As the Conservatives prepare for their annual conference, Cllr David Parsons argues that councils need to take a step change into becoming facilitators of services, rather than providers
‘We are friends of local government, and some of the best friends are those who will be blunt with you.’This remark was made at a recent local authority reception by local government minister, Bob Neill.
The under-secretary of state sketched what he considered to be a bright future for a revitalised local government sector.
Denuded of fat cat excess and visibly more efficient, Mr Neill suggested that councillors might, in future, look forward to a more welcoming reception on the doorsteps of constituents than that campaigning politician in Essex who was told: ‘I don’t vote in council elections. I have in the past and it doesn’t make any difference, the council still gets in.’
If you’re looking for blunt friends, then communities secretary, Eric Pickles, sets the gold standard for telling it straight. Since the Government came into office, Mr Pickles has been more than upfront about what he sees as the failings of local authorities.
So, council leaders might be rather wary in responding to declarations of affection from the CLG. But, I am anticipating the Conservative Party conference – and, no doubt, a few direct encounters with Mr Pickles – with optimism.
Why? Because I do think the Government’s reforms are a necessary purgative. One that will be painful and at times traumatic, but also one that will leave us in better health – and undoubtedly slimmer – at the end of the process.
It is a mistake to underestimate how radically devolutionist this government is. The real agenda lies beyond the kind of palliative savings proposals being kicked around by many authorities. Instead, it is a complete reinvention of what the public sector should be, and whether the town hall still merits the same place in it.
Proposals such as sharing back-office systems are, of course, a good thing. In my own area, we will saving £1m from just such a scheme with Nottingham City Council. And local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are equally a step in the right direction. Both, however, both amount to just that – steps in the right direction. Splicing your own payroll department with that of another council may well be a good thing, but it doesn’t make you entrepreneur of the year.
Equally, an alliance with the council next door under the LEP banner makes sense – and we in Leicestershire are doing the same thing – but is it the bold leap of imagination the CLG has in mind? I doubt it.
We need to be thinking of major areas and how they make sense as functioning economic units. Do we need all these town halls to run them? The answer is clearly, no, and the CLG knows it.
Yet some senior council officers advance relatively-modest schemes for joint services, as if this was the kind of entrepreneurial flair that Sir Alan Sugar could only aspire to. Mr Pickles is not handing out any prizes for parochial thinking.
Councils will increasingly be facilitators of services rather than necessarily providers of them, and this is where we need to see the leap of imagination.
The ICC in Birmingham, which hosts next week’s Conservative Party conference is, I think, symbolic of the imagination and ambition the local authority world needs. The ICC and the redesigned Broad Street area are a powerful demonstration of how Birmingham transformed itself in a post-industrial era from a city known for manufacturing and volume car production into a European business destination. It is an example of what bold private and public partnerships can achieve, with a whole region as their focus. This, of course, is the ultimate aim of placed-based budgeting. I hope to hear – and engage in – more debate on this critically-important approach to running our public services during conference week.
As delegates enter the gleaming complex of the ICC, I fully expect to hear the sound of Mr Pickles rattling more council cages in his inimitable way. But I do believe he is open to hearing bold proposals on how councils can achieve real legitimacy and a sound financial footing as the Government balances the books.
If Mr Pickles uses the city of metal bashing to hammer home the message that he is a critical friend of councils, then that will be podium time well spent.
David Parsons is leader of Leicestershire CC, and chairman of the LGA improvement Programme Board
