Local Government (Hansard, 26 November 2002)

§ Lord Rooker

The Minister for Local Government, the Regions and Fire said today in the other place: "I am announcing today a significant devolution of power to local government. This includes the steps that the Government intend to take to follow up the results of the comprehensive performance assessments (CPA) of county and unitary authorities which the Audit Commission is due to publish in December. This will mark a significant milestone in completing the proposals in the Local Government White Paper,Strong Local Leadership—Quality Public Services. I have placed copies of our proposals in the Library."

Our aim is progressive improvement in authorities' performance as measured by the CPA. Our package means that there will be greater freedom for local councils to allow them to meet the needs of their communities, support where it is needed and effective action to tackle failure. The nature of the action will vary between the different CPA categories.

Overall there will be greater devolution of power to local government from central government control. It means greater freedom for councillors and those in the front line to take decisions locally to shape and improve services and respond to local needs.

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All councils will have greater control over how they spend their money, with a reduction in the level of ring-fencing in government revenue grants and an increase in the funding for capital going through the single capital pot. We will also reduce current requirements to produce separate plans by over 75 per cent.

For the best councils there will be a set of more radical changes. These will include even greater flexibility to decide how to spend money received from central government (other than money which has to be passed to schools); no requirement to produce plans for central government; and a three-year holiday from most inspection activity.

The announcement also sets out further details about how we shall work with local government on a package of support for councils, with central government matching pound for pound the additional funding agreed with the LGA for capacity building.

For the weakest authorities we are confirming the principles for tackling poor performance on which we consulted earlier in the year. The Government will engage directly with all such authorities from an early stage.