residential care beds, would be disastrous,” he said. “Care home residents are some of the most frequent users of NHS services, so the financial impact on the NHS would be equally severe.”

Mr Hunt said Minister for Community and Social Care, Alistair Burt, will develop a carers’ strategy that looks at international practice and examines “what more we can do to support existing carers and the new carers we will need”.

In the same speech, Mr Hunt also launched plans to cut wastage of prescribed medicines amounting to £300 million a year by publishing the indicative costs to the NHS on packs costing more than £20, and also marking them ‘funded by the UK taxpayer’.

“We cannot underestimate how important community-binding services are in stopping people from becoming isolated and the sometimes devastating problems associated with this” Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board

“No one wants to live in a community where there are no bus routes, leisure centres or day centres – and we cannot underestimate how important these community-binding services are in stopping people from becoming isolated and the sometimes devastating problems associated with this.

“It is crucial that we continue to work August 2015

with our older population to help them live as fulfilled and healthy lives as possible, recognising the valuable commitment they make to the economy through things like volunteering, informal care and employment.

After all, it is these things that will help make savings to social care and maximise the contribution they can make to the wider economy over time.”

The full report is at www.local.gov.uk/publications

first feature | 13

‘Unlock our capacity to stimulate housing growth’ Councils must be freed to invest in home building and infrastructure through greater control over their finances, targeting local priorities and levering private finance and partnerships

Cllr Gary Porter is Chairman of the LGA

C

ouncils have a crucial role to play in tackling the nation’s housing shortage and ensuring good quality and affordable homes are built where they are needed most, with the infrastructure to support them.

The ambition of councils to increase investment in affordable housing is clear – through working with partners, using innovative funding models, and bringing forward surplus public land for development.

This includes working in partnership with

14 | first feature

housing associations and private developers.

It is clear this housing crisis won’t be solved by private sector house builders alone, and councils are key to delivering the step change the country needs. We need to unlock the full capacity for local government to use its estate and spending power to stimulate housing growth. But to do this councils need certainty and confidence that they can use their assets and their land. This means driving a joinedup strategy on the use of public land, and simplification and devolution of funding for housing.

Councils are also supporting an increase in housing supply through planning. The number of planning permissions being granted is at a 10-year high. Local authorities now approve 90 per cent of planning applications. Stability in the planning system will help to continue this good progress.

New homes help transform areas, bringing with them infrastructure and jobs.

Councils across the country are utilising a range of innovative approaches and it is vital that everyone makes the most of these. This will ensure a significant contribution is made to solving the housing crisis.

Current government housing policy features proposals on the extension of the Right To Buy and the sale of high value council-owned homes. Councils support measures designed to help people into home ownership, but this must not come at the expense of affordable housing for future generations and those on the housing

waiting list. We are working on proposals that will enable receipts to be reinvested in a local area without centralising the money and that avoid unintended consequences for local investment in housing.

Taking a long-term view on the housing needs and aspirations of areas and the investment involved in meeting these needs can support wider plans to stimulate economic growth locally, and help to manage pressures on public services and affordable housing.

Councils are ambitious when it comes to increasing housebuilding across all tenures and supporting measures to help people into home ownership. They must be freed to invest in and build more homes directly, and in partnership, through greater control over finance, simplifying and streamlining funding for housing and infrastructure, and more effective use of public land.

Funding also needs to be targeted more effectively, better aligning investment to local priorities and levering in private finance by pooling and devolving all funding pots for housing and infrastructure into a single local funding pot. www.local.gov.uk

Barking and Dagenham

Kirklees

Ashford

Cllr Saima Ashraf (Lab) is the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham’s Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing

Cllr Cathy Scott (Lab) is Kirklees Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and the Relief of Poverty

Cllr Paul Clokie (Con) is Ashford Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing and Home Ownership

The Excellent Homes for Life project provided nearly 500 new one and two-bedroom flats for council tenants in Kirklees. The new homes are tailored to local housing need and the project includes 35 flats designed for wheelchair use and 140 extra care flats, 10 of which cater for people with dementia.

Kirklees Council has specified high sustainability and design standards and the homes are adaptable to meet tenants’ needs throughout their lifetime.

We developed the Excellent Homes for Life project to meet changing needs, in terms of accommodation needs and to reflect cost pressures on the council’s adult care services.

The project also delivered wider economic benefits to the area in terms of upskilling and training opportunities for local residents.

The process began around 10 years ago and with limited options for the council to build new affordable homes in volume, private finance initiative (PFI) provided an achievable route for delivery. The PFI deal covers the construction of the homes and a 20-year service contract.

There is a strong housing market in Ashford for owner occupiers – but it is not keeping pace with demand for privately rented accommodation or providing alternatives for people on low income to buy their own homes.

So to tackle the issue, Ashford Borough Council has set up a council-owned housing company to build new homes for rent, and its own social lettings agency, enabling the council to offer a competitive management |fee to private landlords in return for guaranteed rental income and the opportunity to house people from the council’s waiting list in private sector homes.

Further housing growth is anticipated over the next two decades, following outline planning permission being granted in October 2014 for a major new residential community at Chilmington Green – for 5,750 new homes.

The council has built new affordable homes on council-owned land through housing revenue account (HRA) borrowing and through the Homes and Communities Agency’s funded local authority new build programme.

Indeed, 120 homes have been built in the last five years, as part of an impressive 782 homes built or brought back into use since 2010.

However, building through the HRA is no longer an option as the council has reached the borrowing cap. So a new trading company is the solution for providing additional housing.

It is council owned and funded initially by prudential borrowing. The company is offering homes for rent and sale, with a mix of rent levels. Providing some properties for sale and market rent will make the company sustainable and enable it to provide the properties at a competitive rent, creating a housing offer for local people that meets the gap in the commercial market.

The council also intends to increase the number of shared ownership properties in the new build programmes from 40 per cent to 50 to 60 per cent.

We have secured £150 million of European funding to continue the council’s drive to build more affordable housing in east London.

The money from the European Investment Bank (EIB) will support the delivery of an urban regeneration investment programme including the development of affordable rented and shared ownership housing.

The first £89 million was drawn down to build 400 affordable homes in Abbey Road and the Gascoigne estate in Barking.

The investment from the EIB funding comes after the council secured £73 million of institutional funding to build over 473 new homes for affordable rent for economically active people who would otherwise not be able to access low cost housing.

The new homes are owned, maintained and managed by the council’s company, Barking and Dagenham Reside.

The new homes are designed for local people in work who do not qualify for social housing, but struggle to afford options in the private housing market.

“It is clear this housing crisis won’t be solved by private sector house builders alone, and councils are key to delivering the step change the country needs” Cllr Gary Porter, LGA Chairman

August 2015

first feature | 15

interview A vocal advocate

A

t the age of 60, Lord Kerslake admits to feeling like a “young whippersnapper” after joining a House of Lords where more than half of peers are aged over 70 and nearly 140 are in their eighties.

In terms of his vast experience within both local and central government, he is anything but.

It was his wealth of experience and enthusiasm that made Lord Kerslake a standout candidate to become LGA President, replacing Lord Best who had served in the post for a decade.

Lord Kerslake’s impressive public service career began with the Greater London Council before he went on to run Hounslow Borough Council, Sheffield City Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.

He retired as the top civil servant at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and Head of the Civil Service earlier this year, and was subsequently given a peerage in March.

“I am thrilled and delighted to have been asked to become LGA President,” he said.

“Lord Best is certainly a tough act to follow and many people have told me I have some big shoes to fill – so no pressure there then.

“Although my recent career has been in central government, the largest part of my career by some margin has been in local government. And by an equal margin, it was also the most enjoyable.

“I see my role as LGA President as being a strong connection into Parliament and I also believe that being a crossbencher means I will be able to connect to all of the groups within the LGA. “One of the most significant achievements of Lord Best was in creating a single LGA and this remains the main quality of the association to this day – being a single organisation that speaks on behalf of all local government, across all parties and all types of councils.

“It is really important to hang onto that.”

The crossbench peer is clearly determined to grasp his new role with both hands and has vowed to be a strong and vocal advocate for local government in Parliament.

“If you are going to be in the Lords you have to put the time in and be clear about the issues you care about,” he insists.

“Otherwise what is the point of being there if you are never seen or heard?

“I sense a mood where local government rightly feel they have earned the credibility and respect to be listened to by this government” 16 | first interview

HOUSE OF LORDS PHOTOS BY TOM FENN

New LGA President Lord Kerslake talks to first about his determination to speak up for local government in the House of Lords and beyond

“When it comes to government policy, often it is not the big principle of the debate – such as devolution, which everyone can sign up to and which needs the work – but it is the detail. The Lords is the place where you can grapple on the detail and make sure it is right. That is why it is such an exciting place to be.

“I am hoping to use my power responsibly to speak my mind. I will speak up on policies www.local.gov.uk

“I see my role as LGA President as being a strong connection into Parliament and I also believe that being a crossbencher means I will be able to connect to all of the groups within the LGA” I think are good but will also raise concerns if I see problems.”

Lord Kerslake has already lived up to this promise. His maiden speech in the Lords in June saw him take immediate aim at the Government’s plan to extend the Right to Buy scheme by having councils sell off empty high-value homes. He has also raised doubts about the Government’s promise that homes sold under the extended scheme covering August 2015

housing association properties would be replaced on a one-for-one basis.

Given he also serves as Chair of the Peabody Housing Association and will lead an Institute for Public Policy Research Commission into how to double the number of affordable homes built in London to 50,000 a year, it is no surprise that he cites housing as one of his passions.

He says the Government needs to take its Right to Buy plans back to the drawing board.

“Extending the Right to Buy policy, and forcing councils to sell their properties to fund it, is fundamentally misconceived and needs to be significantly reviewed.

“I am not against councils deciding to sell properties. There will be a case where they will want to sell very high value properties and reinvest the money. But it should be a decision for local authorities to make and to reinvest on priorities in their local area.”

first interview | 17

“Devolution should not just be there for cities or regions with elected mayors. I hope the Government will be open to devolution beyond that” Lord Kerslake says the Government must guard against wrongly assuming that the success of councils coping with 40 per cent funding cuts since 2010 means they can withstand a “re-run” of the last five years.

His warning comes ahead of the autumn Spending Review, and as LGA analysis predicts councils could face a £3.3 billion reduction in central government funding for local services in 2016/17 and a funding gap of £9.5 billion by the end of the decade.

Councils are clear this will increase pressure on vital services like buses, fixing the roads, leisure centres and libraries. Many say they will be forced to make tough decisions, for example whether to close a children’s centre to keep looking after vulnerable elderly people, or whether to switch off street lights to fix potholes in local roads.

Instead, Lord Kerslake wants to see central government working more closely with local government to address the social care funding crisis and promote the further integration of public services. He believes that Communities Secretary Greg Clark – with whom he worked closely at the DCLG – has proved he has the attributes to take this challenge on.

“The last spending round came very quickly after the election. A lot of the decisions were taken quickly because of the severity of the economic situation but there has been more time to look at all the issues and implications this time around,” he says.

“Funding decisions must be properly considered by the Government and debated with the sector so the implications are understood. It is crucial that DCLG and other government departments work hand-in-glove with local government.

I would urge central government to trust local government and engage them in the dialogue. They won’t always agree but it is a much healthier way of doing things.

“I have a lot of respect for Greg Clark.

I saw first-hand how he operated on the city and growth deals and he is someone who will be open to all views. I liked his inclusive and pragmatic approach and his attention

18 | first interview

to detail. He put a lot of effort into making sure every city and growth deal was right for each individual area.

“He faces some enormously big issues to grapple with, not least of which are further spending reductions. You can only hope those strengths will help him manage what is a very challenging job.”

Lord Kerslake – knighted for services to local government in 2005 – has nothing but admiration for the way local authorities have risen to the challenge and financial pressures of the last few years.

“Things are so much tougher now,” he

says. “The two things I had when I was a chief executive was a government putting more money into public services and a wider economy where private money was being invested more heavily.

“Both of these things have been reversed over the past five years. The economy is clearly lifting but the scale of the challenge and level of creativity needed to make savings is of a magnitude which I did not have to face.”

Despite the challenges ahead, Lord Kerslake – who was officially appointed as LGA President at the association’s Annual www.local.gov.uk

PHOTO BY CHRIS SHARP

Lord Kerslake tells the LGA Conference that his political relatives through the generations reflect his crossbench approach

“There is… a real fear that if the next settlement isn’t sufficiently attuned to the big issues facing local government then it could create really serious difficulties”

Conference in Harrogate last month – has been struck by the “positive mood” of councils.

He explains: “I sense a mood where local government rightly feel they have achieved a lot in the past five years and have earned the credibility and respect to be listened to by this government. I certainly believe it has.

“There is a real hope that devolution will happen in earnest but some trepidation too about the future; not because people are afraid to make savings, but a real fear that if the next settlement isn’t sufficiently attuned to the big issues facing local government then it could create really serious difficulties.”

August 2015

As the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill makes its way through Parliament, Lord Kerslake will continue to make the case that widespread devolution is central to promoting economic growth and improving public services.

He agrees with the LGA that the benefits of devolution must reach every corner of England and the United Kingdom, and that councils should be able to work with government to identify alternatives to elected mayors.

“It will be interesting to see how far government is prepared to go,” he said.

“If you look back at the last government, the first incarnation of this was localism.

Quite a lot happened around ring-fenced funding and the removal of some of the top-down controls.

“It wasn’t the case that nothing happened but what didn’t happen then

was substantive devolution in the economic sphere. What the Manchester deal did was move that on to another level. It was a late flowering of interest in devolution for the last government, I am really pleased it is continuing into this one.

“As someone who was chief executive of a big city council, I am clear that devolution should not just be there for cities or regions with elected mayors. I hope the Government will be open to devolution beyond that.

“I understand that has to be the first focus but there are five years to go at this. What is clear is that the world will divide between those councils who prepare for the possibility of devolution, get on with the thinking and work with their colleagues and partners to work up ideas, and those places that wait around until they are asked.

“I’d rather be in the former camp than the latter.”

first interview | 19

First for Public Law

20 | first

www.local.gov.uk

comment Open to your suggestions Clive Betts MP (Lab) is Chair of the Select Committee for Communities and Local Government

I am pleased to have been re-elected as Chair of the Communities and Local Government (CLG) Select Committee for this Parliament. At the time of writing, the committee hasn’t been formally appointed and only then will begin to set out our programme of inquiries.

Nevertheless, as the first duty of the committee is to hold the Government to account, I am sure exploring the details of the Manchester devolution deal and seeing how and in what form devolution can be rolled out in other parts of the country is likely to be high up our agenda. In the last parliament, the committee’s report on fiscal devolution made the point that devolving spending powers was not sufficient and that real devolution also meant allowing councils to raise more of their own finance as well.

The other significant legislation expected from DCLG is the Housing Bill. I expect the committee will have some searching questions to ask about the intended right to buy for housing association tenants and the possible consequences for the sale of council stock, the impact on housing association development and the replacement of social housing lost.

We also will look at how councils operate, and both Rotherham and Tower Hamlets and the functioning of their commissioners are matters of particular interest. We will be interested in the timetable for returning these councils to democratic control.

Following our inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, the effectiveness of scrutiny in councils was raised as an issue which needed a wider probe. This is contained in the legacy report from the last Parliament, which also raised the issue of August 2015

“The LGA, and indeed individual councils, can provide evidence” those discretionary council services which are bearing the brunt of funding cuts and suggested the challenge facing councils in maintaining parks and open spaces as a subject for investigation.

The committee will, of course, welcome evidence from the LGA and individual councils to all our inquiries. The one criticism I would have is while some councils regularly put in thoughtful and interesting evidence, others we never hear from, so it’s not always clear we’re getting a genuine spread of views and concerns. I am going to ask our clerks to draw up a list of written and oral evidence we received last time to illustrate this point.

The LGA, and indeed individual councils, can provide evidence, but we are always open to suggestions about new inquiries. Our look at procurement and our inquiry into the operation of councillors in the community came about from ideas put forward by the LGA. Please let us have your ideas for inquiries, although we can’t promise there will be time to follow up on them all!

Many of the issues which I have mentioned are controversial. Just like the LGA – where councillors can put party politics on one side and act together in the wider interests of local government and your residents – select committees, while comprising elected party politicians, are charged to listen to evidence and agree reports based on that.

Between 2010 and 2015 we had no shortage of controversial subjects to consider yet we produced unanimous reports with just one vote. Reports agreed cross-party are much more likely to carry weight and, hopefully, lead to positive government responses such as the more than 30 changes made to the initial draft of the National Planning Policy Framework following our report.

On the other hand, responses which likened councillors to voluntary scout leaders probably angered councillors as much as council leaders and show select committees, even with their new independence, still have some way to go to be as influential as we would wish.

I look forward to working with you over the next five years.

To contact the CLG Committee email clgcom@parliament.uk

first comment | 21

group leaders’ comments Poorer northern councils bear brunt of cuts

T

he Budget may have been the first Conservative budget since 1996 but it was George Osborne’s second in four months.

Labour repeatedly asked before the general election where £12 billion of welfare cuts would come from and the Chancellor waited until after the election to answer.

There is a need for the Government to be fiscally responsible, but the Budget is about choices and the Chancellor has chosen to balance the nation’s books on the backs of families and the working poor.

Welfare spending is already £25 billion higher than the Chancellor expected because he has failed to tackle the real causes; low pay and high rents. It is then left to local authorities with shrinking budgets to pick up the pieces.

Although the Budget did not include further reductions in local government funding, the £200 million reduction to public health budgets administered by councils will prove difficult to achieve and

could lead to increased costs in the NHS. Grant Shapps previously said if the whole of government had achieved the savings councils have, the deficit would be erased.

In the last five years the Tories have taken most money away from the communities that can least afford it. The Government has cut the spending power for every household in the ten most deprived areas in England by sixteen times as much as the ten least deprived. Seven out of the top ten most deprived communities in England are in the North whilst local government budgets in the so-called ‘Northern Powerhouse’ have been cut by 75 per

Cllr Jim McMahon is the Leader of the LGA’s Labour Group

cent more than the rest of the country.

Whilst local government innovates how it delivers public services, councils are reaching a point of having to decommission services.

As Harriet Harman recently said at the LGA conference, you cannot empower local government if you choose to impoverish it.

“The £200 million reduction to public health budgets administered by councils will prove difficult to achieve”

chairman’s comment

Our offer to Government saves £2bn and improves services

Cllr Gary Porter is Chairman of the LGA

I

t was an honour to be elected as your Chairman at the LGA General Assembly last month and I would like to thank colleagues from across the political spectrum for their kind comments and congratulations.

As I made clear in my acceptance speech, this is a cross-party role – as exemplified by David Sparks over the past 12 months. David skilfully led us through a momentous political year which saw the Scottish independence referendum and the run-up to, and aftermath of the general election. I would like to reiterate my thanks to David for his many years of LGA

22 | first comment

service, and wish him well as he continues to serve the people of Dudley.

Looking forward, the sector would be facing tough choices whoever had won the general election. Despite being a long-standing Conservative councillor, as LGA Chairman I will speak out against the Government if and when it gets something wrong.

However, whatever the political complexion of central government, I have long believed that it is only through constructive argument and positive engagement that we will achieve the best possible outcomes for our sector.

As such, at the LGA Annual Conference I was pleased to launch ‘A shared commitment’ which, ahead of the forthcoming Spending

Review, sets out our offer to Government.

It outlines a wide range of measures, ranging from expanding the Better Care Fund to giving councils greater powers to join up skills and training provision, which would give us the freedom to deliver improved public services and almost £2 billion in savings.

I look forward to championing this positive agenda for local government in the run-up to the Spending Review.

Finally, although it will be impossible for me to visit every council, I am determined to be a visible and accessible Chairman and I look forward to meeting many of you in your authorities over the coming year.

“It is only through constructive argument and positive engagement that we will achieve the best possible outcomes for our sector” www.local.gov.uk

group leaders’ comments

Cllr David Hodge is Leader of the LGA’s Conservative Group

Cllr Marianne Overton is Leader of the LGA’s Independent Group

Cllr Gerald Vernon Jackson is Leader of the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group

Our opportunity to do things differently

Electoral reform group now set up

Cuts mean people will turn to local government

I

A

s the now third largest political group at the LGA, the Independent Group attracted more delegates than ever to this year’s Annual Conference, with close to 70 members attending our AGM and annual dinner to hear Lord Kerslake. Attendees included leaders from our 22 councils led by Independent Group members, including Thanet, Mansfield, Epsom and Ewell and Cornwall; a big congratulations to Cornwall for the first rural devolution offer.

Group sessions focussed on two issues raised by members; scrutiny, where we heard from the Centre for Public Scrutiny; and electoral reform, where the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy took centre stage to discuss a proportional representation voting system that better represents voter intentions. A working group was set up to further look at members’ views on electoral reform.

Our Annual Report 2014/15 demonstrates the impressive range and depth of work undertaken by our members. We work cross-party to achieve improvements for our residents, both by influencing legislation and what our councils do.

The Budget recognised some of the LGA’s lobbying efforts but brought in many more challenges associated with heavy cuts to services. We thank you for your support over the past year and we look forward to working with you on coming challenges to local government and our membership.

A

“This is a challenge that we can and must rise to by putting aside political allegiances and working across the tiers of local government”

“The Budget recognised some of the LGA’s lobbying efforts but brought in many more challenges associated with heavy cuts”

“A lot of the people affected will turn to local government as these cuts bite”

am writing this having just returned from a hectic but very enjoyable LGA Annual Conference in Harrogate.

Inevitably much of the discussion focused on devolution and the need to bring decisionmaking much closer to local communities It was encouraging to hear Communities Secretary Greg Clark reiterate his commitment to localism and decentralisation throughout the country – north and south, east and west, town and country – whilst also emphasising that this is a bottom-up process and not something that can or should be imposed by Whitehall.

Greg also posed a challenge to all of us: to overcome the fragmentation of local government which has in the past so often held back the decentralisation of power.

I believe that this is a challenge that we can and must rise to by putting aside political allegiances and working across the tiers of local government in order to secure the best possible deal for local residents.

These are exciting times for local government with a real opportunity to do things differently. Taking the devolution debate forward will be a key priority for the LGA over the coming year and as the newly elected Conservative Group Leader and LGA Vice-Chairman, I look forward to being actively involved.

s the dust settles on the first ‘majority Conservative’ budget in 18 years, local government must examine the detail behind the rhetoric.

Amongst the gimmicks and giveaways, the Chancellor has hidden five more years of pain, austerity, and cuts. Stuff that for five years Liberal Democrats – then in government – said “no” to.

If you’re starting out in life, struggling to support your family, struggling to get ahead, unable to work, this week things got a lot tougher. Thirteen million UK families alone will lose £260 a year on average because of the Budget, says the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

And removing housing benefit from under21s will see an increase in youth homelessness, putting young people at risk if they can’t stay at home.

We support helping people into home ownership, but extending Right to Buy to housing association tenants will undermine housing associations’ ability to build more homes.

There are other ways to give far more people the opportunity to own their own home. Housing associations and councils have been working for years to do just this.

A lot of the people affected will turn to local government as these cuts bite – helping them will be a task that is becoming more and more difficult as every day goes by.

For more information about the LGA’s political groups, see www.local.gov.uk

August 2015

first comment | 23

Counties must accept districts’ cross-border partners Cllr Robert Pritchard (Con) is Deputy Leader of Tamworth Borough Council

While formal partnerships often stop at county boundaries, the districts in the West Midlands have joined the various West Midlands local enterprise partnerships (LEPs).

As districts, we know that our residents have a lot to gain from a thriving economic block which stretches across our borders.

This is why Tamworth was a founding member of Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP and didn’t join the Stoke and Staffordshire LEP, despite being in Staffordshire. Several more

Staffordshire councils have dual membership of a West Midlands LEP or sole membership of a neighbouring county’s LEP, a position not endorsed by the county council.

The Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP offers its members the fair principle of one member one vote. This opportunity has led to an eye-opening and engaging experience that has enabled us to build strong bonds with other local authorities and allowed us to be business led.

We wish to be a strong Staffordshire family, preferring to bring the county with us to the West Midlands powerhouse. This has not yet been achieved. Some believe the county is stronger alone, but can a stand-alone county compete with the real economic powers that both draw in and drive surrounding district economies?

Council intervention drives housing market Cllr Jayne McCoy (Lib Dem) is Chair of the London Borough of Sutton’s Housing, Economy and Business Committee

Government subsidy to deliver housing is dwindling and the expectation now is that the private sector will build to meet the housing crisis challenge. But will they build the houses that meet the need of our residents?

In Sutton, we have seen numerous private developments of one-bedroom flats, however what we need are two and three-bedroom family homes. We also see both the private for sale and private rented sector out of the price range of many of our residents.

In response we have sought to take control and lead the delivery of housing ourselves

24 | first comment

by setting up a council-owned development company. This will allow us to take advantage of competitive borrowing rates to invest in the housing market across all tenures.

The development company gives the council the flexibility to build homes for private ownership or private rent, in addition to our plans to build council houses in the traditional sense. The company will also seek to unlock sites where development has stalled.

We will need to work with private partners and having a stake will enable us to have more say over design and standards. For our partners, our investment will ‘de-risk’ projects and enable them to be more flexible about affordable housing and densities.

This focus will continue as increasingly districts look toward their economic centres for decisions on transport, business rates and strategic economic matters. I welcome this shift as a means of improving economic prosperity and continuing the work of LEPs. This kind of working has delivered success: Tamworth’s Job Seekers Allowance claimant count is just over 300. There is almost full employment here because of our connectivity with a prospering West Midlands on our doorstep, not a prospering north or central Staffordshire. In Staffordshire, there is almost no economic activity between the north and south of the county and no real transport connectivity. This means that each district is pulling in different directions away from the county into neighbouring areas.

County councils must continue to deliver on education, health and transportation issues. Especially on health and social care, we need the counties to lead. They will have the steadfast support of their districts.

However, counties must accept that the economic strategy of districts must be aligned to their neighbouring economic powerhouse.

There is much we can and will achieve together, but there is also much we will achieve separately from our traditional county partnerships.

We will also be able to ensure that rents on new properties we build are affordable, and that we provide home ownership options that are sold at prices key workers and middle-income families can afford. We can also stipulate that these new properties are offered to Sutton residents as a priority.

Local developers and housing associations have seen the potential of working with a council-owned development company and we have had some interesting propositions.

For example, we are in dialogue with a developer about bringing forward a brownfield site long identified for redevelopment where the council, through its company, will play a key role in de-risking the project.

We believe intervention from local authorities to drive the market will deliver the type of housing that meets local need, rather than properties that simply maximise investment return.

“Having a stake will enable us to have more say over design and standards” www.local.gov.uk

Why the Residents Association strengthened its unique control

Cllr Clive Woodbridge is Chairman of the Residents Association Group on Epsom and Ewell Borough Council

May’s local elections have highlighted the political uniqueness of Epsom and Ewell.

It is the only council in England with a Residents Association (RA) majority and one of very few that remain in independent control in any form.

Despite the general election being on the same day, the RA increased its majority over the national political parties in Epsom and Ewell from 14 to 24. Of the council’s 38 seats, 31 are now in the hands of the RA. The Epsom and Ewell experience shows that where they have a viable option, residents are willing to reclaim local government from national, Westminster-dominated parties and give independent politicians a chance.

The result simply reflects the fact that RA councillors have done a good job over the years. The council remains debt-free, has one of the lowest council tax rates in Surrey and we have managed to protect front line services, despite the cuts, by driving through efficiency savings.

But Epsom and Ewell has a strong sense of local community and the hard work of the borough’s 12 RA committees at ward level year-round also underpins the electoral success.

Each RA councillor inevitably has close ties with his or her residents association. But we are all independent and are representatives, not delegates, of our RA committees.

Of course as RA councillors we seek to represent the views and aspirations of the local ward residents who voted for us. But we also understand the importance of having a borough-wide view. The RA, for example, has never had representation in Epsom’s Court Ward, but we have a duty to ensure that the issues facing this area – one of the most deprived areas in Surrey – are addressed, a fact covered in the council’s corporate plan.

Policy is set through regular RA group meetings, and there is a strong emphasis on achieving consensus. The RA group does not have a whip, and our group constitution August 2015

allows members to vote according to their conscience. Yet over the past eight years there have only been a handful of occasions where RA councillors have decided to vote against an agreed group decision.

The political structure in Epsom and Ewell Borough Council is also unusual. We do not have a constitutional leader, and we may be unique in that. Independents have a natural aversion to being ‘led!’ Committee-based council is well suited to the RA model, as it enables all councillors, including backbenchers, and the opposition, to be part of decisionmaking. Power is probably as diffuse, inclusive and bottom-up as is possible. This brings with it certain challenges – and I bear the scars – but it works!

Over the next few years local government faces a host of challenges, but also opportunities. The devolution of powers away

from Westminster is welcome. But as an RA councillor it is alarming that a ‘bigger is more beautiful’ model seems to prevail, with an apparent preference to concentrate devolved powers in the hands of a relatively few elected members. This could lead to local government becoming more, rather than less remote from local people. There may also be a diminished role for independents, and a stronger one for national political party machines.

If I have a political philosophy, it is that decisions are best taken as close as possible to local communities.

It will be a challenge to protect the specific political character and preferences of individual districts and boroughs, like Epsom and Ewell, while exploring new ways of collaborative working to secure devolution. But it is a challenge we should all be prepared to take on.

“The Epsom and Ewell experience shows that where they have a viable option, residents are willing to reclaim local government from national parties”

first comment | 25

Community cohesion can be a life or death issue Cllr Mark Rusling (Lab) is Cabinet Member for Children and Young People at Waltham Forest Council

Sadly terrorism has been all too visible in the news recently, with attacks in Tunisia and elsewhere coming at a time when we remember the terrible 7/7 atrocities visited on the people of London 10 years ago.

As well as the obvious distress, the pictures and stories also provide a focus for everyone working to combat radicalisation, something we have been addressing for some time in Waltham Forest. We’re proud of our diverse population and the strong sense of community cohesion and identity that our residents value and protect.

This was amply illustrated recently by the opposition to the English Defence League (EDL) seeking to march through our borough.

Rather than driving wedges through our community, the actions of the EDL served only to build bridges between different groups. Our residents were drawn closer together – just as

I am sure people will have felt their resolve to combat extremism strengthen in the light of each new horrific act of terrorism.

Right-minded people, whatever their heritage, background, or culture, have no time for extremist views whether they are from far-right organisations or from those claiming a warped religious validity for their terrorist attacks.

It’s why we should welcome the statutory obligations in the new Counter Terrorism and Security Act to identify and assist those vulnerable to radicalisation. Councils and schools are well-placed to engage with residents about this issue. It is right that we play our part in making our communities and country safer.

In Waltham Forest, we have developed a three-tier approach: preventive early intervention work with schools and colleges that encompasses everyone, regardless of background or religion; targeted work with vulnerable individuals; and reactive work to stop intolerant, aggressive behaviour.

Our digital resilience programme is being rolled out to our secondary schools and colleges, addressing themes such as critical thinking. We are actively engaging with parents

and teachers to identify those most vulnerable so that we can build resilience and trust.

We do face challenges – I characterise these as the five ‘O’s’. Online – addressing what young people see while on the internet unsupervised. Outdated views – confronting those who argue that children as young as nine and ten should not discuss these issues: they are anyway, whether we like it or not.

Overt scepticism – addressing the concerns of our community around ‘Prevent’. Out and out nonsense – challenging statements from public figures which stigmatise all Muslims for the actions of a tiny few.

And lastly 0 – as in £0 from central government. As a Prevent priority area, we have been delivering this agenda for the last four years and receive funding. But other places in the country do not, and may not have the knowledge, skills or resources to effectively enact the duty. Whilst local government must play its part, it needs central government support to do so.

This is a difficult and controversial agenda, but it is one which we should embrace.

Extremists seek to use our diversity to divide us.

Councillors owe it to our communities to make sure that they are not allowed to succeed.

“We should welcome the obligations in the new Counter Terrorism and Security Act to identify and assist those vulnerable to radicalism” 26 | first comment

www.local.gov.uk

Lots of complaints aren’t always a bad thing Dr Jane Martin is the Local Government Ombudsman

The Local Government Ombudsman encourages effective resolution of complaints at the local authority level.

However, where they cannot be resolved at the ‘first-tier’, we provide an independent review and will recommend how things should be put right, when we find fault.

All of our decisions are published on our website (except where they would compromise anonymity) and there is a wealth of information that can be searched either by authority, subject matter or decision reason.

By now your council will have received, your annual letter from us, which includes data on the complaints we have recorded for 2014/15. We hope you will use this letter to help build up a picture of how your council responds to and learns from complaints, and how this can be used to improve services in your communities.

These letters are available on our website alongside the annual report, which presents the combined datasets to allow comparison between other councils. However, the raw data we provide is only part of the story.

High volumes of complaints aren’t necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, they could indicate an accessible complaints system which clearly signposts to us when local procedures are exhausted.

Throughout the year we also publish focus reports on thematic areas where we know there is wider learning to be shared.

These include suggested questions members might ask to scrutinise their authorities and hold them to account. One example of this is our recent report on the planning process.

Councillor forum Our Councillor Forum meets three times a year, bringing together councillors from across the political spectrum and from all types of local authorities.

“High volumes of complaints aren’t necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, they could indicate an accessible complaints system which clearly signposts to us when local procedures are exhausted” Through the forum, we want to understand better the needs of councillors when scrutinising local services and we want members to act as champions for the use of complaints in their scrutiny roles.

If you would like to find out more about the forum, its minutes are on our website.

We will be recruiting for more members to the forum next year.

Training with the LGA The LGO has been working directly with the LGA to develop training for councillors to enhance local scrutiny and emphasise members’ role as local community representatives.

Through this online training, we are supporting councillors in bringing complaints to us on behalf of the people that they represent.

Called ‘Handling complaints for service improvement’, the training also highlights how members can use the lessons from complaints to support councillors’ scrutiny of local public services.

Members who take part in the course will be taken through the complaints process and will find out more about their role in that process.

The workbook can be downloaded for printing from the LGA website at www.local. gov.uk while the eLearning module is on the LGA’s eLearning site. Email elearning@local. gov.uk to access the site for the first time and to receive a username and password.

Investment Meanwhile, the LGO’s ‘Annual Review of Local Government Complaints’ was published last month. It suggests that many councils are dealing with increasing numbers of complaints and have less resources available to manage them due to cuts in complaint handling teams.

Our findings point to a local complaints system that is under real pressure. Complaint handling teams are having to do more with less and the process is not as accessible and timely as it should be.

More investment into complaints, both in terms of resources and developing an open culture, is a good value way of driving service improvement – and local government needs to challenge itself on this question. Complaints must be seen as a positive. They can provide an early warning system for issues and are an indicator of public sentiment.

We hope that by sharing our data and knowledge from complaints, we can help with this process by promoting local accountability for actions, and allowing better scrutiny of services.

For more information please visit the Local Government Ombudsman’s website at www.lgo.org.uk

August 2015

first comment | 27

is solely concerned with the clean-up of such legacy wastes, and is a Special Interest Group of the LGA. We have a broad membership, ranging from councils who do support new nuclear to the Nuclear Free Local Authorities (NFLA), who do not. All recognise the need for action.

At Sellafield in particular, some of the facilities are hazardous and need prompt remediation.

Across the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority estate, communities rightly expect the proper decommissioning and clean-up of their local site.

The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM), as the Government’s independent expert advisory group, concluded that placing the UK’s wastes in a geological disposal facility represents best practice. This is also the international scientific consensus, and the accepted policy in other countries.

Local government is to be asked to play its part in the forthcoming consultation by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and my article (first 588) was previewing this on behalf of our member authorities.

Participation will be voluntary – but the problem is real and a solution is necessary.

Cllr Richard Smith (Con), Chair, NuLeAF

letters

Turn housing issues into an opportunity

C Prime Minister must stand by Gatwick I call on all politicians in Croydon to back my call for the Prime Minister to do the right thing and support the expansion of Gatwick. We believe Gatwick offers the best deal for Croydon, London and the UK as a whole.

Croydon is on the brink of Olympic-scale transformation, and just 15 minutes away by train, Gatwick can make a really important contribution to the regeneration and investment already underway in our borough. Expansion at Gatwick will create more than 30,000 jobs, many of which could go to Croydon residents.

The recommendation is an independent review and ultimately government will make the final decision.

We will continue to campaign for a second runway at Gatwick by working with government to convince them that this remains the right choice.

Cllr Tony Newman (Lab), Leader, Croydon Council

Nuclear legacy leaves no option

C What do you think? Please submit letters for publication by emailing first@local.gov.uk. Letters may be edited and published online

28 | first letters

llr Abbot (first 589) has confused two separate issues. Dealing with the UK’s nuclear legacy wastes is unavoidable – they exist already. If the money earmarked for nuclear clean-up was spent instead on renewables or energy efficiency we would leave a serious environmental hazard to be dealt with by future generations.

NuLeAF, the Nuclear Legacy Advisory Forum

llr Harold Sykes makes an eloquent case for affordable homes, defending the rights of housing associations to self-determination, (first 589) but the laudable objections overlook the challenges faced by local authorities in meeting growing public demand for provision of new affordable homes.

Changes to planning frameworks and the Government’s new homes bonus to local authorities are leading to some much needed development in boroughs punching beneath their weight in terms of housing supply.

Here in North East Derbyshire, our district is set to benefit from such measures, due to its convenient location on the M1 corridor, commutable to Nottingham and Sheffield, with land values being no more than average.

I am aware of the vested interests in larger scale private development of this kind, but without effectively harnessing this agenda to regeneration projects, local economic growth, and private sector job creation in districts like ours, the long-term effects of private housing development will be negligible.

By sticking to their guns and defending affordable housing development while arguing the case for a selective regeneration agenda, local councils can turn the current environment into an opportunity. The housing crisis is not going away; it is an enormous challenge but getting it right in the decades to come will reap its own rewards for our communities.

Cllr Catherine Tite (Lab), North East Derbyshire District Council www.local.gov.uk

As employees we can help cut road deaths

I

was interested the comments from Cllr Roger Taylor (first 589) on the issue of driving standards. I’m not sure we’re on the same page as far as not reducing drink driving limits but I think the point he was making about driving standards is well made.

I recently did some training as a Unison health and safety steward and was shocked to find that a driver or passenger killed or injured at work on the road does not usually have to report through the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR). This means records of incidents related to specific employers is not being collated and therefore driving standards are likely to have a low priority with employers.

Too often the investigation stops with stringing the driver up for their crimes without looking at the working culture which may have contributed.

There were 515 people killed and 21,657 seriously injured in 2013 in incidents involving someone driving for work.

Local authorities can influence this, not least as employers and commissioners, by ensuring that appropriate safe driving policies are applied to staff and contractors in line with Health and Safety Executive guidance. Other opportunities could be an annual national campaign to encourage employers to adopt such policies.

Cllr Chas Townley (Lab), Stroud District Council

Task and finish engages backbenchers

I

read with interest the article from Cllr Wilson from Maidstone Borough Council (first 589) regarding the change to a committee system from their former system. This cabinet versus committee system debate is a long running one and will no doubt continue to run. In Wokingham, Conservatives have 47 out of 54 seats and within

August 2015

them are proponents of both systems.

Our council operates a form of hybrid between the two systems aimed at engaging more backbenchers. We start with an executive of seven members who make the formal decisions plus an additional seven deputies to assist them with their portfolios. We also have five scrutiny panels, each comprising up to nine backbenchers.

To engage more backbenchers, executive members create task and finish groups for policy creation and refinement, which generally includes an opposition councillor.

The final piece of the jigsaw is the importance of the ruling group who debate and agree (or not) any formal decision that is planned.

Nothing goes forward without the explicit agreement of this group of 47 councillors.

From my perspective there is no right or wrong way to do this. We think we have a system which suits our situation. Others have to choose what is best for them.

Cllr Keith Baker (Con), Leader, Wokingham Borough Council

Clark is the person for the job

T

hank you for your interesting article on Greg Clark (first 589) He will have a hard job to follow the inimitable Sir Eric Pickles, whom I warmly congratulate on his knighthood.

There will always be conflicting demands over housing and green space; the aim for people to own their own homes coupled with the need for more and improved social housing, and so very much more.

I met Mr Clark at a conference a few months ago and was deeply impressed.

He combines great intelligence with lucidity and a clear desire to improve life for our people. I cannot think of anyone whom I would rather see in this very demanding post, and wish him every success.

Cllr David Skinner (Con), Coventry City Council

sound bites Cllr Tom Cunningham (Con, Braintree) “Excellent #LGAConf15 in Harrogate and good meeting with ward residents this evening.” www.twitter.com/tomgcunningham Cllr Colin Glover (Lab, Carlisle) “Thanks @LGAcomms & @LGA_Labour for the opportunity to debate & share ideas at #LGAconf15 helping councils deliver important public services.” www.twitter.com/ColinGlover2 Cllr Peter Thornton (Lib Dem, South Lakeland) “Good 1st day at LGA conference.

LGA Chair Gary Porter called for Right to Buy discounts to be set locally, + 100% of receipts to be retained.” www.twitter.com/PeterThornton10 Jude Taylor (Staffordshire, LGA Challenge 2015 winner) “Wow, what a totally bonkers afternoon!

Congratulations again to all the other contestants @LGChallenge team and host authorities...” www.twitter.com/flywithjude Cllr Isobel Darby (Con, Chiltern) “An exciting future for local govt with @gregclarkmp and team #LGAConf15 an opportunity to do things differently.” www.twitter.com/CllrDarby Cllr Dilwar Ali (Lab, Cardiff ) “92 Pledges cards received for a reading challenge at Llandaff North Library” www.twitter.com/DilwarAliLAB Do you have a blog or a Twitter account we should be following?

Let us know. Email first@local.gov.uk

first letters | 29

parliament Elected mayors focus of Devolution Bill debate The Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill was one of the first pieces of legislation to begin its passage through the Houses of Parliament following the Queen’s Speech in May. The Bill is designed to provide the legal framework for the Greater Manchester devolution deal and to enable future deals.

It also introduces directly-elected mayors to combined local authorities in England and devolves housing, transport, planning and policing powers to them. The Bill is a positive step towards enabling combined authorities to take on the powers they need to create jobs, build homes, strengthen healthy communities and protect the vulnerable.

Second Reading

worked with peers to table amendments to the Bill. Amendments can change the detail of the Bill and are debated and then voted on in the House. Our amendments aimed to increase the accountability of the Secretary of State and to push the Government to discuss fiscal devolution. So far, the Government has rejected all attempts to specify what functions may be devolved, whether on the face of the Bill or in subsequent reports, because the legislation is intended to be enabling and allow for bespoke devolution deals.

Metro mayors continued to be the focus of the debate. Peers sought to amend the legislation to have accountability and

safeguards via consultation with the combined authority and local residents. The LGA also supported amendments for fiscal devolution, greater devolution for London and increased accountability of the Secretary of State. Labour and Liberal Democrat peers put forward amendments to allow combined authorities to retain business rates growth, set local fees and charges, and for central government to set multi-year finance settlements. After a comprehensive debate, Baroness Williams said that the Government’s intention is to devolve far-reaching powers where strong governance can be demonstrated and that “nothing is off the table”.

Report stage and Third Reading At the time of writing, the Bill was due to go into its Report stage where further amendments can be made, and then Third Reading where the Bill is ‘tidied up’ before the summer recess. Following this, the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill will proceed through similar stages in the House of Commons in the autumn, before each House considers the other’s amendments. Once both Houses agree the amendments of the other, the legislation receives Royal Assent and passes into law.

The Bill was introduced in the House of Lords by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con) on 28 May 2015. During its Second Reading on 8 June, peers had their first opportunity to debate the key principles of the Bill and to flag up any concerns where they thought amendments were needed.

Lord McKenzie of Luton (Lab) and LGA Vice-President Lord Shipley (Lib Dem) welcomed the Bill, although both raised concerns about the detail of the legislation.

Peers questioned the need for an elected mayor as a condition of greater devolution and asked for greater clarity on the types of powers that will be devolved to local areas.

Baroness Williams responded by saying that the Government did not want to dictate to local government and it was for local areas to come forward with their proposals.

Committee stage Following this, the Bill moved to Committee stage in late June, which involved detailed line by line examination of the separate parts (clauses and schedules) of the Bill. The LGA

30 | first political

www.local.gov.uk

elections Councillors-turned-MPs prompt elections Three of the by-elections listed here were prompted by incumbents resigning their seats after being elected to the Commons on 7 May. Decades ago many MPs began their political careers in local government.

The parliamentary debates on local government reorganisation in the early 1970s demonstrate the value of national legislators having had this experience. More recently the link between local and parliamentary democracy has weakened and needs to be restored if different levels of government are to work together.

Craig Williams may not have anticipated winning the highly marginal Cardiff North constituency, still less increasing the Conservative vote share. His victory, however, gave eager voters in Pentrych a further opportunity to visit the polling stations.

Professors Colin Railings (r) and Michael Thrasher (l) are Directors of Plymouth University’s Elections Centre

Conducting the by-election on a Tuesday does not appear to have created confusion.

The result was close, with Hywel Wigley, son of Plaid Cymru’s former leader, falling short by just 18 votes after taking supporters from each of his Conservative and Labour opponents.

The following Thursday saw two further vacancies contested following councillors metamorphosing into MPs. Grantham Barrowby’s Jo Churchill resigned after joining the Government benches as MP for Bury St. Edmunds. Mark Whittington is the new councillor for the division after significantly

local by-elections Authority

Ward

Result

Majority

Turnout %

Sutton

Wallington South

LD HELD

11.1% over CON

35.4

Tower Hamlets

Stepney Green

LAB GAIN FROM THF

4.4% over IND

47.4

Cambridgeshire

Romsey

LAB GAIN FROM LD

2.1% over LD

35.0

Cardiff

Pentyrch

CON HELD

1.3 over PC

51.1

Richmond Upon Thames

Hampton Wick

LD GAIN FROM CON

3.9 over Con

34.5

Lincolnshire

Grantham Barrowby

CON HELD

27.5 over Lab

17.5

August 2015

improving the Conservative hold there.

By contrast, the Conservatives suffered a shock defeat in Richmond upon Thames just two months after Tania Mathias overcame the Liberal Democrats’ Vince Cable to capture the Twickenham parliamentary seat. Her former ward of Hampton Wick witnessed a fierce election struggle, with the Liberal Democrats eventually prevailing by just over 100 votes. This was no marginal ward; the Liberal Democrats had not come close to winning since its establishment in 2002. Were some of Richmond’s voters feeling slighted that one of their councillors should prefer to give up their council seat rather than continue to be both councillor and MP? Perhaps there is a parallel here with the Liberal Democrats’ defeat in the Romsey division, Cambridgeshire. Again, this vacancy followed Kilian Bourke’s resignation.

The Liberal Democrats regarded this as a secure seat, winning it in every election since 2005, including two by-elections.

But comparisons with the 2013 county election show a sharp drop in support for the incumbents and while it was the Greens that benefited most from this, it was Labour that was able to secure the victory and add the county division to its growing roster of Romsey ward councillors. The Liberal Democrat defeat here then does not appear to be related to the nature of the former incumbent’s resignation, rather the natural swing of electoral opinion.

Labour’s second victory came at the expense of Tower Hamlets First, a party that no longer exists since the Electoral Commission removed it from the register of political parties. Labour’s main challenger, Abu Talha, standing as an Independent, received an endorsement from the former mayor, Lutfur Rahman. In the event, Labour’s support increased at the expense of all the other parties.

first political | 31

sponsored by

National Children and Adult Services Conference 14–16 October 2015 Bournemouth International Centre Vital to councillors, directors, senior officers, directors of public health, policy makers and service managers, indeed any individual or organisation with responsibilities for children and adults in the statutory, voluntary and private sectors, the event will include a mix of keynote and ministerial addresses as well as plenary sessions by significant players in the adult, children and education sectors.

Confirmed speakers so far include: Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Health Simon Stevens, Chief Executive, NHS England There will also be the opportunity to participate in breakouts and networking. A platform for policy announcements, the event offers the opportunity for discussions with ministerial and shadow teams.

Book your place at www.local.gov.uk/events