Report calls for new contract between central and local government
All public services should come under the remit of local area agreements, according to a new report by independent research and information organisation, the local Government Information Unit (LGIU).
Public service targets set by central government for councils should be swept away and replaced with a "bottom-up" approach to local governance, the paper says.
It argues that the balance of power between central and local government is beginning to tip in favour of localism requiring a new framework for performance management to improve local service delivery.
The report says that Local Area Agreements (LAAs) are ideally placed to take on this role. LAAs are contracts between central and local government under which councils are given greater freedoms and flexibilities over funding and policy.
But it says the scope of resources pooled under LAAs should be extended to include all funding for all local public services, including the local arms of national agencies that are accountable to Whitehall departments such as Job Centre Plus, Learning & Skills Councils, regional development agencies and the Police.
Government offices for the regions would take on a new role as brokers between different public bodies, the report says.
The new framework would also involve a new system of measuring performance that replaces the existing comprehensive performance assessment of local authorities by Whitehall.
Under the proposed framework, national government would restrict itself to setting outcome goals and local arms of national agencies would receive specific targets based on these goals.
Councils would re-design these goals to create unified multi-agency performance measures at local level. One partner would be given lead responsibility for ensuring that targets was met by all the relevant partners.
The LGIU acknowledges that its proposed changes would require new skills from local government employees.
It highlights how over the next ten years a generation of middle and senior managers will retired creating a shortage of future leaders with the skills required to manage an increasingly service orientated public sector.
To plug this gap the report says local government needs to work in partnership to establish a new ‘local governance skills college’.
This could become the hub of all training in local government and use e-technology to keep councils updated on new developments and training needs.
LGIU chief executive Dennis Reed said: "There is a genuine acceptance that things must change and that the contract between central and local government must be fundamentally altered. We need to deliver a more locally defined, service orientated performance management framework. However, achieving this means also tackling the demographic deficit within local government."
Clive Betts, Vice chair of the All Party Parliamentary Local Government Group, said: "The report takes a very timely look at how better performance management can improve service delivery, making them more joined up and responsive to local circumstances.
"By ensuring the inclusion of all public services within the remit of Local Area Agreements, and providing a framework for local accountability, national government and local authorities will be more effective."
Read the report here: Making Local Democracy Work: Locally Defined Targets: Better Performance Management (PDF: 144KB)
