[cma-l] More from the Hazel fan club

[Phil Korbel]

this is the official release on the Grauniad story mentioned before



From: alerts at gnn-nds.co.uk [mailto:alerts at gnn-nds.co.uk]
Sent: 05 March 2008 12:57


05/03/2008 12:35  	

Communities and Local Government (National) 	
(CLG) Putting communities in control - Blears 	

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has today announced radical plans
to unlock talent in local communities and give people a real say on
improving local services and promoting active citizenship.

Speaking at a regeneration conference in central London, Hazel Blears
unveiled plans for a new White Paper focused on empowering citizens.

Local government is working much better than in previous years.
However, a new survey reveals that:

* Six in ten people do not feel they are given an adequate say on how
local council services are run;

* More than 9 in 10 people believe accountability of councils could 
be
improved;

* Nearly four in 10 people do not feel councillors are representative
of their communities and six in 10 do not believe they adequately
reflect their views.

The new White Paper will aim to reverse this trend. Working with 
local councils and community organisations, it will help to put more
communities in control. Local people will have new opportunities to
reconnect with their councils and to provide input to improve local
services. To do this, the White Paper will be built around four key
pillars:

* improving deprived areas through regeneration and promoting work 
and enterprise

* encouraging active citizenship and reviving civic society and local
democracy

* improving local public services

* strengthening local accountability

Speaking today Hazel Blears said 'citizens from Penrith to Penzance'
must be given more opportunities to influence decisions affecting
their local services.

The White paper is expected to be published in the summer and will
seek to respond to challenges such as rising expectations of service
delivery and significant social and demographic changes.

A launch document Unlocking the Talent of our Communities that has
been published today outlines the many opportunities for people to
contribute their views on policy development either by email, letter
or through an online discussion forum.

Hazel Blears will say:

"Local Government has been transformed in recent years. But if we 
want to deal successfully with today's new challenges, from climate 
change to childhood obesity, then we must learn lessons and look at 
what more we can do to put more communities in control. Change goes 
deeper and lasts longer when people can take control of it - rather 
than having it imposed on them. There are few problems that British 
communities cannot solve for themselves - if only their talent and 
ingenuity can be unleashed.

"Today marks the start of a national debate and I want to hear from
the Great British public about what more we can do to reinvigorate 
the grass roots of local democracy, to encourage active citizenship, 
and to enable people to connect with their local leaders. We need a 
little less social engineering, and a lot more social enterprise, and 
I look forward to hearing thoughts on how we get there."

The White Paper launch document Unlocking the Talent of our
Communities sets out the challenges in four key areas:

Regeneration and promoting work and enterprise:

Building on the announcement of £1.5 billion from the Working
Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF) to 65 local authority areas identified as
facing particularly significant challenges, the White Paper will seek
to answer two key questions:

* How can government at all levels work together to tackle
worklessness and promote enterprise in the most deprived areas?

* What are the best means of focusing regeneration on people as well
as infrastructure?

Encouraging active citizenship, and reviving civic society and local
democracy

Local government in England is working better. But there is a drop in
the percentage of people who think they can influence local 
decisions. The age profile of councillors is rising and they are not 
always fully representative of their communities.

We need to encourage a greater sense of 'active citizenship' and
harness new technology to facilitate greater civic participation and
political involvement at the local level.

The Empowerment White Paper will look at what steps need to be taken
to revive involvement in local civic and democratic roles and
incorporate government responses to the Councillors commission 
report.

Improving local public services

We need services to become more personalised, but this requires
considerable changes over the next decade, and the direct involvement
of consumers in the design and delivery.

Services will also need to find new ways of engaging with users and
providing better information. They will also be subject to greater
local scrutiny.

The White Paper will look at how the power of consumers can be better
used to improve local services and how social housing tenants can be
given 'more choice and voice'.

Strengthening local accountability

Traditional civic institutions will need, increasingly, to be more
responsive and relevant to all people. We need to encourage strong 
and visible local leadership as well as providing more opportunities 
for communities to influence decisions.

Issues the Empowerment White Paper will seek to answer are what more
is needed to encourage consistently strong local leadership and how
best can we increase opportunities for communities to hold local
public officials and representatives to account.

Notes to Editors

This press notice applies to England

1. The White Paper Launch document Unlocking the Talent of our
Communities can be viewed at
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/unlockingtalent

2. The survey referred to in para 3 of the above news release was a
poll carried out by Communities and Local Government to measure the
extent to which people feel involved in local decision-making. The
results of this poll can be viewed at
http://www.communities.gov.uk/unlockingtalent

News Releases: http://www.communities.gov.uk/newsroom
------- End of forwarded message -------