§ The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr. John Prescott)Today we published a protocol agreeing with the Local Government Association (LGA) a clear approach for engagement and intervention where council performance is unacceptable.
The approach set out in the protocol provides for the Government and LGA to discuss policy for the use of intervention powers, including how best to facilitate a role for the LGA in supporting local authorities.
It has been broadened in scope to encompass Government engagement with poorly performing local authorities on a voluntary basis. The protocol derives from a Framework for Partnership signed under the central local partnership in November 1997.
The protocol sets out the general principles that will underpin the engagement of central government with individual local authorities whose performance, including their capacity to improve, is categorised under the system of comprehensive performance assessment as poor or weak with little or no prospect for improvement.
It also applies to other circumstances where the Government take the view that an authority's performance in a particular service area is sufficiently poor to justify Government engagement or intervention.
protocol also sets out general principles for the orderly resumption of service by local authorities following intervention.