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Local Government Project

The Local Government project was undertaken jointly by the Public Sector Team, Local Government Association (LGA) and the then Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR).

Key Objectives

• Free front-line staff from unnecessary tasks, enabling them to spend more time delivering and improving services;
• Remove unnecessary processes that delay and frustrate service delivery, to the benefit of local communities.

Identifying and understanding the issues
The PST and the LGA determined together the scope of the local government project, organising six joint fora to bring together a range of local government practitioners to discuss how regulatory reform could proceed in certain defined areas.

The six fora took place between November 2000 and January 2001, covering the following areas:

• statutory planning requirements;
• transportation issues;
• services for children and young people;
• land-use planning system;
• local government law reform;
• funding regimes.

Initiating and obtaining commitments to address the issues raised
PST worked with LGA, DTLR and other stakeholders to explore possible solutions, and to broker a commitment to remove or simplify the rules and bureaucratic requirements in the suggested areas.

Making a Difference
Making a Difference: Reducing Red Tape and Bureaucracy in Local Government (315kb), published February 2002, delivered 50 tangible outcomes. These outcomes form a commitment from the relevant department or agency to reduce or remove burdens from local authorities.

The report served to highlight many issues that feature in the Local Government White paper ‘Strong Local Leadership – Quality Public Services’, published in December 2001. This provides a framework to allow local authorities more effective ways to deliver customer-focused services and lead their communities. Integral to this framework will be greater freedoms for authorities to decide how best to use their budgets and resources, lighter touch inspection regimes, a significant reduction in the number of statutory plans required by central government, and increased freedoms from red tape imposed by central departments.