Communities in Control White Paper
From Democracywiki
Central Lobby
On 9 July 2008, the Department for Communities and Local Government published the Communities in control: real people, real power White Paper. The Paper highlights the importance of political activity as a "worthwhile and essential part of British life," and presents a vision of the state providing support to vibrant local democracies without imposing its own priorities. Since the focus is on enabling local activity, the White Paper includes a number of case studies of local initiatives and achievements.
"The answer lies in empowerment: passing more and more political power to more and more people, using every practical means available, from the most modern social networking websites, to the most ancient methods of petitioning, public debates and citizens’ juries. In this way, democracy becomes, not a system of occasional voting or an imperfect method of selecting who governs us, but something that infuses our way of life."
Contents |
Proposals
Firstly, the government proposes to extend the 'duty to involve' – a duty placed on local authorities to involve local people in key decisions, due to come into effect in April 2009 – to more public bodies, such as the Arts Council and Police Authorities.
A new 'duty to promote democracy' will also be introduced, involving:
- provision of information about the local authority in publications and on websites
- training of front-line staff to answer simple questions about the local system
- empowerment of young people through mock elections and 'young mayors'
- efforts to encourage people to take up civic roles, including targeting of under-represented groups, for example by building relations with local employers
- better practical support for councillors, including the provision of premises for holding surgeries, and mentoring programmes in which new councillors can be trained by alumni
- encouragement of voter registration and voting, especially among the young.
The government will also establish an Empowerment Fund of at least £7.5m to support national third sector organisations who work with local councils.
Thereafter, the government’s proposals are divided into seven sections.
Active citizens and the value of volunteering
The government recognises the value of volunteer work in building a sense of community, and recognises the difficulties caused by lack of funding, facilities, or practical experience. It proposes:
- An investment of £2m (on top of existing schemes) to help enable people with disabilities to take part in voluntary work
- A £70m Communitybuilders scheme to aid the establishment of sustainable community-led organisations
- £80m of small grants to grassroots organisations over the next three years, coupled with a £50m endowment fund to help such organisations achieve sustainability
- Removal of legal barriers preventing local authorities from commissioning services from faith-based groups
- A new national survey of third sector organisations, including faith-based ones, to understand the difficulties they face
- Support for citizenship training for adults
- Support for local leadership programmes aimed at people from diverse backgrounds (including the extension of existing mentoring programmes)
- Support for inter-faith dialogue, community efforts to tackle climate change, and local events such as litter picks
Access to information
The government stresses the link between a lack of knowledge and a feeling of powerlessness; if citizens are to be involved in local activity they must be informed about local services and decisions. It proposes:
- Support for initiatives to improve access to digital information, such as providing 'Digital Mentors' in deprived areas, while recognising the need to provide information in a range of forms
- Encouragement for the provision of crime and healthcare information at a neighbourhood level
- Online provision to parents of information on their children’s school attendance, attainment, and behaviour within the next few years
- A forthcoming 'Policing Pledge' to improve information about local crime and develop means of holding local policing teams to account
- A redesigned Places Database, providing community information to the public, to be launched in autumn 2008
Having an influence
The government recognises the value of the public having a voice outside election time, both in empowering the public itself and in helping elected representatives perform their duties. It proposes:
- A new duty for councils to respond to all petitions, including electronic ones
- Plans to encourage all local authorities to introduce participatory budgeting by 2012
- New powers for local authorities to provide incentives for voting in local government elections (such as entering voters into a prize draw)
- Encouragement of the creation of councils at the most local level, such as villages or neighbourhoods, including a right of appeal to the Secretary of State where the creation of such councils is blocked by the local authority
- New powers for local authorities to make certain bye-laws without central government scrutiny
- Extension of "neighbourhood management" systems to allow for the control of local policing by local communities
- Extension of "community justice" programmes (i.e. residents proposing projects for payback activities)
- Reforms to planning procedures to allow for developers’ contributions to local facilities to be controlled by the community
- Funding to promote greater community engagement in planning procedures
- A new, unified body – the Tenant Services Authority – responsible for protecting social housing tenants
- Support for the spread of housing cooperatives
- A programme for young people to shadow government ministers and elected mayors
- Extension of the Young Advisors programme to give advisors direct access to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
- A new national institute for youth leadership, including a programme of internships with local councillors
Challenge
The government recognises the need for people to hold their officials to account, and proposes:
- Raising the visibility of scrutiny procedures in local councils, by strengthening the procedures themselves and by encouraging councils to seek greater public involvement, to move committee meetings out of the town hall into the community, and to make information more readily available
- Consultation on introducing a new right to petition to hold local officers to account
- Measures to aid the establishment of directly-elected mayors, by making it easier for people to demand a referendum on the issue.
Redress
The government aims to ensure that any problems of execution are quickly and fairly resolved, and proposes:
- A review of the Local Government Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, to ensure that any limitations on his jurisdiction are genuinely in the public interest
- A pilot programme for a community pledgebank – a system wherein individuals pledge a resource to a central pot to be used to further specified community priorities
- A review into the feasibility of extending redress for citizens where council services fail to meet agreed targets.
Standing for office
The Government hopes to encourage a wider range of people to become councillors, and proposes:
- An amendment to the Widdicombe Rules (which forbid council workers above a certain salary band from being active in party politics) so that all but those in the most senior or politically sensitive posts may participate
- Encouragement of the use of discretionary localised budgets for backbench councillors to allocate funds according to ward priorities
- Support for remote voting by councillors, to improve access
- Encouragement of the appointment of former councillors as Aldermen, and new powers to use the title 'Alderwoman'
- Consultation on extending the right to time off for public duties to cover members of court boards, probation boards, and youth offender panels
- Production of an information pack for employers on the time commitments and potential developmental benefits involved in employees taking up a civic role
- A review into the possibility of an accredited qualification for councillors in recognition of their service
Ownership and control
The Government wants to increase the number of people involved in running local services, such as community centres, street markets, or local shops and pubs, and proposes:
- Creation of an Asset Transfer Unit to work with local authorities and community groups to aid the transfer of assets into community ownership
- Consultation on a national framework to support Community Land Trusts (independent organisations controlling land for the benefit of the local community), and continued support for the 14 pilot CLTs.
- A new Social Enterprise Unit within Communities and Local Government to encourage the creation of more social enterprises (businesses with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are reinvested for those purposes), and to ensure that they are able to compete fairly for local authority contracts
