The New Local Government Network is launching a commission to harness the ‘pressure cooker for change’ being created by the government’s localism plans.
The Commission on Next Localism, to be formally launched on June 7, will look at how to deliver ‘workable and sustainable devolution of power’ in the boroughs, districts and counties of England. It aims to both provide ‘real-time learning’ on how authorities are dealing with cuts and to allow councils to think through longer-term challenges as the government’s Localism Bill progresses.‘From street cleaning to criminal justice, almost every facet of local public service provision will have to change over the next decade,’ says the NLGN.
The aim of the commission will be to define the ‘key role’ for local government in this process, the think-tank adds. ‘Councils cannot expect to be handed this role from on high’, but must seize the responsibility, it says.
The commission, which will be chaired by Rafael Behr, chief political commentator of the New Statesman, will focus on six areas of policy, looking at a range of issues from future council operating models and financing and the role of local politics to the structure of Whitehall.
Behr said: ‘Across the political spectrum there is agreement that radical ideas are needed to keep public services in this country working. There is also an emerging consensus that innovation must be driven from the ground upwards, with local government taking the lead. But how this will happen, especially at a time of severe spending constraint, is an open question. Our commission will aim to find practical answers.’
There will be eight commissioners, including Sheena Ramsey, chief executive of Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Peter John, leader of the London Borough of Southwark, and Simon Parker, director of the NLGN.
Parker said: ‘At a time of immense change, it is always tempting to focus on the short term. But the real win for local government and the communities it serves lies in the long run transformation of everything from refuse collection to health care.
‘Our commission will work with some of the most interesting localist thinkers to develop a new set of national policy priorities. But, more importantly, it will work collaboratively with councils to develop a new reform agenda for the coming decade.’
The commission will report by next summer.
