Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
(): This Government is determined
to build a new relationship of respect, trust and shared
responsibility between the state and its citizens. On 21 May, I
announced this government's ambitious new programme to reform
local services, building more integrated, place-based and
user-centred models of delivery and restoring people's pride in
their areas and communities. I can now set out further details of
this agenda and new reforms to put communities first.
Building on the measures announced in May, I can today confirm:
- Our new programme of Community Power Pilots,
designed to support councils to work with community groups and
residents to deliver community-led and locally responsive
services in areas such as youth provision, community safety,
housing and green spaces. The pilots will cover 25 places in
England to accelerate change and will be backed by £15m of new
funding.
- We are determined to drive out profiteering from
public services. In May, I made clear the government
would not flinch from using new powers to cap the profits of
private providers in children's social care if our assessment and
consultation showed this to be necessary. But we recognise
profiteering is not limited to children's social care. Therefore,
we are also working with the Home Office and with London councils
signed up to the London Accommodation Management Agreement to
bring consistency and value for money to the procurement of
temporary accommodation and to prevent profiteering.
- In addition to the new powers for Mayors, I announced under
the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act's new Right
to Request process that we will establish a Task and Finish Group
to jointly define the role of Mayors and strategic
authorities in public service reform more widely. This
will include specific consideration of how strategic authorities
could play a role in driving better procurement, commissioning
and delivery of local public services. We believe local
authorities should retain autonomy in their procurement of the
services they are accountable for and should remain responsive to
local need and community concerns. However, we want to build a
system where they can benefit from increased market power and
knowledge that pooling resources at regional level can provide,
to crack down on profiteering.
- We have concluded our review of the Right to
Manage and will be taking forward a series of reforms to
the regulatory and policy framework to make it as easy as
possible for more social housing residents to come together to
take control of their own homes and estates and to make housing
managers directly accountable to the people who live
there. Currently, the majority of social housing
residents live in homes run by housing associations and are
excluded from the Right to Manage. We will explore whether there
is a case for extending the statutory right to these tenants and
will consult with residents and social housing providers on the
detail ahead of any change. We will make sure there is better
support and oversight built into the Right to Manage system,
including stronger enforcement action in the event of serious
mismanagement where residents' safety is put at risk. We want
social landlords to do more to support tenants to take up Right
to Manage, in line with existing regulatory requirements.
In addition, I can also announce the following new measures:
- We will introduce a new Pride in Place Community
Right to Buy Fund, backed by £61 million, to empower
communities focussing on the most deprived areas - to take
ownership of valued local assets such as pubs, clubs and
community centres, reversing the decline in shared public spaces
and supporting social connection. This funding is part of the
£301m earmarked to support our high streets and community spaces.
It will directly support communities in taking advantage of
Community Right to Buy, created by our English Devolution and
Community Empowerment Act, and will support efforts to revitalise
local high streets, building on the new powers for councils I
announced last month.
- Alongside this, I can announce a £10m
Test, Learn and Grow Capability Fund, led and
funded by the Cabinet Office. The Test, Learn and Grow programme
is central to how this government is delivering services
differently putting people at the centre, starting small and
building on what works, and empowering frontline staff and local
places to respond to what users need. The new fund will support
up to 20 places to try out new ways of delivering public
services. It will first be targeted at those areas already
involved in the programme, with a specific focus on extending
learning beyond individual local authorities and across
sub-regions, through Mayoral Strategic Authorities and clusters
of local authorities working together. It will then expand to new
locations later in the autumn. We will announce further detail in
due course.
- To address the barriers which hold back local authorities'
and other partners' ability to integrate services, target
prevention, and provide a more seamless user experience, we will
be taking action on local government data
sharing. The Government's Strategic Data Roadmap will
support local public service reform through a range of data
products and services designed to facilitate greater
collaboration on data sharing and interoperability. We will also
develop standardised data sharing agreements for central
government and wider public sector, including local governments
to use, reducing administrative burdens and speeding up
processes. This will complement work already in train at the
Department for Education which is focussed on improving
multi-agency information sharing for the purposes of safeguarding
and welfare of children, including a introduction of a Single
Unique Identifier for children.
- Finally, in recognition of the importance of place to
outcomes for citizens and to the delivery of public services, I
can announce that this government has established a new
Place Unit, based in my department. This unit will act
as convenors across departments, local stakeholders and
community and place experts. They will provide an advisory
function to other departments, ensuring that place and
community are considered in policy development and helping
bring local voices into central government decision making.
