Local government started out in the 19th century, faced with big challenges to address – urbanisation, widespread poverty and limited access to the basic necessities of life.
The so-called ‘gas and water socialists’ made sure that people had access to the bare necessities.
Joseph Chamberlain ‘parked, paved, assized, marketed, gas and watered and improved Birmingham in just three years as mayor’.
Together, the Victorians oversaw vast improvements in public health, housing and standards of living.
What defined these pioneers was their enterprise and ambition. Today’s great challenge – delivering better, more localised public services at lower cost – demands those same traits.
But I know that if councils are to take on this more dynamic role in their communities, then they have got to have greater freedom and flexibility, and more scope to innovate.
Last week the Government unveiled a series of measures which put the frontline first by freeing-up local government to improve services through savings and less red tape.
The Smarter government paper set out a radical vision for streamlining government and transforming frontline services to put local people first. By reducing the number of ring-fenced budgets, and by rationalising how councils get inspected and judged, we will cut a lot of the bureaucracy which frustrates councils.
We will reduce the number of national indicators, giving local leaders more control over how they respond to local priorities. And we will support councils which want to get more involved in municipal enterprise, to exploit ways of generating income without increasing taxes.
As responsibility shifts to the local level, we are opening up local government to greater public scrutiny by making more data easily accessible. We will publish a new ‘index of civic health’ so that citizens can assess the health of democracy and cohesion in their area. By putting more information directly into the hands of local people, they can better hold service-providers to account for the money they spend and decisions they take.
The huge interest in the new Comprehensive Area Assessment results shows there is a real appetite for greater local transparency. The emphasis in CAA is on achievements and outcomes – not on processes – matching our Total Place ambition to put the frontline – not bureaucracy – first.
For the first time, all public services in the area are being assessed. By visiting the ‘one place’ website, people can easily compare how their council and local services are performing.
The Conservatives would scrap this and other performance measures. You might ask why. I believe it’s because by removing all measures and minimum standards, you simply create a post code lottery of services, with local people having no idea to what they’re entitled.
The pre-Budget report (PRB) reinforced the importance of this more dynamic role for local councils. Coming on the back of 12 years of above-inflation increases in funding, it confirmed that local government would get a further year of real increases in resources.
The PBR, with the Smarter government measures, aims to recast the relationship between central and local government, letting councils set priorities and guide resources, while making central government more of a strategic partner.
The PBR also made clear that local government will have to share in the tough choices ahead which will help reduce the deficit while increasing jobs, promote economic growth and protect frontline services.
Councils have already risen to this challenge and are on course to raise £5.5bn of efficiency savings by March 2011. The chancellor announced he expected them to go further and find an extra £2.6bn by the end of 2012/13.
Councils are able to meet these challenges because of the extra investment made by this Labour Government. We’ve already raised central government funding by more than inflation every year we have been in government. In the first 10 years, that amounted to a 39% real terms increase. Next year’s 4% increase should also come in above inflation.
In contrast, the Conservatives have said they would cut this year’s funding by £1.8bn. But they haven’t said whether they’d cut services or raise taxes to pay for it. They’ve also promised to pay for council tax freezes. This would cost a further £1.3bn which would have to be cut from council budgets, and ultimately affect services.
These cuts are unnecessary, Labour’s 13 years of investment means that councils should already be able to deliver the lowest council tax rises on record. The flag-bearers for low rises are London’s eight Labour run councils, which have already pledged to freeze council tax next year. Labour-led Hackney has not raised council tax since 2005.
Since 1997, record investment, tough targets and wholesale reform have driven huge improvements in public services. Now times are tight, we need to think as radically as possible about how to continue that improvement – and local government is key. The measures we’ve set out will give councils the freedom and flexibility to rise to this challenge.
John Denham is secretary of state for communities and local government
