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Local Government Association Annual Assembly

Date of speech	12 December 2007
Location	QEII Centre, London
Event summary	Local Government Association Annual Assembly

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Transcript of the speech as delivered.

I gave my first big speech as Communities Secretary to the General Assembly.

Six months on, I'm delighted to be in your company once again at the close of 2007.

I'm also very pleased that this is a joint event between the LGA and my Department. 

Local and central working together as partners.

And I want to take the chance today to look back at what really has been an important year, a year of big changes, for all of us who want to see our local democracy renewed and reinvigorated for the twenty-first century.

Think where we were twelve months ago.

White paper

The ink was still fresh on the White Paper, the last echoes of the long discussion on the "new localism" were still ringing in our ears.

We had shifted the terms of debate. Ideas of local devolution were no longer a fringe pursuit, but right at the centre of the Government's agenda.

There was a new sense of energy among local councillors, a new determination among community activists keen to make the most of the new opportunities that the White Paper promised.

But in a sense we were still in base camp, waiting to make that last push.

We had the design, but not the delivery. The rhetoric, but not the reality.

For me, 2007 was a crucial year because it's when we really put some flesh on the bones.

Just look at all the milestones we've passed.

We've had the passage of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act.

We've had dry runs of the new Local Area Agreements, and the publication of new guidance so everyone can make a success of them.

We've got the new indicator set, down from 1200 to under 200.

We've seen a tight but fair spending settlement, with £5bn of grants mainstreamed, and the certainty of three year figures.

We've had the sub-national review, highlighting councils' role in generating prosperity, fighting worklessness, and working across boundaries to make things happen. The business rate supplement would support them in that role.

And last week we published details of the Community Infrastructure Levy, with the potential to generate hundreds of millions of pounds to support growth through transport improvements, new schools, parks and health centres.

All this makes up the framework, the architecture, to support the new, mature relationship between central and local government set out in the White Paper.

To those who doubted it could be done, it's out there in black and white.

It's a testament to a lot of hard work, both from Whitehall and from town halls.

I want to thank everyone in the LGA and in individual councils who have played a massive role - including those who participated in the LAA dry runs earlier this year.

But of course the new framework is not an end in itself.

It's what you do with it that counts.

It is - and was always meant to be - a means to unleash the potential of local government, giving more discretion and flexibility to deliver what local people want and need.

We were able to put it in place because of the massive improvements that local government was already achieving, the huge steps that it was already taking in terms of delivery and leadership.

And in this respect 2007 has been another landmark year.

It has seen record performance results for councils. Three quarters were awarded three or four stars. For the first time ever, no councils were rated zero star. 

Standards have continued to rise in vital services, from recycling to social care to housing. 

So have people's levels of satisfaction with most services.

And at the same time as you've delivered the high-quality services that people expect, we've seen more and more councils showing real leadership. 

Not governing by tick-box.

Not waiting to be told what to do.

But talking to the people you represent, finding out what they really need, and working in partnership with schools, hospitals, business and the voluntary sector to achieve it.

Getting to grips with global challenges such as climate change, guns and gangs or cohesion.

In the past six months it's been my privilege to visit places not just in my native North-West, but in Leicester and Birmingham, in Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire, in Newcastle and Hull, where local authorities have been proud to innovate and show a lead:

• Local authorities like Nottingham, birthplace of the declaration on climate change, showing how you can make people buy into green issues where you give them something in return.
• Or Newham, who have taken bold steps to promote cohesion - using sport and culture to bring people together, and giving young people a voice - with a new young mayor elected by schoolchildren just two months ago.

And most of all, councils have proved themselves by coming through in tough times. This summer saw England's worst floods in 150 years.  Local government played an absolutely sterling role, coordinating efforts to keep people safe, working round the clock to protect property, and helping communities pick up the pieces as the waters started to fall - vital work they continue today.

What's more, councils have started to work together across boundaries as never before, seeing their own work in a local area as part of a bigger landscape. 

Discussions about Multi-Area Agreements are underway in no less than thirteen areas. Other places are now looking at the long-term possibilities of joining forces to crack big challenges. Challenges like worklessness, or the lack of affordable housing that a growing population needs.

And 2007 has also seen a big step forward in the relationship between the citizen and the state, as the White Paper envisaged.

It's no accident that one of the new Prime Minister's very first acts in office was to publish "the Governance of Britain", heralding a significant shift in power away from Whitehall direct to local people. 

Greater power for local councils

Greater power for local councils needs to go hand in hand with greater accountability to and greater involvement of local communities. 

It has always been my experience that representative and participative democracy strengthen and reinforce each other. 

For decades, the best councils have already been involving people in decisions about the future of their area. Decision that affect their daily lives. This might include citizens' panels, or methods like "planning for real". 

And I'm pleased by how many councils are seeing this new push for "devolution to the doorstep" as an opportunity.

We're seeing a huge expansion in these means of putting local people in the driving seat - everything from asset transfer, to participatory budgeting, to community charters. 

With finite resources it's in the nature of things that Government needs to focus its support to encourage more of these programmes: not using a blanket approach for everyone, but encouraging a range of different places to lead the way and show what's possible.

But I'm greatly encouraged that for every council getting this support, there's a long list of others who don't want to miss out on the action.

Back in July, I announced to this group the names of ten areas who would be leading the way on participatory budgeting.

A few weeks later, the Participatory Budgeting Unit ran an event for all local authorities.  No fewer than a hundred rang up for more information.

I want to keep building on that momentum.

So in every sense, 2007 has been a landmark year for local government.

It's seen big steps forward in the relationship between Whitehall and town hall.

Between local authorities and their partners.

Between councils and the communities they serve.

Concordat

And today, to cap the year, we have the Concordat between central and local government.

I'm delighted to be signing it here with Simon [Milton].

Councils have always had a big role in meeting national priorities and in delivering the programme of the elected national government. 

People expect central and local government to work together in partnership to deliver the practical changes they want to see: cleaner, greener, safer streets. Better housing. Joined-up services transport and social care.

And today we need to give councils more space to meet those needs in a way that fits local circumstances, and greater flexibility to pursue local priorities.

The concordat strengthens our partnership, enshrines a more mature relationship in two ways.

First, it consolidates all the progress we have seen in recent years.

It is a hallmark, a standard and a reminder that we should never slip back to the bad old ways - when Whitehall's attitude was to pull on the central levers ever more strongly.  When the first response to a new challenge was fresh duties or legislation on local authorities.  And when the town hall's attitude was to rely on the crutch of orders, making the statutory minimum the upper limit of its ambitions.

But the concordat is much more than a safety net. It's a springboard for the future. 

With so many elements of the new local government framework now in place, we've nearly completed a revolution in how things are done 

Now we need to complete a revolution in attitudes. 

The concordat helps us do that.

For everyone in government who believes in the power of local action, it will encourage Whitehall to make the most of local government's huge potential to deliver change and improvement. It will ensure we don't smother and stultify local government with initiatives and red tape. That we give local government a stronger voice in the design and delivery of services like policing and health. 

For local authorities, it promises real partnership. In practice it means the progressive removal of obstacles that prevent them from pursuing their role - further reducing the burden of appraisal and approval regimes, the ring-fencing of funds and prescriptive guidance from Whitehall. 

And for the local people who rightly expect to have a greater say in how government operates at both national and local level, the concordat makes clear that there should be increasing opportunities for them to exercise power and influence.

With the concordat signed today, local leaders can have confidence that as they step forward, Whitehall will step back.

As they listen to their communities, Whitehall will step back.

And as they show the ambition and initiative to deliver for local people, Whitehall will give them ever more space to innovate and lead the way.

I have no doubt that 2008 will be a challenging year, a year of great change.

The new Local Area Agreements will be signed in summer.

By the middle of the year, almost all of the new framework and apparatus in the Local Government Act will be up and running.

And residents will look to councils to help them meet their rising expectations in a whole range of areas.

But in my recollection there's never been a time when local government was more up to the job, more confident in its abilities, better equipped with the people and resources to make a success of it.

I look forward to working with you to make 2008 a year to remember for every local area.