From Empire to Community – The Challenge for 21st Century Governance

January 22, 2004

OFFICIAL HOME OFFICE PRESS RELEASE

How local and national government adapt to the challenges of the 21st century to give greater power to communities is a debate which needs to be taken on the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, said today.

Mr Blunkett said huge changes during the last century have transformed the relationship people have with local and national government, and now is the time to think constructively about the best balance between Whitehall, local government and communities.

Speaking at the New Local Government Network conference today, Mr Blunkett said:

“A hundred years ago, central government looked after the Empire and local government concerned itself with local social welfare services. That model adapted successfully to meet the needs of much of the 20th century. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, we need to look at that balance again.

“I see the role for Whitehall in the 21st century as being an active, enabling government. Central government must have a role as a driver of change, a regulator, a provider and an enabler. With the insecurities and fears that easily spring from global terrorism, the speed of the modern world and the globalised economy in which we have to prosper, there is a clear role for central government to provide direction and reassurance in a rapidly changing world.

“The challenge is to combine this with new ways of working which develop community engagement and governance with an active, dynamic local government. As someone who spent half my political career in local government, I want it to flourish in the 21st century and respond to the new challenges.

“Local government is already renewing an identity for itself as a deliverer of services, a partner in community affairs and a backer of active citizens. This is good news and must continue.

“The challenge facing all of us who want to renew democracy is not to undermine the role of local government, but to use the framework it offers as a means to build up communities and work at a neighbourhood level in facing some of the more difficult issues, from anti-social behaviour to gun crime.

“Community safety is a good example of an area where local government and communities have an opportunity to become a powerful force, to make a real difference by working even more closely with the people they serve. I want councils to grasp this opportunity and put tackling crime and anti-social behaviour at the heart of their work – just as providing key services such as libraries, leisure facilities and refuse collection is already.

“This is not passing the buck from one level of government to another. We can help make this happen by supporting the local level and delivering the laws they need to succeed. For example, new charging powers introduced in the Local Government Act 2003 could make a modest contribution by allowing councils and businesses to supplement their own revenue – which can be spent on tackling local issues, as a spur to regeneration. It is vital that new powers are used by councils, police and other agencies and the more we develop an active, engaged citizenship, the more likely this is to happen.”

Mr Blunkett invited local authorities to come forward as civic pioneers, to drive forward civil renewal in action. Civic pioneers are councils who are committed to developing and sustaining opportunities for local people and groups to influence what happens in their communities.

The Home Secretary also launched ‘Building Civil Renewal’, which reports the findings of the Government’s community capacity building review, which is part of the Government’s efforts to bring public services closer to communities so they better tackle neighbourhood problems.

Mr Blunkett said:

“Building the capacity of both individuals and groups within communities is central to the process of civil renewal, enabling local people to develop their own solutions to the issues which most affect them. We have made big strides in strengthening communities since 1997 but there is much more to do.

“Our work on anti-social behaviour and police reform is about giving power to neighbourhoods, so they can inspire improvements themselves, such as the powers on anti-social behaviour which came into force on Tuesday. In central government, we are playing our part by providing an investment of £75million to tackle anti-social behaviour and extra resources for police forces, resulting in record numbers of police – some 136,386.

“The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 contains tough measures to crack down on nuisance behaviour and harassment. Our police reform agenda is about creating a police service where officers at all levels are more visible, accessible and where they are truly seen as ‘guardians’ of their communities. This must be underpinned by stronger accountability mechanisms – delivering a genuinely bottom-up approach to policing where local communities are part of solutions to local problems.

“That’s why it is vital people respond to our on-going consultation, announced in November, to reform the means of enhancing police accountability at a local level. For instance, one idea we propose is that local government funding, joined with the police authority, would allow community safety officers to be located in a small, specific geographic area, supplementing the allocation through the Home Office.

“The more we can achieve this, the wider the benefits. We can mobilise the community in tackling problems successfully, but also re-energise democracy in getting people positively engaged and seeing the purpose of wider involvement, including voting.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. Mr Blunkett made the keynote speech today at the New Local Government Network conference. Further information on NLGN can be found by calling 020 7357 0116.

2. The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 received Royal Assent on 21 November 2003 (Home Office press notice 317/2003). On October 14, the Government launched the Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan and the Together campaign (Home Office press notice 278/2003). These set out what practical help the Government is giving to councils and other local agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour.

3. Copies of the report “Building Civil Renewal” are available on the Home Office website www.homeoffice.gov.uk


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