Billions of pounds will be devolved to councils if Labour wins next year’s election, leader Ed Miliband has pledged.
Launching the final report of the party’s Local Government Innovation Taskforce on a visit to Stevenage today, Mr Miliband also backed long-term funding settlements so councils could plan ahead and a new system of checks and balances, with a statutory requirement for local authorities to set up a public accounts committee with powers to scrutinise value for money for all services in their area.
Mr Miliband said the report charted a ‘new course away from the old top-down command model towards an era of people-powered public services’.
He said: ‘It is the people at the frontline who know better than anyone back in Whitehall how, through local reform and innovation, they could deliver better services.
‘The big reforms set out by the Adonis Review last week for devolving £30bn of funds and creating economic powerhouses in every region should be matched by equally radical changes in the way local authorities deliver public services in every community.’
London Councils chair and taskforce co-chair Jules Pipe added: ‘Local government will take on more responsibility and be accountable to local people, which will contribute to healthier local democracy in which everyone can play an active part.’
