15 July 2005
Localism leads the way, says minister
Successive governments have been too eager to hold on to power at the expense of local communities, the new minister in charge told the Local Government Association conference in Harrogate.
Local government minister David Miliband said public policy had been marred by a tendency to centralise power, a legacy of the Second World War and the success of national planning initiatives. He added that centralisation was a key factor behind voter dissatisfaction.
'Centralisation of power sits uneasily with the modern challenges facing government diverse societies, local needs, vocal citizens,' Miliband said. 'And there is truth in the accusation that when central government is tempted to do too much, in consequence it does not do it well enough.'
A deal on devolution needed to be brokered, he said, and singled out Local Area Agreements as a means whereby a more grown-up relationship between central and local government could emerge.
But he added that if councils were to enjoy greater powers, so too should communities. 'The empowerment of local government cannot mean freedom from strong external pressure to improve, but that strong external pressure can come bottom up and not just top down,' he said.
Miliband's speech was coloured by the bomb attacks that had rocked London the previous day. 'At times of adversity we recognise what is precious,' he told the conference on July 8. 'The public services that performed so heroically yesterday are the product not of luck but of democracy. And we need to nurture our democracy.'
He appealed to the delegates to renew the spirit of democracy among those who take it for granted.
'We need new principles to breathe life not just into the relationship between local government and national government but between local government and the people who matter, the citizens. Principles of devolution, but also of social justice, community empowerment and value for money,' he said.
The New Local Government Network welcomed Miliband's speech. Its head of policy, Anna Randle, said: 'Local government should be encouraged by this speech, which suggests Miliband fundamentally agrees that the high tide of centralism has been reached.'
Teather calls for scrapping of Standards Board
The Standards Board should be scrapped and replaced with a system of checks and balances similar to the one MPs are governed by, the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for local government told delegates.
Sarah Teather criticised the board's quasi-legal status, as well as councillors' limited rights of appeal.
'The Standards Board is the equivalent of a court martial in a banana republic,' she said on July 6. 'There is no recourse to appeal except through judicial review and the High Court. It can't be reformed. It's time we abolished it and we started again.'
In her first major speech as local government spokeswoman, Teather declared herself a committed localist.
But she was critical of the government's concept of localism, which she said was all about 'centralising praise and devolving blame'.
She urged delegates not to let central government hijack their ideas and the direction of travel for Local Area Agreements. 'Ideas tried and tested in the crucible of local government are so much better than those dreamt up in the silos of Whitehall,' Teather said.
Caroline Spelman, Teather's Conservative opposite number, called for Comprehensive Performance Assessments to be abolished and replaced with just a few minimum standards.
'There is a welter of inspection machines with costs approaching £1bn a year but as few as 5% of people could report how their local council had performed,' she told the conference on July 7.
'We need to develop training' for councillors
The leader of Liverpool City Council called for measures to be taken to improve the skills of people choosing to serve as local councillors.
Speaking at a fringe debate hosted by the New Local Government Network, Mike Storey said it was a sad fact that the quality of people willing to get involved in local government was declining.
'If local government is about anything, it's about the quality of local councillors,' he said.
'But why would you want to do it? Why would you want to give up family life? Why aren't we attracting young and ethnic minority people?' he asked.
Storey said his own council of Liverpool had linked up with Chester College to develop a two-year course, equivalent to a level 3 National Vocational Qualification, for councillors to follow. As an incentive, their allowance is increased if they successfully complete the course.
'If you want good quality councillors, you've got to have good quality training,' he said.
Storey also said that the talents of 'backbench' councillors, not on an authority's executive board, were not being fully utilised.
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