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Decentralisation and the Localism Bill: an Essential Guide Decentralisation and the Localism Bill: an Essential Guide © Crown Copyright 2010

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Decentralisation and the Localism Bill: an Essential Guide Decentralisation and the Localism Bill: an Essential Guide © Crown Copyright 2010 Decentralisation and the Localism Bill: an essential guide Decentralisation and the Localism Bill: an essential guide © Crown copyright 2010 You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or e-mail: [email protected]. This document/publication is also available on our website at www.communities.gov.uk If you require this publication in an alternative format please email: [email protected] Any enquiries regarding this document/publication should be sent to us at: Department for Communities and Local Government Eland House Bressenden Place London SW1E 5DU Telephone: 030 3444 0000 December 2010 ISBN: 978 1 4098 2662 0 Foreword The Coalition Government is different from governments that have gone before. It is different by its very nature: two parties coming together in the national interest marked a watershed in our politics. But the Coalition is different in its approach, too. No government has ever passed a piece of legislation like the Localism Bill we are publishing this month. Because instead of taking more power for the Government, this Bill will give power away. The Localism Bill, as this guide sets out, marks the beginning of a power shift away from central government to the people, families and communities of Britain. Of course, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives use different language to explain decentralisation and to fight its cause. The Prime Minister has coined the phrase “Big Society”, while Liberal Democrats tend to talk about “Community Politics”, or simply just “Liberalism”. But whatever the words we use, we are clear and united in our ambition to decentralise and disperse power in our society, and that shared ambition is one of the bonds that will keep our Coalition strong. Radical decentralisation means stripping away much of the top-down bureaucracy that previous governments have put in the way of frontline public services and civil society. It means giving local people the powers and funding to deliver what they want for their communities – with a particular determination to help those who need it most. And it means doing what previous governments have not dared: reforming the excessively centralised tax system which stifles local autonomy and innovation. The power shift we want will not happen overnight. We will face opposition from those with a vested interest in the status quo. But we know that dispersing power is the way to improve our public services and get the better schools and safer hospitals we want. Democratic engagement, choice, transparency and diversity will not just make the country more liberal, fairer and more decentralised: they will also help develop the world-class public services people want. Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, Deputy Prime Minister Seven years ago, I wrote a book called Total Politics, setting out the case against the growing dominance of central government over the public sphere. I made the argument that bureaucratic micromanagement of our public services is not only inefficient, but also undemocratic. If central government is everywhere, then local decision-making is nowhere – everything is subject to national politics, with nothing left to community leadership. The Coalition Government has a historic opportunity to redress the balance. But, as I warned in Total Politics, localism must be more than a slogan. It must be turned into something concrete and meaningful. Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has led the way, driving through decentralising reform from the outset. The Localism Bill builds upon this early progress – by providing an enduring legislative foundation for a new, decentralised Britain. With particular reference to the Bill, the purpose of this guide is to translate the concept of decentralisation into six concrete actions that can be taken by every department – and every level of government – to return power to the people to whom it belongs. Rt Hon Greg Clark MP, Minister of State for Decentralisation 1 Executive summary This guide makes the case for a radical shift of power from the centralised state to local communities, and describes the six essential actions required to deliver decentralisation down through every level of government to every citizen. In particular, we focus on the Localism Bill, which will provide the legislative foundation for change. Big Big Government Society From Big Government to Big Society In this guide, we show how the Localism Bill will provide a vital legislative foundation for The Big Society is what happens whenever people this programme – by embodying and enabling work together for the common good. It is about the six essential actions of decentralising achieving our collective goals in ways that are reform. more diverse, more local and more personal. The best contribution that central government can Six essential actions make is to devolve power, money and knowledge to those best placed to find the best solutions ‘Decentralisation’ as a word is easy to pay lip to local needs: elected local representatives, service to. To actually make it happen we need frontline public service professionals, social to break it down into the practical steps that each enterprises, charities, co-ops, community groups, part of government can – and must – take. This neighbourhoods and individuals. guide describes these steps in the form of the six essential actions that have the power to turn Driving decentralisation words into reality. The Coalition is therefore committed to The first two actions are the most fundamental, decentralisation, which is the biggest thing that because decentralisation can’t get started without government can do to build the Big Society. them. They are to: Of course, those with power don’t usually want • Lift the burden of bureaucracy – by removing to give it away. So the irony of decentralisation is the cost and control of unnecessary red tape that it requires a determined programme to ensure and regulation, whose effect is to restrict local that that power is given away to the lowest level. action; and 2 • Empower communities to do things their The final two actions complete the picture by way – by creating rights for people to get enabling local people to take complete control involved with, and direct the development of the process of decentralisation as it affects of, their communities. them in their communities. They are to: The next two actions provide the resources and • Open up government to public scrutiny the freedom of choice needed to sustain progress – by releasing government information into on decentralisation. They are to: the public domain, so that people can know how their money is spent, how it is used and • Increase local control of public finance – so to what effect; and that more of the decisions over how public money is spent and raised can be taken within • Strengthen accountability to local people – communities; and by giving every citizen the power to change the services provided to them through participation, • Diversify the supply of public services – by choice or the ballot box. ending public sector monopolies, ensuring a level playing field for all suppliers, giving The rest of this guide sets out the case for people more choice and a better standard decentralisation and describes each of the six of service. essential actions in greater detail. Responding to this guide The actions set out in this guide are embodied in the Localism Bill and are reinforced by reforms being pursued across Government. By summer 2011, we will issue a progress report setting out what each Whitehall department has done to implement each of the six essential actions described above. This guide is not a formal consultation document. Local authorities have two vital roles. They will Rather, in advance of a progress report due to be be the beneficiaries of decentralisation as power published next year, it sets out the thinking that is passed to them through the Localism Bill and underpins the Localism Bill and which forms they will have a vital role in passing power to the basis for further action across Government. communities and individuals. It is intended as a stimulus to help policy makers The Department for Communities and Local within Whitehall and beyond develop ideas for Government (DCLG) will also work with the further decentralisation. In the centre this will devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and mean giving power away; in communities it Northern Ireland to learn from the approaches will mean taking opportunities to do things they are taking to decentralisation and to share differently. best practice. Working across Government Welcoming all contributions Decentralisation is not an agenda confined to a We welcome input from anyone with an interest single department. Greg Clark, as Decentralisation and expertise in the matters presented in this Minister, has been tasked with working across guide. If you have insights or examples that you government departments to develop and deliver would like to share with us, then please let us the approach to decentralisation. know. Email us at: [email protected] 3 The case for decentralisation “We will be the first Government in a generation to leave office with much less power in Whitehall than we started with. Why? Because we feel the importance of this in our heads as well as our hearts. “There’s the efficiency argument – that in huge hierarchies, money gets spent on bureaucracy instead of the frontline. There is the fairness argument – that centralised national blueprints don’t allow for local solutions to major social problems. And there is the political argument – that centralisation creates a great distance in our democracy between the government and the governed.
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