New NLGN report calls for Whitehall to embrace more radical Freedoms & Flexibilities package

November 20, 2003

A new report by the New Local Government Network (NLGN) is calling on the Government to embrace a new offer from local government, testing the boundaries of its commitment to give councils greater freedom and flexibility in the running of their localities.Commenting on the report’s publication, NLGN director Dan Corry said: “This report shows what is possible if central government is willing to work creatively with local government and other local providers. Of course there are risks in this approach and local government must think of how to handle its responsibilities. But the potential wins in a whole host of hard to get at policy areas means it is an agenda that Whitehall must grasp now”.Freedoms and Flexibilities: a route map to a ‘Brave New World’ captures the key themes of a 24-hour ‘Policy Summit’ hosted by NLGN in September 2003, and attended by senior figures from councils across the CPA spectrum, government departments and agencies and the LGA. Available free at www.nlgn.org.uk, the report presents a route map to what NLGN terms a ‘Brave New World’ of local governance. After considering a range of scenarios that may emerge from the current Freedoms and Flexibilities agenda, a new ‘offer’ is proposed for local government to put to central government, based on an overhaul of the current LPSA model. Declaring that central government must realise the real potential that exists to deal with education and health inequalities and problems of anti-social behaviour, such ‘Second Generation LPSAs’ should seek to enable a joined-up approach to service delivery, byfactoring in wider cross-service ways for citizens to access services, through public access portholes and shared locationsbuilding ways of working across geographical boundaries, involving stronger local authorities and their weaker neighbours building ways of working across public sector boundaries, joining up the processes through which education, health, policing and other services are deliveredThe report however does not propose a one-size-fits-all model of LPSA able to be applied across all localities. Moreover, it stresses the need to focus at all times on delivering outcomes that meet the concerns of local citizens.To move towards this ‘Brave New World’, the report suggests piloting in a mix of authorities from across the CPA – reflecting a desire that learning is partly about enabling improvement through freedoms. Such pilots would be constructed differently, although a set of principles would need to be agreed. In explaining how local government can make its case to Whitehall, the report makes clear that the ‘offer’ must be presented as important not just to local government friendly departments such as the ODPM and Treasury, but DoH, DfES, the Home Office and others, as well as key policy strategists at the centre: “It is essential that there is high level, ministerial commitment to drive change through the system. From the outset, there also needs to be civil servants inside government departments who are responsible for relating to new cross-cutting governance arrangements and effective relationship managers. Local government must be tough and clear with central government about what it wants – and needs”.Writing in a preface to the report, NLGN’s Dan Corry and Anna Randle observe:“These are potentially very exciting times for the way we deliver public services and the role that the different institutions can play in joining-up to achieve change and improvement. The new localism debate that NLGN began has at times been contested and at times confused. But the serious attempt to think through the hard issues for local government, other local public service deliverers and for Whitehall is surely the right way ahead”.

All NLGN enquiries to Ian Parker – 020 7357 0116 / 07947 640780

Notes:1. The New Local Government Network (NLGN) is an independent think-tank, seeking to transform public services, revitalise local political leadership and empower local communities. 2. Freedoms and Flexibilities for Local Government: A route map to a ‘Brave New World’ is published by NLGN and available free at: www.nlgn.org.uk3. NLGN’s 24-hour Policy Summit on the Freedoms and Flexibilities agenda for local government took place at Weston Park, Shropshire from the 9th to 10th September 2003 and involved key individuals from both central and local government. The published report carries a full list of the participants.


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