Your LGA Group Working to promote and improve local government Corin Thomson Assistant Chief Executive

The challenge ahead 13 th year of the LGA, and arguably the most important: General election Greater opportunity for local government than 1978 and 1996 Emerging from recession Public expenditure squeeze

The response Getting Closer –More integrated –More focused on councils Promote and improve local government –The challenge ahead –Election messages and activity –Total Place

Getting Closer what is it? Objective: to ensure that the Group is effective, delivers greater value for money and enhances the reputation of local government Who is the LGA Group? LGA – political direction and setting priorities IDeA – improvement and efficiency LGE – pay, conditions and pensions LACoRS – regulation Leadership Centre – political and strategic leadership Local Partnerships – capital development, particularly private finance. ( Joint venture with PUK)

Getting Closer what have we done? one set of politically directed priorities for 2009/10: recession, reputation and improvement, and efficiency and value for money account managers Better information to councillors Working more closely with special interest groups and regional LGAs Identified areas of duplication and reduced costs Subscriptions held or reduced for this year, and under review

Getting Closer our achievements Campaign on children’s social work Future Jobs Fund Business Rate Supplements Bill Concessionary fares Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill

The challenge ahead Political and economic context General Election due within seven months real possibility of change of government. Latest 'poll of polls'*: –Conservatives 42%, Labour 28%, LibDems 18% –projected Conservative majority: seats record political turnover: likely swing / impact of ’ expenses scandal : £175 billion budget deficit > asset sales / tax rises / spending cuts "savage cuts", Nick Clegg; "painful changes", George Osborne * UK Polling Report, October 2009

The challenge ahead What people think? 80% of people satisfied with their local area as a place to live 59% felt they belong to their immediate neighbourhood 33% agreed or strongly agreed that their local council provided value for money 45% were, overall, satisfied with the way their local council runs things * Source: DCLG, 2008

The challenge ahead What people think? The extent to which people know what services their council provides is generally quite good: –73% know councils provide care for the elderly –69% know councils provide housing services –65% know councils provide child protection and support for families through social services Who do people prefer to make decisions about cuts in public spending in their local area? –65% favour their local councillor –11% favour MPs –3% favour quangos

The challenge ahead Our priorities Economy: helping councils lead their communities, and the country, out of recession Reputation: enhancing councils’ reputation as outstanding service providers, community leaders and employers of choice Value for money: helping councils achieve greater efficiency, and lobbying for the funding they need to fulfil their roles Democracy: putting local decision-making at the centre of debate, particularly in election year Customer service: a ‘fit for purpose’ LGA Group, delivering excellent, value for money services to its members, through ‘Getting Closer’

Election messages Positioning local government the most efficient part of the public sector beating Whitehall on efficiency improvements efficient due to accountability (in contrast with quangos) innovative in pursuit of efficiency (e.g. Total Place) leading by example as UK approaches an age of austerity / constraint over-regulated, with costs to ‘the public purse’

Election messages Conference / Parliamentary activity bilaterals with Ministers, shadow spokespeople implementation advice and support on key policy proposals fresh emphasis on Parliamentary candidates reviewing composition and role of Vice-Presidents analysis of local authority-related conference announcements new series of Smith Square debates on emerging public policy issues, with leading speakers events with think tanks, 'commentariat' etc (e.g. on the Canadian budget precedent)

Developing our ‘ask’ Total Place An innovative LGA Group-backed project to find fresh ways of making public services better for people at lower cost - by doing things differently Politicians and public sector CEOs in 13 areas acting as volunteer 'pilots‘ - investigating how much public money is spent in their place on particular themes, e.g. drug and alcohol abuse The pilots are currently reporting back, to feed into the Pre-Budget Report Support from Treasury, Government and Opposition Publicity in national (e.g. ‘Today’) and trade media

Developing our ‘ask’ Total Place Findings from the pilots: average of £7,000-plus is spent per person, per annum across all public services Central Beds and Luton: 49 different public bodies or agencies spending public money Durham: 25 agencies dealing with 19,000 properties Birmingham: cost of one gang-related murder to the public sector is £1.1 million (excluding social costs)

Developing our ‘ask’ Regulatory burden Cost of regulation cited by National Audit Office £2 billion – but there’s more Regulatory burden has only reduced by 50% rather than by 5/6ths originally intended. For every one “doer” there are two “checkers”. What does it achieve, can we afford it. A new accountability framework

Next steps? Increase the pace of change across the Group Develop LGA Group fit for the future Define our offer and our ask we need your help