LEADING LOCALITIES

1. LEADING LOCALITIES The councillor role in local area agreements and local strategic partnerships Updated June 2008

2. what is a LAA? • an agreement, drawn up between a local area and central government • setting priorities for the area, both national and local • a statement of commitment to achieve specific targets, from all key local partners • a 3 year rolling action plan for the area’s sustainable community strategy

3. a very brief history • 2004-7 saw first generation of LAAs • an experiment that worked (by and large) • 2006 White Paper set way forward on ‘place-shaping’ • 2007 LGPIH Act introduced statutory framework for LAAs

4. political consensus on localism • ‘The significance of the new LAAs is that they fundamentally redraw the relationship between central government and local areas… they set a new balance that is better for central government and local agencies and most important, better for local communities’ (John Healey, Minister of State November 2007) • ‘local democratic control works, well - locally: it allows communities to tailor customised solutions to local problems, rather than having to fit into a national template (David Cameron Nov 2007) • ‘We would restore to local Councils the financial and political capacity to determine priorities for their communities and ensure decisions are taken as closely as possible to the people they affect, including a redistribution of powers from Westminster and quangos to accountable, decentralised government’ (Lib Dems Sept 2007)

5. what’s in it for councillors? • better integrated government for local people • the chance for elected members to steer the totality of public services in their area • LSP partners reinforcing local priorities • scope to win ‘hearts and minds’ on long-term challenges (climate change, cohesion, health) • improved local quality of life • payback from constituents, if all this can be achieved

6. Councillor perceptions of early LAAs • LAAs too technocratic • officers ‘running the show’ • targets fixed by Government Offices • too many partnerships with too little accountability • counties dominating districts • lots of process for too few results on the ground • complexity, jargon, and acronyms

7. but the picture is changing • more councillors taking on growing roles in LAAs and local partnership working • influencing and steering the work of all local partners an area • brokering solutions • getting buy-in from local people • handling the politics of two tier areas • standing up to Government Offices • tracking the outcomes achieved from LAAs

8. the key roles of councillors • leadership: steering and influencing partnership working, ensuring democratic accountability • strategy development: making real the local evidence base and ‘story of place’ • scrutiny: with new powers to scrutinise ‘named partners’ under the 2007 Act • neighbourhood representation: taking the LAA approach to small area level

9. 2008 a ‘year of devolution’ • new LAAs prepared for all 150 upper-tier English local authority areas • up to 35 ‘improvement targets’ identified in each, chosen from new set of 198 national indicators • negotiated with Ministers, via Government Offices • sitting alongside local priorities in each LAA • new duty on LSP partners to co-operate in achieving both sets of outcomes • LAAs and LSPs move from ‘margins to mainstream’ of national performance framework

10. what’s in a LAA? National priorities, e.g • reducing 16-18 NEETs • CO2 reductions • teenage conception rates • net additional homes • re-offending rates Local priorities, e.g • town centre alcohol issues • supporting problem families • access to private rented housing • better local transport new ‘duty to co-operate’ applies to both sets

11. overseeing totality of public expenditure LOCAL SPENDING REPORT FOR COUNTY OF BLANKSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL 1,800 DISTRICT COUNCILS 400 LEARNING & SKILLS 300 HEALTH 1,200 HIGHER EDUCATION 400 RDA 200 FIRE AND SAFETY 50 DWP/JOB CENTRE PLUS 2,900 POLICE 300 THIRD SECTOR/VCS 20 TOTAL £7.6bn • an expectation on LSPs • area based grant (ABG) removes most ring-fences • LSP partners encouraged to align their resources • Local Spending Reports will map most local expenditure from April 2009

12. LAAs in two-tier areas • county-wide sustainable community strategy should recognise geographic tiers • dual democratic mandates can be brokered, but not ignored • simplifying partnerships helps, but must respect boundaries and autonomies • joint scrutiny is possible • many examples of successful two-tier working

13. LSPs evolving into new roles there is no fixed model LSPs remain non-statutory bodies leader and portfolio holders expected to take active role in LSP ‘family’ CLG guidance July 2008 Your local LSP

14. Central Govt Wider LSP (sets SCS) VCS and business sectors involved in LSP and in overview/scrutiny of LAA GO Health Police Emp. Local council LSP ‘main board’ Others negotiations Denotes democratic lead Local area agreement (sets outcomes) Childrens services Crime and disorder Economic and env. Health and wellbeing LGA view of local partnership landscape, with lead members/portfolio holders taking an active role in LSP and thematic partnerships in developing the LAA

15. Multi area agreements (MAAs) • around a dozen areas trying out different ideas • defining their own new governance arrangements • securing powers and funding streams devolved from regional level • first few due to be signed in July 2008, others to follow in the future. • not the only model for sub-regional working • focus on capital and long-term development

16. is all this anything new? • in many ways, a return to roots of local government • parallels with city leadership in Victorian era, using ‘permissive’ legislation • part of wider cultural change in Whitehall and town halls • putting the ‘governing’ back into local government

17. useful sources • IDEA website at www.idea.gov.uk/laa has guidance, FAQs, case studies (Partnership and Practice library) and Communities of Practice for sharing ideas and experience • LGA publications www.lga.gov.uk • a very english revolution – delivering better and bolder LAAs’ • Pushing back the frontiers (Multi-area agreements) • A councillors guide to the new LAAs • IDeA and LGIU publications on scrutiny www.idea.gov.uk a wider conversation - effective scrutiny of LSPs’ how to win friends and influence partners • Leadership Centre for Local Government publication ‘politics of place’www.localleadership.gov.uk • Communities and Local Government website www.communities.gov.uk for statutory and operational guidance on LAAs and LSPs.