Today's council leader has to accept political accountability for a range of outcomes, issues and activities over which he or she has little or no direct control.
The introduction of local area agreements (LAAs), not to mention multi-area agreements (MAAs) and the comprehensive area assessment (CAAs), will put the spotlight on local authorities and their political leaders in an unprecedented way.
Increasingly, services are being commissioned or delivered on an inter-agency basis – whether this is children's services commissioned by children's trusts or crime-reduction programmes involving the police, probation service, local authorities, the NHS and the local third sector, or one of the very many other partnership or collaborative arrangements which dominate every area.
The pressures driving more partnerships and collaborative working will increase over coming years as a result of a greater focus on the service-user and neighbourhood empowerment; of greater financial constraint being outstripped by demand for services; the pursuit of good professional practice; and often, by statute.
These arrangements may be formal and institutional, but they are as likely to be informal and even hardly visible to those not directly involved.
The leader and his or her political leadership colleagues have to understand this new environment. They must find ways to influence all the agencies and organisations which contribute to commissioning and delivering public services in the area; to the economic and social wellbeing of the area; and to the local environment.
The council's own directly-commissioned services may be delivered by directly-employed staff, or they might be procured from other public agencies, the third sector or business providers, or even a combination of these.
Some of the services will, indeed, be subject to user choice and some form of direct payment mechanism.
Accountability for securing of services and community wellbeing outcomes cannot be delegated or transferred by the political leadership of a local authority as part of an inter-agency agreement, or an outsourcing contract.
This political environment requires a very different form of political leadership in local government than was the case only a few years ago, let alone 10 or more years ago.
The political leader must be able to lead:
In addition, the political leader now has to influence:
