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Chris Leslie welcomes the White Paper's plans for community budgets, and asks why the same principles are not applied to national budgets. Setting aside the cynicisms that any radical localist might be tempted to vent in response to government White Papers, there were actually some worthwhile steps taken in Hazel Blears' Communities in control document, published earlier this summer. These are ‘slow burn' reforms which will take many years to come to fruition, but they are important principles on which a start needs to be made. For example, take the concept of the new ‘duties' to promote democracy, involve, consult and respond to petitions. Any self-respecting local authority will already be doing much of this, and it shouldn't take a ministerial edict to ensure that best practice is carried out. Trialling new ways of interacting with concerned residents and the public should continue, and these ideas are all welcome. What would be even more appreciated would be an extension of these principles beyond local government services. Why should a petitioner have the right to receive a response from the neighbourhood warden service, but no similar right to a response from local police? Where is the line drawn on petitions to social services v petitions to health services and the PCT? It would be far more effective – and comprehensible for the public – if these duties were extended to all public authorities, including central government departments as well. Participatory budgeting is another example where ministers are keen to see councils fling open the town hall doors and give direct choice to local residents. Again, this is certainly a positive step – although safeguards are needed to avoid knee-jerk, single-issue dominance. But why should these principles stop at the local level? If it is good enough for the council to encourage participatory budgeting, why not have this principle extended to national budgeting as well? I am quite sure that MPs and frontbenchers of all political parties might baulk at the idea of ceding representative democratic powers to direct popular initiative. But if this level of disruption to the established ways of administering public business is acceptable for local authorities, then it should also be satisfactory at national government level too. I suspect, however, that various justifications for limiting direct democracy can be made when it comes to letting the world loose on Treasury priorities. There is some real money in this latest CLG White Paper, and we will watch carefully how the £7.5m ‘empowerment fund' and the £70m ‘community builders fund' are spent. We hope local authorities will have a say in allocating these resources, and that they are not dished out by national quangos which would struggle to oversee their effectiveness. As we recommended last year in our Pacing Lyons report, ahead of the eponymous inquiry into local government, it is heartening to see steps being taken towards valuing and recognising the worth of the elected member. Politics has to eventually become a prestigious pursuit again if civic life is to be revived, and the accreditation of civic roles coupled with the renewal of possible aldermanic local honours can mean a great deal for many. Whether or not the visceral incentives-to-vote will have the same meaning for an apathetic general public, we will have to wait and see. Lastly, the ‘redress review' promises to have a practical impact for those difficult individual cases where service-users need recourse to complaints or a reconsideration of their plight. Elected members – both councillors and MPs – have long acted as a supplement to the ombudsman arrangements as a port of call for those with a legitimate grievance. It is important that the aspects of the current system which work well should be retained and enhanced, rather than starting from scratch in a way that could confuse or muddy existing lines of accountability. With strong core themes, over time the Communities in control White Paper may herald a broad culture change in the way governments conduct business. If all Whitehall departments were as enthusiastic as CLG, that would be an even better start. Chris Leslie is director of the New Local Government Network

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WHITEHALL

Cultivating reform

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