[cma-l] White paper delivers power shift to local people - Blears

[CMA-L]

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT News Release (167) issued by The
Government News Network on 9 July 2008

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears will today publish a White Paper
setting out proposals to deliver a fundamental shift in power,
influence and responsibility into the hands of communities and
citizens.

Communities in control: Real people, real power sets out how the
Government plans to give citizens and communities more rights and more
power through:

* more information and greater influence over the local decisions that
affect them;

* new means of holding politicians and councils to account; and,

* where they choose, more opportunity to get directly involved in
managing and shaping how local services are delivered.

Hazel Blears will say

"In many parts of the country, local democracy needs a boost, with low
turn out at local elections and people feeling they can't influence
the way some issues are decided in their area. This needs to change.
That's why the White Paper provides real and practical ways to put
communities in control, so that they have a real say, can find out
first hand what is being done to improve their local services, and
push any issue they think is of importance up the priority list of
their local council.

"There is a lot of cynicism about politics but it is through politics
that we bring about change for the better. Politicians have a contract
with those that they serve - that contract now needs to be rewritten
to ensure that the views of local people are taken more into account.
Where people have a better solution to a problem or issue, that needs
to be taken forward. The public must not only have the right to ask
difficult questions, they should also have the right to demand
answers."

The White Paper will seek to address issues around lack of power and
influence at a local level. These include -

- New rights for the public to demand action from their council

Councils will be subject to a new duty to respond to petitions.
Petitions will enable local people to force an issue onto a council's
agenda. With enough signatures that issue would need to be discussed
by the full council committee and could be subject to a vote. This
could be used to raise issues as diverse as bin collections and street
cleaning, or the state of local parks.

- Increasing accountability

Chairs and Chief Executives of local public bodies - such as Councils-
will face regular public hearings as part of plans to increase
accountability. More visible 'local question times' will give the
public a chance to question officials about how they are improving
public services and demand better results if they believe local
services are falling short of expectations. It will also give CEOs an
opportunity to describe the hard choices and trade-offs involved in
decision making.

- Getting redress when things go wrong

Some housing associations already offer money back to tenants where
they fail to carry repairs out on time. We want to see if this could
go further, with redress for citizens when council services go wrong.
We will establish a review into redress for citizens that will report
in 2009.

- Giving local people a direct say on how budgets are spent

We want every area of the country to have a 'community kitty' scheme -
a pot of money that local people can decide how to spend. Local people
should have a say in setting priorities for local budgets - for
example if they want to see more community wardens or better street
lighting. Government Departments are also committed to citizens having
a bigger say over youth and community safety spending.

- £70m Communitybuilders fund

Community-led third sector organisations are one of the most tangible
and popular ways people get involved and start to actively give
something back to their local communities. The Government will be
investing £70m in organisations that are the backbone of their
communities. This will help strong community groups acquire buildings,
take a role in running local services, and become more financially
self sustainable.

- Local people running local assets

Street markets, community centres and swimming pools will be handed
over to local residents if they can do a better job of running them
than councils. 30 new pilots will get underway shortly and a new Asset
Transfer Unit will be established to support community groups making
the most of buildings and resources.

- Making it easier for people to get a directly elected mayor.

Mayors provide visible local leadership and have the potential to
engage more people in politics. We will consult on allowing on-line
petitioning as well as paper petitions to be counted towards support
for a referendum for a mayor. We will consult on reducing the number
of people needed to trigger a referendum from 5% to perhaps 2%, 3% or
4% and change existing rules that mean no referendum can be held for
10 years if referendum is lost.

- Promoting democracy

A new duty will be placed on local authorities to promote democracy.
Local leaders will be expected to do more to help residents understand
how the democratic process works and how they can get involved.
Residents can expect to see information campaigns and town halls being
opened up to councillors to hold surgeries. New 'civic champions' -
council staff or former councillors who will go out into the community
and work with residents and community groups to increase understanding
about how they can raise awareness about civic roles they can take up
- whether that's volunteering, standing as a governor, a councillor or
becoming a magistrate.

- Empowering young people More needs to be done to make politics and
local services relevant and open to young people. We will establish a
programme for young people to shadow government ministers and elected
mayors, develop a programme of internships with local councillors and
increase the number of young people who help councils and others
understand the impact of their policies on the young

Data from the 2007 Citizenship Survey shows that in the last year just
38% of people felt able to influence decisions in their local area.
50% of respondents to the same survey wanted to be more involved in
the decisions that their local council makes that affect their local
area.

We have seen some excellent improvements in the performance of local
government in recent years. This makes local government well placed to
take on the significant challenge of rejuvenating local democracy.

Councils remain the vital elected voice of local people. The White
Paper is about finding new ways to allow more people to influence
decisions directly. Petitions have been a well-understood part of our
public life for centuries. They represent a recognised method of
bringing people's views together into a single collective voice. New
data published today shows that more must be done to ensure petitions
are acted upon.

A new YouGov survey of 1,906 adults across England shows -

* 70% of people have signed a petition - 63% in the last 5 years, and
42% in the last year;

* 90% of people think that councils should take account of views
raised through petitions when making decisions - but only 21% of
people agree that they currently do;

* 84% of people said they were more likely to sign a petition is a
response was guaranteed and over half (54%) of respondents were more
likely to organise one if a response was guaranteed

* Of those who have signed or organised a petition 48% were not
satisfied with the way in which the council took their views into
account; and,

* 34% of us do not know their council's process for submitting petitions.

The new duty on councils to respond to petitions will make sure that
petitions have a greater impact and unlock local democracy for a lot
more people.

Hazel Blears added:

"The White Paper is an important step in rebalancing power in local
communities to ensure that the voice of local people is heard and
acted on, and where it isn't, people have the levers to make a
difference themselves if they so choose.

"As the best councils already show, local government has nothing to
fear and everything to gain by involving local people is shaping and
delivering services. When local people are given a greater say in how
decisions are taken not only do they feel more empowered but
satisfaction with services rises too."

Notes to Editors

1. Communities in control is about providing the real and practical
routes people need to become more empowered. The White Paper contains
three new duties - to promote democracy, to respond to petitions and
for quangos to do more to involve the public. Taken together they
establish a clear set of democratic rights for ordinary citizens.

2. The You Gov survey was carried out on behalf of the Department for
Communities and Local Government. A total of 1906 adults in England
were surveyed to establish basic measures of public knowledge of, and
opinions on, their right to petition local authorities.

3. Research including surveys and literature reviews show that some of
the key barriers to greater participation include lack of interest or
understanding about local governance; negative perceptions and lack of
trust in public institutions; lack of awareness of how to get involved
and inaccessible recruitment practices and scepticism about the
difference participation will make. But where people have positive
experiences of participation, the confidence and skills they need to
get involved or a personal invitation to do so, then they are more
likely to play an active role. Details of this research can be viewed
at h ttp://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/communitiesannex

4. The White Paper Communities in control: Real people, real power can
be viewed at http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/communitiesincontrol

News Releases: http://www.communities.gsi.gov.uk