Higher Modern Studies Study Theme A1: Devolved Decision Making In

Local Government

1 What is Local Government?

The Scottish Government is responsible for turning policy into legislation in devolved areas but it is dependent on local authorities on the ground to deliver these changes. In order to implement change or new ideas, Scotland is split into 32 local authorities, each responsible for delivering services in its own area. However, Scotland is a small country with a population of only 5 million people. Do we really need this local layer of government now that the country has its own Parliament?

Areas local authorities are responsible for include:

Social work Education Refuse Collection/recycling Roads Anti-social behaviour Licensing Community centres/initiatives Care of the elderly Planning Parks Housing & Regeneration

An example: The role of Local Government in Scotland in Education

The SNP government in the Scottish Parliament wanted to reduce class sizes. Fiona Hyslop, the then SNP Minister for Education, was responsible for the detail of the policy and making sure local authorities had the resources needed to put it into practice. The local authorities were then responsible for ensuring that each school had enough teachers in order to make the policy possible. The Government would then continue to monitor the local authority in order to make sure it was being implemented fairly and consistently.

In December 2009 Michael Russell became the new Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning succeeding Fiona Hyslop. Alex Salmond said: "Schools policy has reached a difficult period with our disagreement with many local authorities about their failure to reduce class sizes by sustaining teacher numbers, while we have achieved a new record low in primary school class sizes. It is appropriate that a fresh look is taken at this and other schooling issues to break the impasse for the benefit of parents, teachers and children.”

The SNP government pledge to reduce class sizes to 18 in the first three years of primary may not be deliverable even within the next parliament, ministers have admitted. The vow on class sizes was a key plank of the SNP’s party manifesto in 2007. However, it was dependent on councils delivering it and with a freeze on council tax many cash-strapped local authorities have cut teachers to save cash. Currently only 13% of P1 to P3 children in Scotland are taught in classes of 18 or fewer.

Task 1

1. What is the role of local government in Scotland?

2. THINK! What arguments can be provided against

the view that Scotland is over-governed?

3. Explain the relationship between local authorities and the Scottish Government/Parliament, using at least 2 specific examples.

2 The relationship between the Scottish Government and local authorities is a crucial one with much potential for conflict. One of these areas is funding and this can be illustrated by looking at Govanhill Housing Association’s petition to Holyrood for an inquiry into the condition of properties in the area.

Concerns about slum housing in the Govanhill area

The issue of "slum" housing in the centre of was discussed by the Scottish Parliament in March 2010. MSPs questioned the housing minister after people in Govanhill petitioned Holyrood for an inquiry into the condition of properties in the area. Govanhill sits between the Gorbals and Queens Park on the south side of Glasgow. It is a place of traditional tenements and has been home to various migrants for generations. The latest come from Eastern Europe's Roma community. It is estimated that about 2,000 to 3,000 have moved to this part of Glasgow since the European Union expanded in 2004. Anne Lear director of Govanhill Housing Association has petitioned the Scottish government for an inquiry into private landlords in the area and whether Govanhill should be given special housing status. "I don't believe that there are any other areas in Scotland that have the same problem," she said. "In addition to that we have a very, very high increase in population from approximately 9 or 10,000 to 14,000 over the last few years. That has put a lot of pressure on the existing property."

Govanhill's popularity is also a source of one of its social problems. Significant numbers of apartment blocks are below tolerable standard. This is a legal definition which assesses if the property is structurally stable, substantially free from damp, and has cooking and washing facilities. The block surrounding Westmoreland Street doesn't meet these conditions. Repairs are under way but people are still staying here. The back court is strewn with litter. Mattresses, toys and broken televisions are piled up outside the door.

Prior to 2006, councils could access financial help in repairing the tenement blocks. But changes to the law have made that more difficult and the city council's funds for this task are limited. This is something the local authority would like to see changed. The council argues that this is a problem that can only be addressed by an increase in funding - and that is where the Scottish government come in. It will be asked to make more money available to Govanhill. The Housing Minister, Alex Neil, said that both the Scottish Government and were determined to tackle the problems in Govanhill. He said: "The kind of imaginative initiative I would like us to look at is the possibility, for example, of establishing a special hit squad to ensure landlords were complying with the registration scheme which was brought in to protect tenants from rogue landlords."

However, the Scottish Government’s Housing department is facing a reduced budget from last year. In that environment he may struggle to make more funding available and may insist the council deal with the problems on its doorstep – with its existing resources.

Labour MSP Frank McAveety, the committee's convener, said "Govanhill presents a particular housing challenge and this is a petition on behalf of local residents asking for help from national and local government. Holyrood's public petitions committee heard descriptions of green slime dripping off close walls, rats roaming back courts and infestations of cockroaches and bedbugs. SNP back-bencher, Anne McLaughlin, said she had been shocked by what they witnessed. The Glasgow MSP said: "I'm not easily shocked, but I was absolutely horrified with what some people had to put up with in terms of living conditions. It was an absolute disgrace." Ms Lear said the area should have "some kind of special status". She told MSPs: "The reason we say that is because there is nowhere else in Scotland that has 1,200 unimproved properties, 75 per cent at least of which are owned by the private sector and are not being regulated."

1. Explain what Anne Lear director of Govanhill Housing Association was trying to achieve.

2. Is there a potential for conflict between the Scottish government and Glasgow City Council over this matter?

3. How effective do you believe the system of public petition is in issues such as this one?

3 Decision making in Local Government

Decision making within local government is carried out by individual councils that are made up of councillors who are elected every four years. These elected members are led by the leader of the council, typically the leader of the largest single political grouping in the council. Each council also elects a civic leader or, the provost or convenor, who chairs council meetings. In the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, the provost is known as the lord provost. The full council meeting is the sovereign body of the council, where all councillors meet to debate and take key decisions of the authority. These include appointing councillors to committees and panels, and setting the annual budget and council tax levels.

Traditionally, local authority decision making has taken place within a structure of committees.

Benefits of the committee system Drawbacks of the committee system

It is inclusive: all political parties and Decision making can be a slow process. independents of the council are represented. Because committees have to bring together a - prevents council decisions being taken by large number of elected members, their one party alone. meetings tend to be between four weeks and two months. It prevents individual elected members from becoming all powerful and detached from Committees can result in lowest common other members. denominator decision making as they are inclusive and transparent. It operates through collective decision making Fulfil both decision making and scrutiny functions within the council, but arguably Committees usually meet in public so allows impossible to do both well. for transparency.

Controversy

Glasgow City Council (GCC) created controversy with its decision to set up ‘arms’-length external organisations’ (ALEOs) to deliver public services such as housing repairs and maintenance of car parks. Councillors who sit on these organisations receive extra payments. In 2010 it was disclosed that GCC paid £400,000 to councillors in such a way. These organisations were set up by the disgraced former Glasgow Labour leader, Stephen Purcell. Critics argue that these agencies do not provide ‘best value’ and were used by Purcell to reward loyal councillors. In June 2011 the Scottish Government Stephen Purcell announced that these payments would end.

Local government officials

Each council in Scotland has a management team made up of directors of departments that have technical and professional expertise that councillors may lack. For example, there will be directors of education, social work and finance. The traditional view of the relationship between councillors and officials is that councillors make policy that officials implement, in the same way civil servants carry out the wishes of the prime minister and the cabinet. Therefore, power rests with the elected officials. However, an alternative view is that senior officials are involved in policy making. Given the continuity of senior officials in office and the part-time nature of the councillors’ role, it is not surprising that officials can influence policy making. It is important that officials have a good working relationship with senior councillors.

Task 2 1. Describe the benefits and drawbacks of the committee system in local government. 2. Why did Glasgow City Council cause controversy? 3. Explain the work of local government officials.

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Funding Local Authorities

Scottish local government currently receives most of its funding (80%) directly from the Scottish Government who, in turn, receive their block grant from Westminster. Therefore, local authorities depend heavily on the Finance Minister to allocate sufficient funding in order to implement policy changes. SNP Finance Minister John Swinney has a difficult job in allocating funding fairly and adequately as the different local authorities all have their own individual priorities.

The 2003 Local Government Act placed a duty on local authorities to secure “best value”. This is about a continuous drive to improve quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the Council’s services.

It is composed of the 4 “Cs”: Challenge how and why they provide the service Compare the cost and quality of the service Compete to see if value for money is provided Consult users of services on their views

In addition to the money allocated from central government, local authorities do have the ability to raise extra revenue in 2 main ways:

Council Tax Council tax is a tax based on the value of people’s homes. Depending on the size and location of the house, owners on the basis of the band they come under pay an annual tax to the local authority. Local authorities set their own Council tax rates each year, but the Scottish Government retains the right to limit the amount of any increase. The new SNP administration plans to introduce a new "Local Income Tax" to replace the Council Tax. In the meantime, in November 2007, John Swinney came to an agreement with local authorities that Council taxes will not rise for the next three years. The council tax freeze is fully funded by the Scottish Government, which is providing each council with a share of £70 million in 2010/11 to support the move. Council tax has again been frozen for 2012/2013.

Business Rates These are taxes on businesses within a local authority. Each individual business must pay tax to the local authority. The Conservatives, in particular, feel the Scottish Parliament must act to reduce levels of non- domestic rates.

Task

1. Explain the idea behind ‘best value’.

2. Why does the Scottish Government seek to abolish the council tax?

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Local Government Elections

Until 2007, councillors on Scottish local authorities were elected by First Past The Post and these authorities were generally dominated by the Party. Labour controlled the bulk of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, very often with a minority of the overall votes.

Following the 2003 Scottish Parliamentary elections, the Liberal Democrats insisted on reforming the voting system used for local government elections as a ‘deal-breaker’ in coalition talks with Labour. The agreement of the Scottish Labour party effectively ended their control of local government as legislation was passed in the Parliament, introducing the use of the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system. This was a particularly difficult and unpopular decision within the Labour Party as many Labour MSPs started their political careers in Labour led Scottish local authorities.

The idea for introducing STV had come from the 2000 Kerley Report, an investigation into the effectiveness of local government in Scotland. The first STV Scottish local government election took place on May 3 2007, the same day as the Scottish Parliament elections. Despite much criticism of holding 2 elections using different voting systems on the same day, the highly publicised ‘wasted’ ballot papers were mainly from the AMS ballots. The local election results were somewhat overshadowed by the media coverage of the new SNP minority government but a closer look shows that dramatic changes did indeed take place in Scotland’s local authorities.

Kerley Report highlighted:

Low turnout in local elections (dropped as low as 12% in by-elections) FPTP provided Labour with an unfair advantage & stifled competition STV would give more parties a realistic chance of representation The old system of part-time councillors, who were paid only through expenses, should be replaced by full-time, salaried councillors.

Task

1. Outline the main reasons for introducing STV for Scottish local elections.

2. Explain why the Scottish Labour Party were in a particularly difficult situation with regards to this decision.

3. In what ways has STV changed the political landscape? Why was this inevitable?

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Local Government & the Scottish Parliament Conflict & Co-operation

In theory, local authorities should be independent bodies who are left alone to manage their daily business affairs without interference from the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish Government. In reality, however, the Scottish Parliament sets the agenda for most of the functions carried out by local authorities through Acts of Parliament; the Scottish Government sets the parameters of government policy for local government to put into practice, and also sets targets for local government to achieve.

For this relationship to work there must be cooperation between all levels of government. Scottish Government ministers meet regularly with individual local authorities or with COSLA on specific and general matters of current interest or concern. Advice and help is also provided to local authorities by the Scottish Government departments. More importantly, local government relies on the Scottish Government for income through government funding.

The views of local authorities are represented through the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). COSLA representatives meet with the Scottish Government regularly to discuss the ongoing implementation of policy. When the Scottish Parliament was created in 1997, COSLA had feared that the Scottish Executive/Government would increasingly take over its treasured role of decision making over key services such as education, housing and social work.

Some of the issues highlighted below indicate how the relationship between the SNP government and local authorities has been developing since May 2007.

The Concordat Agreement 2007

The Scottish Government’s concordat agreement with local government in 2007 changed the relationship between the two parties and led to a sizeable shift in decision making from national to local government. The The SNP Scottish Government has worked with Scottish local authorities via the "Concordat" agreed with the local authorities’ representatives COSLA. In the early days, COSLA was delighted with the Concordat. While council tax increases were ruled out, the Concordat gave local authorities much more power over how they spent their funds. It also served as an affirmation of their important role in Scottish life. However, more recently, local authority leaders have become critical of the Concordat.

As budgets have become tighter, some local authority leaders would like the opportunity to increase Council Tax. But the Concordat will not allow this.

There have also been issues such as the lowering of P1 class sizes, an SNP election pledge. The SNP Government says that local authorities have the funds to lower class sizes. COSLA claims they do not.

Likewise, many local authorities simply do not have the money to pay for free school meals in P1-P3, another 2007-2011 Scottish Government aspiration.

The Concordat has been great for the SNP Scottish Government. It took the credit for popular policies such no Council Tax increases, smaller class sizes and free school meals, but then successfully blamed local authorities when the smaller class sizes and free school meals didn't happen.

Due to cuts in funding from Scottish Government, Scottish local authorities, all over the country, are shedding jobs and cutting essential services. In December 2010, Finance Secretary John Swinney forced through a Council Tax freeze for 2011-12 on the threat of even greater cuts. City of Glasgow Council leader, Gordon Matheson, accused John Swinney of bullying and blackmail. He claimed that the Scottish Government's treatment of local authorities was worse than "the darkest days of Tory rule".

7 The SNP entered the 2011 Scottish elections promising no increases in Council tax. Due to the popularity of this pledge, Scottish Labour was forced into a similar pledge.

End to ‘ring-fencing’

A way in which the Concordat has given local authorities much more power over how they spent their funds is through the end of ‘ring-fencing’. The COSLA leadership was delighted with John Swinney’s decision to end it. The Labour/Liberal Democrat Scottish Executive insisted that certain amounts of the money allocated to local authorities had to be spent (or “ring fenced”) on key national priorities. For example, the previous Scottish Executive was very keen to promote the teaching of foreign languages in Scottish schools. It insisted that local authorities ring fence funds to make sure that the teaching of Modern Languages was properly funded.

This policy has now ended. It is now up to Scottish local authorities (subject to some restrictions) to decide how to spend their money. In 2007-08, local authorities were given £10 billion by the Scottish Government. Only £3 billion of this was ring fenced. Naturally, COSLA was over the moon. COSLA has been after an end to ring fencing for years. COSLA President, Pat Watters, a Labour councillor in South Lanarkshire, wrote in The Herald newspaper in January 2008 that he was in favour of the end of ring- fencing. He said councils could be trusted to spend the money wisely. Councillor Watters feels the end of ring fencing will free up more money for services “rather than it being wasted on needless and useless reporting”. Ring fencing ends in March 2010

Scottish Labour was critical of the Scottish Government. Former leader Wendy Alexander claimed that a postcode lottery would be created in care for vulnerable groups, such as at risk children. Now that the Scottish Government is taking less national responsibility, the 32 councils can spend their money in different ways. Depending on where you live, it is argued that some Scots may have better standards of education, sports facilities or care for vulnerable groups. Voluntary groups such as Save the Children and the Princes Trust have echoed the Labour leader’s fears.

Geographical differences in provision have always existed, but Wendy Alexander made the point that inequalities will increase.

Pat Watters, a Labour councillor, claimed that these criticisms were a “slur” on local politicians. He claimed that local politicians are better placed than national politicians to decide spending priorities. The SNP Government enjoyed the in- fighting within Scottish Labour between the national politicians who supported ring fencing, and the local Labour politicians who did not.

Task

1. Describe the relationship between local government and the Scottish Government.

2. Explain what the concordat agreement means for local authorities. 3. What was ring-fencing and how did the end of it make an impact?

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Reform of local Government: What the political parties say

Scotland’s political parties disagree on how best to reform local government.

Want to keep the council tax but the concordat will be abolished and replaced with a requirement upon councils to set out their own plans and report on progress within a new funding formula for local government. In order to make savings while protecting frontline services, the Accounts Commission will report on the extent to which each council shares services with other public sector bodies. Local authorities will be required to allocate a budget to community councils, proportionate to the size of the area they cover, so that more community councils may undertake their own projects. In Scotland’s four largest cities (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee), renewed and accountable local leadership will be encouraged by giving people the chance to have a powerful, elected provost through a system of voting for the public.

Prefer a local income tax as an alternative to the council tax, although they do support a council tax freeze. They will introduce a ‘fairer local funding action plan’, which will: Review the funding formula for local government to make it simpler, more transparent and fairer to all authorities. Introduce progressively a new rule to ensure that no authority receives less than 90 per cent of the average revenue support grant per head. Promote greater local democratic oversight of public spending and joint working. Support and assist local authorities who want to propose a regional option to public services, but will impose a centrally driven reorganisation of local government.

Want to introduce a local income tax to replace the council tax. Reform the relationship between central and local government. Introduce a Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill, which they claim will make it easier for communities to take over underused or unused public sector assets, and include measures to enable communities to deal more effectively with derelict or unused property in their area.

Want to introduce reforms required to deliver the intended benefits of shared services. The Scottish Futures Trust will be abolished, to be replaced with an Infrastructure Investment Unit. Local democracy will be enhanced with participation in community planning partnerships, ensuring that a diversity of voices is heard in community planning processes. A new process of consultation will be introduced through which an accord between central and local government will be delivered, based on the principles of mutual respect, transparency and accountability, to all stakeholders where national goals lend themselves to local priorities.

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Want to scrap the council tax and business rates and replace them with a land value tax. The party argues that taxing the value of the land rather than the value of the property on it encourages suitable developments. More powers would be devolved down from Holyrood to give local people greater control about how money is raised and spent. Reforms will enhance the support councils get to raise more of their own cash, including community-owned projects, and allow councils to merge.

Task

Compare and contrast the differences between political party local government reform plans.

Reform of local Government: Collaboration between councils

One way financial pressure could be reduced is through the sharing of services. Future sharing of services could contribute to more efficient and effective public services. Tayside Contracts is an example of collaboration between councils. It is a commercially based local authority contracting organisation providing catering, cleaning, roads maintenance, vehicle maintenance and winter maintenance throughout the Tayside area. It is a collaboration between the councils of Angus, Dundee City, and Perth and Kinross; it operates under a joint committee comprising elected members from each constituent council.

Other initiatives at a national level include the joint development of the myjobscotland recruitment portal (www.myjobscotland.gov.uk) and the public information notices portal, with COSLA estimating overall savings of between £3 million and £4million per year. Also, the group of eight councils that form the Clyde Valley Community Planning Partnership were looking to share services in seven areas: waste management, health and social care, social transport and fleet management, property sharing and management, support services, charging and economic strategy. However, these plans have hit a stumbling block as two councils have pulled out.

Task

1. What part does local government play in a devolved Scotland? Make sure you give examples.

2. Where have there been limits on local government decision making? Give examples.

3. Why have relations between the Scottish Government and Scottish local authorities worsened in recent years?

4. Describe what is meant by sharing of services.

5. Do you think sharing services is a good idea? Give examples of where it has worked/not worked.

ESSAY: The relationship between the Scottish Government and local government involves both co-operation and conflict. Discuss.

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