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Looking to the future

The UK Experience by Malcolm Morley *

The new Labour Government in England has confirmed that public service reform and Local Government are high up its agenda.

Five key issues that Local Government is waiting to find out about are:

• How Local Government is to be funded in the future.
• How the relationship between Central and Local Government is to be developed and the trust and partnership desired by both is to be illustrated tangibly in practice in the form of less regulation and greater local freedom and flexibility.
• How the desire for the growth of communities to cope with household formation and economic activity (particularly in the south east) is to be pursued, financed and delivered in partnership with Local Government.
• How policy development, investment and performance within the public sector is to be more effectively coordinated to provide a framework for public services at the local level to work effectively together.
• Whether the re- organisation of Local Government is back on the agenda.

There is always a temptation within Councils to see themselves and Local Government in isolation from the rest of the public sector. This could be dangerous for Local Government as the Government has set itself a clear goal of the reform of the whole of the public sector of which Local Government is just a part. A big challenge for Councils is to ensure that they, as Local Government, have a coherent and consistent voice.

Local Government in England comprises a diverse range of Councils faced by widely different challenges. Unitary, County and District Councils often face very different challenges based upon their roles and geography. They also often have very different political aspirations and resource/investment legacies. Such diversity often creates challenges to the development of a coherent and consistent voice for Local Government. The Local Government Association has recognised this and is now seeking to ensure that all types of Council have a voice within it and involvement in its representational role.

Negotiating strength and confidence is increased where performance is high and consistent. Councils are working hard to improve performance.

A real challenge, however, is not only to continue to improve performance for existing service provision but to put service provision in the context of the evolving context of public sector reform. The focus is increasingly moving to the identification and delivery of outcomes. Councils are increasingly having to ensure that they are delivering increased outputs and that they are clear about the community outcomes to which they are contributing through their performance.

There is a large agenda developing seeking to move the focus from direct, organisationally discrete output based service provision to community wide outcome focused public sector investment. Traditional approaches to service investment and performance review will no longer be adequate.

The success of this policy development, and of Councils, in the future will depend upon clarity regarding the five key issues above and the ability of Councils to respond to them as Local Government as well as local service providers.

* Malcolm Morley is Chief Executive of Harlow District Council and can be contacted via the Editor, email info@lgfocus.com.au The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of his employer.

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