30 March 2007
Sir Michael Lyons and ministers this week united in an upbeat defence of local government reform in the face of widespread disappointment from town hall leaders, who fear many of Lyons' major proposals have already been shelved.
At a special conference in London convened by Lyons to pick the bones out of his long-awaited report, the former Birmingham City Council chief executive made light of those who were expecting his inquiry to stimulate swift and seismic change.
He said: 'The headline conclusions are that this is complex, there are no simple solutions, it will require a developmental arc.
'Therefore those who thought I was going to unveil a set of decisions that the chancellor was going to in turn immediately incorporate in the Budget, I think, had either just dropped off the Christmas tree or need to go away and sit in a quiet room.'
Alongside Lyons, local government minister Phil Woolas – the man who immediately rejected Lyons' most significant proposals – stressed the need for a slow and evolutionary approach.
Addressing the March 27 conference, he said the council tax debate had been subject to a huge amount of scaremongering and misinformation.
'The government will take a developmental approach to reform,' he said. 'The important message that comes out of the report is that council tax is not broken. It is not council tax that causes the raging controversy; it is the increase in council tax.'
But Sir Simon Milton, vice-chair of the Local Government Association, expressed dismay over the government's response to Lyons.
'The most disappointing aspect of this whole inquiry has not been the timidity of some of Sir Michael's recommendations but the speed with which the government has moved to shut down discussion of several of his key proposals on finance,' he told the conference.
'It is a sign of a lack of confidence and self-belief within government that we can only hope will be rectified in due course.'
Milton said all parties should be bolder in giving local government more sources of funding. He called on Opposition parties to accept that a mature debate was required to educate the public about the true costs of local government delivery.
Other council leaders, however, struck a slightly more hopeful tone. Moria Gibb, chief executive of Camden, urged delegates to look on the bright side. 'Some have already filed Lyons under R for rejected. We have to re-file Lyons under D for direction of travel… We should try to avoid that victim mode that falls quite naturally to us,' she said.
Figures published by the Department for Communities and Local Government this week show that council tax for the average dwelling is to increase by 4.3% this year.
However, 35 authorities have set council tax increases in breach of the 5% capping threshold. The government has insisted that capping will remain, in direct contravention of one of Lyons' recommendations.
Speaking to Public Finance at the conference, Lyons insisted he and the government were on the same side and said he was optimistic about the future.
He dismissed suggestions that the speed with which the government had rejected some of his key recommendations was disappointing. 'Clearly, I didn't expect these things to be debated immediately,' he said.
Woolas highlighted the common ground between the government and Lyons, agreeing with the need for central government to relax its hold over local government and to reform the administration of council tax benefit.
He said: '[I want to reassure] people that the direction of travel is very welcome. We see [Lyons] as a parallel report to the local government white paper. We do think local government is fit for purpose. I look forward to working with you in implementing the most exciting change to local government for a generation.'
CIPFA chief executive Steve Freer cautioned against dreaming of what might have been. 'Let's set a really positive, brave agenda. Let's work and invest in the kind of organisation we need to be to really take this agenda forward – skilful, competent, can-do, passionate and very, very confident about how brilliant local government at its best can be,' he said.
PFmar2007
