Current (and developing) policy context

Momentum has been building around community empowerment or devolution in it's more general terms since the Lyon's review of Local Government in 2006.  The review highlighted the importance of local government as 'place shapers', which included devolving some centralised powers to local government and some local government powers to local communities.  The review was followed shortly by a Local Government white paper in 2006 which became the Act in 2007. 

Local Government Act

It's full title is the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 (or LGPIH for short!), but it's generally known as the Local Government Act.  Received royal assent in 2007 with a series of deadlines for implementation beginning with it's assent in 2007 through to dates in 2009. 

The Local Government Act contains many changes for local authorities to implement but the key elements within the context of PB are:

• Local Strategic Partnerships
• Local Area Agreements
• Duty to Involve

Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs): These were previously voluntary for local authorities, and have been developed over the past 5-6 years, however the Act has a mandatory requirement that all local authorities set up LSPs.  LSPs are a strategic level partnership of all statutory agencies plus private and voluntary sector representation for a local authority area.  They agree and monitor the aims, vision and outcomes for the local area through an action plan called the Local Area Agreement.  LSPs must involve communities in setting and reviewing the aims, vision and outcomes for the area.

Local Area Agreements (LAAs): These are a three-year action plan for the LSP to monitor and implement targets and milestones to achieving the aims, vision and outcomes for the local area.  Again, previously LAAs have been voluntary and have been developed over a period of 5-6 years but the Act now makes them mandatory for all LSPs to have an LAA.  The LAA also includes up to 35 government indicators, against which the LSP sets annual targets and for which there is a reward grant if the targets are achieved.  Through these indicators, central government can monitor local government.  The Act also requires that LSPs involve communities in developing LAAs, which run for 3 years but are refreshed annually.  There is also recommendations to interpret the LAA locally in neighbourhoods, whether that be through Neighbourhood Action Plans, Neighbourhood Charters, Neighbourhood Management structures or other neighbourhood processes whereby there can be much more 'bottom up' engagement with the community in identifying priorities.

The 'duty to involve': The Act contains what's known in short-hand as the 'duty to involve'.  The duty to involve beyond consultation, requiring that local people should be informed, consultedor involved in other ways on services in their local areas. The duty is intended to represent a step change in the way in which councils engage with local people in the design and delivery of services.  The White Paper, preceeding the Act specifically mentions participatory budgeting as one way that local authorities can fulfil this new duty.  The duty comes into effect from April 2009.

To read the Act in full, please click on the following link: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2007/ukpga_20070028_en_1

For more information on how local government is affected by the Act, please look at our pages on local government.

Community Empowerment White Paper: Communities in Control

 The main focus of the Empowerment White Paper is on devolving power to communities and reinvigorating democracy. 

“That people should have the maximum influence, control and ownership over the decisions, forces and agencies which shape their lives and environments is the essence of democracy.  There are few ideas more powerful, or more challenging.” (Introduction, Rt. Hon Hazel Blears MP)

Participatory budgeting is a key element of the white paper and is seen as one of the main mechanisms for empowering citizens. 

“we believe that citizens and communities are capable of taking difficult decisions, balancing competing demands and solving complex problems themselves, given the right support and resources.”

Key aspects of the white paper for participatory budgeting are:

• Extending the 'duty to involve' to other agencies including police authorities
• Creating a new duty to promote democracy
• Creating a duty to respond to petitions - particularly petitions requesting participatory budgeting
• Commitment to working with Home Office in developing PB pilots around community safety budgets and looking at using PB to reallocate the proceeds of crime
• Commitment to working with the Department of Health and Department for Children, Schools & Families to develop health and young people's PB pilots
• Revisions to planning law including the relaxing of restrictions on developers Section 106 monies
  

To view the white paper in full click here.

To view a summary version of the white paper click here

National PB Strategy

Government has recently demonstrated is specific commitment to empowering  communities through PB, by publishing a national PB Strategy. 

In the strategy the government spells out it's aspiration that all local authorities would be engaged in some form of PB by 2012.  It's committment isn't just to the numbers of authorities but also the kind and the depth of PB - the strategy has an aspiration for exploring the use of PB with LAA monies during 2008. 

The strategy also builds on the Flanagan Review of policing, by confirming it's commitment to seeing neighbourhood policing integrate more fully with neighbourhood management models and using PB as a method of engaging with local neighbourhoods around their priorities for spend.

To support the spread of PB, the strategy highlights the need for some clarity and standards around PB and the Unit fully supports this and is producing it's own values, principles and standards document which we will be asking for peoples views on.  The purpose of the document is to provide clarity around PB and promote it's integrity, providing flexible ways of implementing it whilst also providing a framework and standards within which to implement effectively. 

Following consultation, the strategy is now being redrafted and is due to be re-launched at our conference on 15th September.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/participatorybudgeting

Policing Green Paper

Following on from the Flanagan Review of Policing, the Home Office have produced a Policing Green Paper, which is currently out for consultation until October.

In the Green Paper, the Home Office reiterate the commitment in the empowerment white paper, to developing some participatory budgeting pilots using community safety monies and to look at using participatory budgeting to allocate the proceeds of crime.

The Green Paper considers participatory budgeting as a good way to integrating neighbourhood policing with neighbourhood management - something which the paper advocates. 

To view the green paper in full, click here