The current round of Local Area Agreements represent a watershed moment, testing the success or failure of moves to decentralise public services. The framework governing these three year agreements under negotiation between Government and local authorities seeks to create genuine partnership between the centre and the frontline. But can LAAs deliver results? What are the lessons being learned from the LAA process? And how can local authorities make sure that they are in the driving seat, rather than being led according to Whitehall’s requirements? We intend to draw conclusions and recommendations for reform in a number of specific areas: do local authorities feel they have the right skills and powers to determine agreements that accurately reflect their priorities and plans, and are these in harmony with the strategies pursued by their LSP? How should the advent of Comprehensive Area Assessment integrate with a rolling review of LAA performance? What are the drivers of successful delivery in the new LAAs, and what new powers and tools could Government supply?

For further information please contact Anthony Brand.

Both demands from society and national government legislation are transforming the way that local public services are designed and delivered. At the centre of these changes local government faces the greatest transformational challenge. To date the response to the organisational and management challenges of individual reforms has been piecemeal. However, as the era of spending increases comes to rise, so councils will have to manage their performance ever more effectively. They will do so in an environment with less certainty. To meet the scale of this challenge local government needs to bring together the patchwork of different management solutions for different initiatives, creating a coherent and comprehensive strategy for managing local government in 21st century. From its research NLGN will construct packages of possible organisation and management reform. Working with our partners across local government we will use action learning approaches to test how reform would find its practical realisation.

For further information, please contact Chris Leslie.