Before I went off on paternity leave I saw an interesting blog about how New Orleans is using “big data” to improve performance and accountability. A few years ago, big data was the big thing in public services – the idea that professionals gathering information from a wide range of sources to give them as good an idea as possible about how services are experienced by people on the ground – and how we can find novel solutions to the complex challenges they face. The blog is a good read (you can find it at https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/new-look-new-orleans/?utm_source=Centre). It ...
After what seems like a very long wait, Government has now published a draft of the Order which sets out more detail for combined authorities on the form of their scrutiny arrangements. The Order will probably complete its passage through Parliament in January, but will not come into effect until 8th May 2017. ...
Last week, we published our latest piece of research on devolution governance: "Governance and devolution: charting the way". Despite the uncertainty around the direction of the devolution agenda itself, areas around England are working hard to have robust systems for decision-making and accountability in place by May 2017, when a number of them will have Mayoral elections. These areas have all experienced hurdles they’ve needed to overcome. Working through relationships with Government has, for some, been tricky. Thinking about the relationship which will apply between the Mayor and the Combined Authority has provoked some areas to think of ways to ...
The Centre for Governance and Scrutiny wants to understand the views of local politicians, council employees and other local people about the process of devolution currently underway in England. In particular, we want to understand people's views of governance. That means the way that decisions are made and by whom under devolution, and how those decisions can be held to account. We’d like to invite anyone with an opinion on this issue to fill in a short survey on the subject. You can find the survey here - CfGS devolution survey. All responses will be anonymised. We are producing some ...
Combined authorities – and areas aspiring to establish combined authorities in the near future – are taking the first steps towards introducing the concept of devolution to local residents, and inviting their views.Devolution is complicated. It’s no Schleswig-Holstein Question, but its twists and turns still baffle even those of us whose jobs it is to keep track of what is going on. In this context, it might be too much to expect that the public will be able to get a handle on it.In an ideal world we wouldn’t be in this space. The public would have been ...
The Public Accounts Committee has been interested in the Government’s policies on English devolution for some time now. Earlier this year, they put out a report on accountability and devolution which we critiqued here.It’s safe to say that the PAC view on scrutiny has undertaken something of a pivot since that report. More recently, they've published their thoughts again, and it's interesting to see how things have changed. The relentless focus on national accountability hasn’t disappeared, but it is far less strident. And there is some far more nuanced discussion on local scrutiny.This is to be warmly welcomed. ...
Following the referendum result there’s a lot of chatter about the likely impact of the decision on local government and the devolution agenda.If this seems parochial – my God, we should be talking about macroeconomics, the invocation of Article 50 of the TEU and the Labour leadership crisis! – it’s important to recognise that the Government’s current policies on devolution in England will have a profound impact on local people’s lives (a subject on which we have blogged and written before). Devolution presents a rare opportunity for a recalibration between local and central government. The (let’s put it delicately) ...
May seems to be the month for publishing major reports on devolution. There is our own, launched recently (http://cfps.org.uk/cards-on-the-table-devolution/), there is the imminent paper from Phil Swann of Shared Intelligence, going down into the legal detail of the establishment and operation of combined authority – and in the last week, two major and thought-provoking pieces of work from CURDS and NAVCA. CURDS is the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies at the University of Newcastle. NAVCA is the National Association for Voluntary and Community Action. Both reports reflect on big issues from different perspectives – this, as ...
Today (12th May) we are launching a major paper on devolution governance. It aims to explore all aspects of the preparation, negotiation and implementation of devolution deals - at every stage highlighting the key governance decisions to be made, and issues to be resolved. The devolution debate so far has raised plenty of opportunities and issues, this paper now starts to move the debate on with possible answers. Devolution must be accompanied by good governance, otherwise it is destined to fail. Good governance is about more than just the presence of a Mayor. It is about having a range of ...
Jacqui comments and Ed blogs on the new Public Accounts Committee report.Jacqui McKinlay, Chief Executive of CfGS, commenting on the release of the Public Accounts Committee’s report: Accountability to Parliament for taxpayers' money, said:“The Public Account Committee must accept devolution of scrutiny is part of the package. Parliament will need to share accountability with local structures, rather than being the primary focus.If the PACs report tells people working in local government anything it is that we must get serious about good governance if we want to wield greater powers. If we can’t get our own house in order ...
This is the fifth in a series of blogs being produced by CfGS as part of the support work we are carrying out over 2015/16 on devolution. A report setting out our findings and recommendations in full will be published shortly. The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Devolution reported last week. Its Chair, Lord Kerslake (he is our Chair as well) described the process of English devolution so far as “piecemeal and incoherent”.I’m going to use this blogpost as an opportunity to play devil’s advocate, and ask whether something being piecemeal and incoherent is necessarily always a bad thing.English devolution ...
We can offer a range of support from the beginning of the devolution process, all the way through to deals being implemented.While we're keen to see areas work with us on all of the below as a long-term partner, we can provide support on any element singularly or in combination. Our approach is based on the learning from our comprehensive research paper, "Cards on the table", published in May 2016.The kinds of help we offer include:Designing systems to engage the public at the start of the process;Working with non-executive councillors to better understand, and feed in, their concerns;Mediating ...
We can help you to think about the various structures and models open to you, as you seek to agree on a permanent approach to devolution governance. Our approach is focused on the development by combined authorities of a “governance framework” to decide how they will develop policy and monitor performance. We explain the "governance framework" here.At a minimum, a governance framework will help you to clarify the following:How you propose to develop policy under devolution;How you propose to monitor and review performance under devolution.In particular, how the public will be involved in both of the above.The framework is all ...
Formulating devolution proposals can be challenging. For local areas, the need for speedy agreement can work against the need to ensure that a proposal to Government is robust. There is no "one size fits all" approach to good governance - each area is unique. So, diagnostic work must be different from area to area. We do not have a checklist which we use to identify whether an area's plans are fit for purpose or not. Instead we review whether key actors in the area understand where responsibility and power will lie, the diagnostic process being a reflection of those overall ...
It used to be that one referred to the infamous Encyclopedia Britannica entry For Wales, see England, to highlight the degree of English hegemony within Britain. Yet, the degree of self-determination within Britain’s Celtic periphery post devolution is challenging that view.In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland devolution has been highly political and constitutional, was popularly endorsed -with various degrees of enthusiasm-, and continues to be extremely dynamic. English devolution is a different beast, disguised in a form of coordinated localism and decentralisation, driven at best by economic growth aspirations and, at worst, by survival instincts in the face of ...
This is the third in a series of blogposts on governance and devolution. CfGS has been funded by the LGA to provide practical support to five areas in England which are going through the process of negotiating and agreeing devolution deals. We are exploring how accountability and governance will work in relation to matters subject to those deals.Devolution deals will stand and fall on the quality of the relationships between the people involved. For someone keen on formal governance, this is difficult to admit. Close relationships - “chumminess” - can be the enemy of good governance. It encourages an ...
This blog is the second in a series we are writing as part of our support work, funded by the LGA, on English devolutionIt was to say the least a bit of a surprise when DCLG announced, just before Christmas, that the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill would be amended to allow areas to bid for unitary status even if not all authorities in the area agreed. We’re not back to the bad old days of forced unitarisation (in England at least – Northern Ireland has just gone through its own reorganisation, and Wales is just about to embark ...
The Communities and Local Government Committee has today released a report highly supportive of the principle of greater devolution but is critical that the devolution negotiations to date have lacked transparency. In addition it calls for greater public engagement, before, during and following devolution agreements. CfGS, which has been campaigning for greater openess in devolution deals submitted both written and oral evidence to the committee.On the release of the report Jacqui McKinlay, Chief Executive said: “We are delighted with the committee’s report – it highlights the same concerns CfGS has been raising for a number of months. We are strong supporters ...
Devolution is gathering pace in England. True, I could have started a blog with that line at any point in the last eighteen months, but this time (despite some wobbles) it really is happening. Deals have been done (and are being done, and will continue to be done) - but now minds must turn to what the new world of devolved government in England will look like. Who will make decisions, how and where? Who will hold them to account? And what resonance will this have with local people? These are all governance challenges - ones which we are eager to ...
“Getting the governance right” for devolution isn’t about bureaucracy, or a sideshow distracting us from the real prize of more power for combined authorities. Good governance is in fact central to making those arrangements work.The next nine months will see us playing an active part in providing support to combined authorities in England as they start to build up their governance arrangements to effectively deliver the devolution deals they have made, and are making. We're kicking this off with the launch of our publication "Devo Why? Devo How?", and the launch of our wider campaign on devolution and ...