Achieving a better balance between regulation and sector-led improvement

Paul Martin

The paradox of regulation in the UK

• Since 1997 there has been a focus on regulation as the prime way of driving improvement in local government (£2bn a year)

• But it’s been the financial sector where there’s been a concurrent shift to greater self-regulation, where things have gone horribly wrong

• There’s always a balance to be struck between external and self-regulation and the key thing is getting that balance right

“In retrospect regulation of the banks should have been tougher. I don’t think we got the balance fully right.”

Ed Balls, April, 2010

Does central government need more regulation?“Mandarins demanded written orders to implement decisions they opposed and submitted unprecedented number of protests.” The Guardian, 18 May 2010

• Ministers overruled civil servants on spending plans on at least four occasions between January and May this year.

• Advice from officials was ignored on a further nine occasions in 2009. This compares with just five occasions in the previous three years.

• Three quarters of the objections were on ‘value for money’ grounds.

• The objections showed "there was some unhappiness about spending decisions.” Jonathan Baume, First Division Association

Are we beyond the tipping point?

• There has been a consensus for some time that the current balance in local government is wrong

• Government has nationalised, regulated and micro-managed local government

• The overall cost of local government regulation is £2billion (NAO)

• The coalition government is committed to ‘the radical devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups’

“We will end the era of top down government … cut local government inspection and abolish the CAA”

The Coalition – our programme for government, 20th May 2010

Reducing the burden• BVPIs, CPA, CAA, LPSAs,

LAAs, - these acronyms and the associated stars and flags have dominated our thinking, if not the public’s

• Regulation has encouraged councils to become risk-averse, compliant and pragmatic

• Now in the context of budget cuts, there’s a need for strong local leadership - political judgements based on locality rather than star rating

Five ways to achieve a better balance

1. Councils articulating distinctive policy agendas

2. ‘Big Society’ forms of accountability

3. Stronger community leadership

4. Skilling-up staff

5. Shifting resources from regulation to building community capacity

Articulating distinctive policy agendas• Regulation has often been about central government seeking re-

assurance that councils are delivering against national standards and priorities

• Key lines of enquiry prescribe what constitutes ‘good services’ in enormous detail

• Instead what we need is for councils to develop policies rooted in and authentic to the needs and aspirations of the locality

• That means designing services ourselves with local users, offering greater choice and discretion

We should recognise, and in Graham Swift’s phrase, ‘celebrate the inescapable locality of existence’

• The ‘postcode lottery’ should become the ‘postcode opportunity’

Developing ‘Big Society’ forms of accountability

• The current regulatory framework is based on a model of state provision; ensuring people’s entitlements are being met

• The ‘big society’ emphasises social responsibility and radical devolution rather than state guarantees

• Improvement will be driven through different types of accountability like– Personalisation, choice and control– Transferring ownership of community assets– Participatory budgeting– Greater use of the market, outsourcing and trading– Open data: helping residents become ‘armchair critics’

Demonstrating stronger community leadership

• Community strategies based around local priorities not national indicators

• Developing partnership infrastructures more proportionate to local needs

• Taking on new roles e.g. Essex post offices

• More mayors

• Councils taking responsibility for high profile failures rather than ministers St Helier festival, 2009

Capacity building within the sector

• Staff will be using their knowledge and experience to shape services rather than working to key lines of enquiry

• Councillors as active contributors and community assets within town and county halls

• Employ more young people, apprentices and graduates

• New forms of delivery: social enterprises and co-operatives

• Talent management will be a higher priority

Capacity building in the community

• We are becoming increasingly focused on longer-term outcomes involving lifestyle changes (obesity, smoking, healthy eating, exercise)

• Tackling these issues isn’t about better regulation, it’s about shifts in behaviour, prevention rather than cure

• And it’s not only about individual choices, it’s about how communities of place and communities of interest can play more substantive roles

Some examples

• Community communicators in Barking & Dagenham, Bexley and Sutton

• Smarter Travel Sutton: 6% reduction in car use, 75% increase in cycling

• Sutton Life Centre – positive activities for young people

• Libraries staffed by local volunteers

Young Foundation – Guide to Behaviour Change

It’s later than we think

• Many councils – councillors and officers – have known nothing but subservience to the national state.

• We need to replace compliance with innovation, obedience with experimentation, bureaucracy with dynamism

• “Doing the right things” not “doing things the right way”

• Can we occupy the space available to us, or will we wait for national guidance?