Opportunity in adversity

Still the sharp end: the Welsh Government has sought to protect council funding

I am honoured to have been appointed Minister for Social Justice and Local Government and have already started to get to grips with a very important portfolio. However, I am aware that I am taking on the role at a very difficult time. We are facing a more challenging financial climate than at any time in recent memory.

This difficult financial outlook is facing the public sector, the business community and citizens alike. No section of society is immune from the uncertainty, and in my new Ministerial position I recognise that local government is at the forefront of this challenge as it strives to meet the needs and expectations of citizens by delivering frontline services day in, day out.

Indeed, these functions are more important than ever in a time of recession, public services can be the one thing that communities can rely upon during difficult times. This relies, however, on strong planning and partnership working, identifying new approaches for delivering services and robust prioritisation.

There can be no shirking from the fact that we must all be prepared to make hard choices to make existing resources go further. This will not be easy in the public sector. I often hear it said that people don’t mind who delivers the services so long as they are good. I don’t agree. I think that people rely upon and trust their council. I think people want to be assured that their councils will always be there for them, providing essential services and community leadership.

I intend to build on the excellent work of my predecessor, Brian Gibbons, and will continue to engage with local authorities to re-examine the relationship between central and local government with the intention of expanding and deepening the current provisions. This policy context will be shaped by a “Shared Responsibility”, the Beecham agenda and our recently signed New Understanding with local government to which we are all working.

Coupled with this is the need to place a new emphasis on outcomes for citizens at the core of our partnership. We need an approach that will provide both local and central governments with confidence that they are meeting local needs and expectations. We need to move towards an approach that assesses outcomes, rather than measuring performance through inputs. To achieve this, I will be seeking to establish with each of the 22 councils in Wales an Outcome Agreement that will focus on things that really matter to citizens.

The move towards Outcome Agreements should also be viewed in the context of the Local Government Measure that was passed by the National Assembly for Wales in April 2009. This Measure is unique to Wales, and aims to reform the statutory basis of service improvement by local, National Park and fire and rescue authorities in Wales As well as reforming the law on community planning in Wales.

While much of the Measure reflects current practice, it does recognise a broader understanding of improvement. We know better services are more than the sum of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. They must identify and respond to the needs of local citizens and communities in sustainable and equitable ways. This is consistent with local authorities’ wider community leadership role in Wales and their commitment to work in partnership with both public and private sector colleagues.

Under the Measure an authority must set annual improvement objectives that help it meet its general duty. It would be apposite, given the intended movement to more outcome focussed delivery for Welsh authorities to set objectives with outcomes in mind, and not focus solely on processes and inputs.

Welsh authorities are also required to publicly account for their performance as before, but this requirement is broader than simply publishing an annual improvement plan. Welsh local authorities can now account for performance in more inventive and flexible ways, providing better opportunities to give account of their performance in the context of the new, wider, definition of improvement. This should lead to better engagement with citizens who will be more informed about the difference that their council is making to their lives.

Effective collaboration between public services such as local authorities, the police and local health boards will be essential to delivering better public services during the tough financial times ahead. Over the last three years local authorities have played a crucial role in developing local service boards, bringing together the leaders of public services and third sector organisations in the area. The aim is to tackle issues such as the interface between health and social care or community safety which need the input of multiple organisations. This also makes public services more efficient by eliminating duplication.

The role of local service boards in the future will be to build upon these foundations by pooling more resources which will make it easier and quicker to access joined up public services, and ensuring that public service delivery in an area is aligned around the needs of the people who live there.

The Assembly Government provides non-hypothecated support in the form of the revenue support grant to local government in Wales. In addition to this, the Assembly Government also provides over £650 million to support specific services and vital initiatives such as the Foundation Phase; help for vulnerable citizens through the Supporting People programme; and promoting waste management and recycling.

On 8 December, Brian Gibbons, announced a 2.1% increase in unhypothecated revenue funding for local authorities in 2010-11. This means that for the first time revenue support funding will be above £4 billion. This is significantly higher than the level of comparable support in England and the 2.1% increase is well above current inflation. In this very tough financial environment, it demonstrates the value that the Assembly Government places on local authority services and our commitment to protect and sustain those services.

The 2010-11 Settlement, as in the two previous years, ensures that all local authorities in Wales receive a minimum cash uplift. The floor threshold for 2010-11 is 1% which is proportionate in the context of an overall settlement uplift of 2.1%. The continuation of the funding floor has been welcomed by the Welsh Local Government Association.

We are working with local government to reach a common understanding of the pressures facing services and to identify opportunities through more collaborative working, smarter procurement and a long hard look at the effectiveness of the way we deliver services. There is opportunity in adversity and I am confident that through our joint commitment to co-operation and partnership we will meet the undoubted challenges we face in sustaining high quality services for the people of Wales.