After the May reshuffle, local government found itself in a transformed Whitehall department, the new Department for Communities and Local Government, which has now unveiled a new-look internal management structure. Heather Jameson reports The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has launched its new internal structure in a bid to keep up with the changes to the department’s responsibilities. Local government’s major ministerial department has suffered in recent years, with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister succumbing to allegations of John Prescott’s sex romps in his office, and the leak of a MORI report, which claimed bullying was rife in the office, to the Sunday Times newspaper. The new DCLG will scrap the old system, which included a directorate for regional and local government. Responsibility for council issues will largely sit in two key directorates – governance and communications, and places and communities. Permanent secretary, Peter Housden, told The MJ the new places and communities directorate, under the lead of Joe Montgomery, who used to head up neighbourhood renewal, would be a key role for the new-look department. It is a wide-ranging division, including responsibility for, among other areas, neighbourhood renewal, community cohesion and the Government Office network. It will also include all work on Local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships, and mean ‘working closely with all government departments, and building relationships’, says Mr Housden. The new governance and communities division will have control over local government finance, communications, democracy, regional and city governance. Crucially, it will take over responsibility of the local government White Paper – but in a structure which will not be put into place until October, when the paper is due to be published. Until then, the White Paper will continue to be guided by John O’Brien, current director of local government performance and practice, and David Prout, director of local government policy under director general for regional and local government, Neil Kinghan. The other divisions in the department would be programmes, policy and innovation; including housing, sustainability, climate change, inclusion and the Olympics; equalities; corporate delivery; and fire and resilience; including civil contingency. In addition to a traditional collection of directorates, the new-look department will now also have a collection of ‘programme executives’. The executives, chaired by the director generals, will bring staff together from different directorates to work on the priorities of the ministers. The aim of the programme executives is to stop a ‘silo’ working within the department. Another major shift in working has been unveiled by the DCLG, with the announcement that the director generals will all move to work together on the sixth floor of Elland House – in an open-plan office. While they will be on the same floor as the ministers, the politicians will remain behind the closed doors of their offices. Peter Housden is keen to put the past difficulties behind him and create a new image for a new department. ‘I’d like people to say they are much more effective, are more joined up, and that this is a place where talent gets nurtured and recognised.’ n
