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A new concordat between central and local government will be necessary to lay out the structure to deliver Total Place, says Sally Knock. TheBudget's Total Place report announced that the Government would give local authorities and their partners more freedoms and flexibilities through further reducing ring-fenced budgets and cutting the national indicator set. Neither promise is new or innovative, but both are clear and welcome ways in which the Treasury can loosen the reins and pass more control to local government. Whitehall has an abundance of policy teams working hard to find the best way of delivering their own objectives and policies. Has anyone told these teams that they have to stop what they're doing and leave localities to find their own solution? And if so, do they really believe it? It will be hard for Whitehall to understand that it must do less, and to trust local partners to deliver their goals without intervention from the above. This does not mean that civil servants or ministers have to believe that any policies – from maths to mental health services, breast feeding to bus times – are any less important, but to understand that importance does not have to equate to a policy team, a strategy document and a suite of pilots, or a ‘command and control' delivery model. Understanding this will be easier than implementing it. It will be a brave minister who can ride out a media criticism or unforeseen event without a reactionary announcement, and a brave civil servant who challenges their minister with the argument that the best thing to do is nothing. Such an approach will both need – and feed – a public and media who better understand that central government is not responsible for every event and outcome. In many ways, civil servants are right to be concerned about devolving control to local partners. There is not yet evidence that all local partners have the capacity to design services and manage area-wide budgets in a way that will deliver the world-class services we all strive for. This is a vicious circle – the system will never gain this capacity while coping with the burdens and limitations of top-down control. Trust and devolution are required to build capacity, and capacity is required before Whitehall has the trust to devolve. Whitehall clearly has a role in developing the capacities at local level that will make national interventions redundant. There are three other issues for Whitehall to ponder during the promised calm of purdah. First, even if localism becomes the reality, there are some matters which will be prescribed at a national level for reasons of practicality, politics, economics or equity. It is now time to decide what issues belong to this group. In partnership with local councils, the new government must define those matters that will be centrally controlled, and those for which local partners will be responsible. This list must then be communicated clearly and observed consistently. This might form part of the promised ‘concordat'. Second, Whitehall will need to establish ways to hold local partners to account for securing better outcomes and ensuring value for money, in a way which does not tie their hands. And finally, policy-makers need to understand what is left in their repertoire when ministers want to introduce new initiatives or to take action to secure particular political objectives, entitlements or outcomes for the general public. Total Place demonstrated what Whitehall cannot do, but departments need to understand how they can effect changes while staying true to ideas devolved accountability and local decision-making. There are many myths and misconceptions about Total Place. The biggest one is that it is about local government. The Treasury may not have noticed, but to achieve the vision it has set out, the most radical reform will be on its own doorstep. Sally Knock is a consultant for Taylor Haig

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WHITEHALL

The onus is on Whitehall to change

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