05 May 2006
The local government reform programme could be stymied by ministers' decision to publish a white paper that does not tackle the 'core issue' of finance, the former minister in charge has warned.
Nick Raynsford insisted that any overhaul of local authority structures and functions has to be accompanied by a decisive shift in the balance of funding if it is to achieve its aims of devolving power and bolstering local democracy.
Speaking at a Public Finance-Deloitte round table debate on local government reform on April 25, Raynsford expressed his misgivings about the timetable.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is due to publish its white paper on structures and functions in the early summer and has confirmed that it will be followed by legislation.
This is before Sir Michael Lyons delivers his report on local government, which will focus heavily on funding issues, in December and means that further legislation will be required to enact his recommendations if ministers decide to accept them.
'The good work on allowing greater devolution is being hampered on the finance side, which is absolutely the core issue,' Raynsford said.
'That's why I am troubled that any legislation we get in the coming year is not going to incorporate any changes to the financial regime.'
Sir Michael Lyons defended the timetable by arguing that reform of local government should not be undertaken all at once.
'I am unashamedly in the evolutionary camp, I do not think the Big Bang approach is achievable,' he said.
'When I originally took this inquiry on, it was very much focused on the Spending Review of 2007, so I never anticipated any statutory changes before that review was complete.'
But other senior local government figures at the round table shared Raynsford's concerns. Eric Pickles, the Conservatives' shadow local government minister, rejected Lyons' defence.
'Judging by your response, you have spent so long in the long grass you have forgotten what the sky looks like. It doesn't seem to me to be very logical,' he said.
Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, chair of the Local Government Association, articulated his concern that the government's appetite for reform was dwindling.
'I don't get the feeling we are going for radical change,' he said. 'But we need to catch the tide of localism because if we miss it there won't be another for many years to come.'
PFmay2006
