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Local Services: Local Solutions

Date of speech	18 September 2007
Location	Sage Gateshead
Event summary	Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Conference

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Draft text of the speech - may differ from the delivered version.

This is my first speech to a local government audience since joining Communities and Local Government in the summer. So I am hoping to listen and learn, as well as speak, this morning. I am particularly encouraged to see the words 'local solutions' in the title of your conference - local government should become an easier job in Whitehall as devolution becomes a reality.

It is also a great pleasure to be in this magnificent building - in fact, I note, it was the local government building of the year in 2005. The Sage is a fitting venue for this event because it is very much part of the local community - from both sides of the river - and hosts a wide variety of events, classes and performances that meet local needs and preferences.

This building, and the whole transformation of this area too, shows what can be achieved with energy, ambition and partnership.

These are all key themes for local government too as we look ahead to what will be a very exciting time as the changes everyone has talked about become a way of life in local areas. It is a time of great change for local government but also a time of great opportunity to make a difference for places and their people.

Tomorrow night you will be recognising excellence in public services. I am sure there was fierce competition for the Awards this year because the story of local government over the last ten years has been one of improvement. All the evidence points that way.

For the first time since Comprehensive Performance Assessment began five years ago, no councils are now in the bottom category. In fact nearly 80 per cent are rated in the top two performance categories.

Local government as a sector has led the way on efficiency in meeting its target of £3 billion, a year ahead of schedule. This agenda has driven service transformation towards well-targeted, well-designed and well-delivered services. Services that, as a result, represent better value for money for the taxpayer.

However, as we all know, this is no time to let up. We must keep this kind of momentum going. The devolution programme is based on the presumption that local government will improve further still and go on improving. We cannot stand still, not least because people's expectations of public services will continue to rise. As a well-known local government minister of a previous era, Anthony Crosland, remarked: "what one generation sees as a luxury, the next sees as a necessity".

The Budget earlier this year set out the expectation that the whole public sector, including local government, should achieve at least 3 per cent efficiency gains each year. There will be more detail on this when the Comprehensive Spending Review is published later in the year. It will be challenging but local government has shown that it is up for such challenges and can take them on successfully.

There are factors that are going in the right direction and will help - such as the increasing use of electronic delivery in some services. Not only does this improve the efficiency of back office functions, but it is often the delivery channel of choice for citizens, especially, but by no means exclusively, the younger ones.

Authorities can go much further in exploiting what has already been developed and in contributing to programmes that turn ideas into practical tools. Queues at the town hall and nine-to-five limits on access to information can become things of the past for everyone.

Local government in this country is now a world leader in e-delivery and we must make sure all our citizens benefit fully from the remarkable progress you have made in this.

There are many other ways of finding efficiencies, including through shared services. However, as your conference title suggests, the best way forward for each area, is a decision best made locally.

That is not to say you are on your own. Within local government there is a growing and rich fund of best practice to draw on, as well as ongoing support through the Regional Centres of Excellence and Improvement Partnerships. We will also be promoting a range of tools through the Business Improvement Package.

However, as your conference title also recognises, it is a changing world. So this is a good time to look ahead and think about what we all need to achieve by this point next year when you meet for the APSE annual conference in 2008. It is quite a timetable.

Parliament willing, the Bill will become an Act not too long after we all get back to Westminster. That will put in place many of the statutory measures that underpin the changes. The revised best value duty with its shift towards involving local people.

Best value is still about good management and is at the heart of the performance framework. The changes mean we are taking away unnecessary processes imposed by Whitehall, and giving local authorities more freedom and discretion. At the same time, we are introducing a new duty to inform, consult and involve local people. In other words, the balance is shifting towards more localism.

Then there is the new duty to co-operate that puts better partnership working and local area agreements on a statutory footing. By this time next year every local authority should have negotiated and put in place its 'second generation' local area agreement. This will streamline funding and allow joined up delivery in a way most have only put on a wish list and talked about. But this year a few have tried it out.

We are publishing today a report on the dry run of the new LAAs which took place earlier this year. A total of 17 areas took part and showed how important the unique local mix of culture, geography and history can be in deciding priorities. Every area is different and local partners are best placed to set the vision for the future of their area.

Today we are also launching the first part of the guidance for negotiating the new type of LAA. Even the guidance itself is the result of partnership working with local government, central government and other partner agencies. 

This really is the end of the 'Whitehall knows best' philosophy. There will be a small number of national standards which people will expect wherever they live. But there are many more local priorities and issues that councils and their partners understand and can tackle. Decision making at the local level is the key to delivering the services people need and appreciate.

Perhaps the most obvious sign of central government letting go is in the much small number of national indicators in the LAA. At the moment each area has between 600 and 1200 different indicators against which they have to report to some part of central Government. That will be cut to a single set of around 200. The draft set will be published as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review and we will be consulting after that.

From these each area can agree up to 35 priorities for their own area. This gives local authorities and their partners the opportunity to bring a real sense of their place to the LAA. Some may reflect what needs fixing most, but others will reflect their ambitions for the area.

Partners can then add extra local targets on their own priorities for improvement, not covered by any of the national ones. These will not be monitored by central government but a matter for local partners and local people.

The indicators will be in place by APSE 2008, but, although many parts of it will be clear, the Comprehensive Area Assessment will be about six months off. This is a big change from the CPA system and is not about judging separate institutions, but about how well local people are being served.

We have asked the Audit Commission and other inspectorates to come up with a suitable methodology. It is worth noting that the 'we' here is four different government departments. People have been sceptical about central Government's ability to join up as effectively as local government. This should go some way towards reassuring them.

The new CAA is proportionate and firmly based on risk, particularly any risk to the future delivery of services people need and value.

We are putting in place the measures that will allow services to be delivered seamlessly so they wrap around the individual citizen, the community and the place. Users will not need to worry about which partner delivers which part of the service. Local agencies working closely together and delivering joined up services will be the norm, not just for the more innovative.

This time next year we should be a long way down that road and I am sure it will be making a difference to the quality of life across the country.