09 December 2005
Councils' scrutiny committees are likely to be transformed into 'local area select committees' under proposals to place Local Strategic Partnerships at the centre of service delivery, Phil Woolas has told Public Finance.
The local government minister, speaking before publication of a wide-ranging consultation paper on LSPs, said it was vital to get the accountability and governance arrangements right.
The paper, published on December 8, suggests giving the scrutiny committees the power to compel representatives of other local bodies to attend and to 'recognise their recommendations'.
Such a move would, for the first time, give councils clear authority over other external service providers in their areas and establish them as the primary guardians of local services. At the moment, authorities only have that power over NHS bodies.
'The best way of making local bodies accountable is through democratic accountability,' Woolas told PF. 'The question is: how do we use authorities' first-among-equals status to embed democratic accountability across the regime.'
The minister made clear he expects LSPs to be the primary mechanism for delivering integrated, high-quality local services in the future.
They will be responsible for the implementation of Local Area Agreements, which are intended to bring together funding streams across different organisations to achieve agreed objectives.
The pooling of budgets from different Whitehall departments under LAAs was, Woolas said, proof of the cross-government agreement that had been achieved. All relevant ministries have signed up to the consultation paper.
'LSPs are the biggest improvement and change since the Second World War,' Woolas added. 'What is not understood at local level is that LAAs, in their financial arrangements, join up government departments as much as local bodies.'
Currently, only areas benefiting from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund are required to have an LSP. Under the proposals, all local authorities would have one and all local service delivery bodies within it would have a statutory obligation to participate. The 'financial regime' would develop to reward co-operation.
According to the consultation paper, as the overarching local frameworks develop and set the direction for services, there will be a reduction in 'organisation-based and national targets' from central government.
Woolas said the ultimate aim was to establish LSPs among local providers as the primary means of achieving their service objectives. 'They should be what you do first. They are an opportunity to join up with other service providers to improve services and make lives better for local people.'
The consultation runs until March 3, 2006. The conclusions will be set out in the local government white paper due next summer.
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