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Decentralisation minister, Greg Clark, puts pressure on ‘inert' Whitehall to hand powers down to councils and communities as Number 10 kick-starts Big Society's reputation Decentralisation minister, Greg Clark, will hand Number 10 a dossier this summer, naming and shaming Whitehall departments failing to devolve powers to communities as prime minister, David Cameron, seeks to save his faltering Big Society initiative. The report could put the prime minister on collision course with Cabinet colleagues – including work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith; home secretary, Theresa May; and business secretary, Vince Cable – over perceived decentralisation ‘inertia' within their departments. Mr Clark this week revealed he would assess all Whitehall departments against six decentralisation criteria – including the extent to which they had devolved control over public finances to communities – in a July report to Mr Cameron. It follows concerns among MPs, council leaders, senior businessmen and the voluntary sector that the Government's commitment to localism beyond the Department for Communities and Local Government, including the Big Society initiative, is merely one of ‘tone' and not action. Mr Cameron's Big Society plan was criticised again this week, when opponents said deep public spending cuts had undermined cashflows to local voluntary groups which ministers want to manage community services such as libraries and museums. Mr Clark told the DCLG select committee on 14 February that while ‘localism' was a guiding principle for the coalition, ‘decentralisation' was the mechanism designed to achieve it, and ‘Big Society' the desired outcome. The prime minister had earlier defended his ethereal Big Society project. He said the initiative would be his ‘passion' throughout his period in office. Nine months into the coalition's term, serious questions have also been raised about Whitehall's commitment to devolved welfare programmes, the community budgets plan to integrate public spending at local level, localised criminal justice initiatives, and the business department's commitment to devolved regional growth. The DCLG committee, chaired by Labour MP, Clive Betts, will report on the localism agenda this spring. Conservative committee member, James Morris, this week told Mr Clark: ‘A lot of the evidence we've heard is that one of the barriers to localism is the sense of cultural inertia in Whitehall.' Mr Clark responded: ‘If people have power at the moment – it often takes quite an effort to make them give it up.' Mr Cameron, he said, had ‘asked him to report back in July on how different departments are doing', and that his six-point ‘guide' to localism, published last December, would now become quasi-formal assessment criteria. ‘They are actions that not only can be taken by different departments, but they can actually be judged against. The report I will give to the prime minister will judge them against it – and some will do better than others,' he said. Mr Clark's six criteria will assess whether departments: lift the burden of bureaucracy, empower communities, increase local control of public finance, diversify public services supply, open up government to public scrutiny, and strengthen local accountability. A Number 10 source said Mr Cameron had been impressed by DCLG's commitment to these principles – through the Localism Bill, for example – but was aware of ‘anecdotal mixed reviews' across Whitehall. The source said the prime minister ‘wanted to see for himself' so that ‘sticking points' could be addressed. Mr Betts' committee has heard evidence from four departments. He told The MJ police minister, Nick Herbert, ‘looked totally blank' when asked what he had done to progress a devolved agenda, while welfare minister, Chris Grayling, and care minister, Paul Burstow, ‘revealed no real progress'. ‘It's very clear the message hasn't got far beyond DCLG into some departments. I suspect that Greg [Clark] is having tussles behind the scenes,' Mr Betts warned. Meanwhile, council leaders are growing restless and worry they are wrestling with deep local spending cuts with few new powers, or merged cash pots, to improve localities beyond those provided by the DCLG. Community budget pilots covering 28 councils are due to launch in April, with an initial focus on reducing problem family interventions. An MJ conference last week heard concerns the initiative, which replaces Labour's Total Place programme, lacked Whitehall support. Wigan MBC leader, Lord Peter Smith, said: ‘All government departments should see this initiative as a way of getting more for less, but only some are signed up for it.'

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WHITEHALL

Dossier for devolution

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