As one Whitehall official commented at a conference recently: ‘The public don't give a toss about local area agreements.' He did not actually mean that LAAs were pointless, heaven forbid. It was merely an observation that whatever acronyms, initiatives and directives Whitehall and town halls cook up between them, life out in the real world goes on regardless. But, while the public have nil interest in the world of bureaucrats, there is strong support for joined-up government and a rightful disregard for institutional boundaries – all issues the LAAs set out to address. At a recent public meeting I chaired on behalf of a London borough, at least one-third of the complaints aired by the audience concerned services run by public bodies other than the local authority, such as transport or housing associations. Yet, it was clear these residents still saw their council as, somehow, responsible for those services. Most of the complaints, unsurprisingly, were about cross-cutting issues, such as crime, anti-social behaviour or youth unemployment, the kind of topics now picked up among the 35 LAAs announced this week. Hazel Blears, in an interview with The MJ (p12-13), sees the LAAs as heralding a ‘new era' because of the way they ask councils to address issues such as teenage pregnancy, youth unemployment or climate change, which previously would have been regarded as being in the domain of Whitehall. The challenge now is to ensure LAAs do not become bogged-down in pointless targets interpreted by box-tickers, but actually address the issues the public care about and expect government – local and national – to tackle. Congratulations to South Tyneside MBCCongratulations to South Tyneside MBC, its senior officers, staff and elected members, judged for being the Best Achieving Council of the Year at The MJ Awards last week. The winners received a well-deserved standing ovation at the gala awards ceremony. Michael Burton Editor, The MJ
