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White paper delivers power shift to local people - Blears

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT News Release (167) issued by The Government News Network on 9 July 2008

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears will today publish a White Paper setting out proposals to deliver a fundamental shift in power, influence and responsibility into the hands of communities and citizens.

Communities in control: Real people, real power sets out how the Government plans to give citizens and communities more rights and more power through:

* more information and greater influence over the local decisions that affect them;

* new means of holding politicians and councils to account; and,

* where they choose, more opportunity to get directly involved in managing and shaping how local services are delivered.

Hazel Blears will say

"In many parts of the country, local democracy needs a boost, with low turn out at local elections and people feeling they can't influence the way some issues are decided in their area. This needs to change. That's why the White Paper provides real and practical ways to put communities in control, so that they have a real say, can find out first hand what is being done to improve their local services, and push any issue they think is of importance up the priority list of their local council.

"There is a lot of cynicism about politics but it is through politics that we bring about change for the better. Politicians have a contract with those that they serve - that contract now needs to be rewritten to ensure that the views of local people are taken more into account. Where people have a better solution to a problem or issue, that needs to be taken forward. The public must not only have the right to ask difficult questions, they should also have the right to demand answers."

The White Paper will seek to address issues around lack of power and influence at a local level. These include -

- New rights for the public to demand action from their council

Councils will be subject to a new duty to respond to petitions. Petitions will enable local people to force an issue onto a council's agenda. With enough signatures that issue would need to be discussed by the full council committee and could be subject to a vote. This could be used to raise issues as diverse as bin collections and street cleaning, or the state of local parks.

- Increasing accountability

Chairs and Chief Executives of local public bodies - such as Councils- will face regular public hearings as part of plans to increase accountability. More visible 'local question times' will give the public a chance to question officials about how they are improving public services and demand better results if they believe local services are falling short of expectations. It will also give CEOs an opportunity to describe the hard choices and trade-offs involved in decision making.

- Getting redress when things go wrong

Some housing associations already offer money back to tenants where they fail to carry repairs out on time. We want to see if this could go further, with redress for citizens when council services go wrong. We will establish a review into redress for citizens that will report in 2009.

- Giving local people a direct say on how budgets are spent

We want every area of the country to have a 'community kitty' scheme - a pot of money that local people can decide how to spend. Local people should have a say in setting priorities for local budgets - for example if they want to see more community wardens or better street lighting. Government Departments are also committed to citizens having a bigger say over youth and community safety spending.

- £70m Communitybuilders fund

Community-led third sector organisations are one of the most tangible and popular ways people get involved and start to actively give something back to their local communities. The Government will be investing £70m in organisations that are the backbone of their communities. This will help strong community groups acquire buildings, take a role in running local services, and become more financially self sustainable.

- Local people running local assets

Street markets, community centres and swimming pools will be handed over to local residents if they can do a better job of running them than councils. 30 new pilots will get underway shortly and a new Asset Transfer Unit will be established to support community groups making the most of buildings and resources.

- Making it easier for people to get a directly elected mayor.

Mayors provide visible local leadership and have the potential to engage more people in politics. We will consult on allowing on-line petitioning as well as paper petitions to be counted towards support for a referendum for a mayor. We will consult on reducing the number of people needed to trigger a referendum from 5% to perhaps 2%, 3% or 4% and change existing rules that mean no referendum can be held for 10 years if referendum is lost.

- Promoting democracy

A new duty will be placed on local authorities to promote democracy. Local leaders will be expected to do more to help residents understand how the democratic process works and how they can get involved. Residents can expect to see information campaigns and town halls being opened up to councillors to hold surgeries. New 'civic champions' - council staff or former councillors who will go out into the community and work with residents and community groups to increase understanding about how they can raise awareness about civic roles they can take up - whether that's volunteering, standing as a governor, a councillor or becoming a magistrate.

- Empowering young people More needs to be done to make politics and local services relevant and open to young people. We will establish a programme for young people to shadow government ministers and elected mayors, develop a programme of internships with local councillors and increase the number of young people who help councils and others understand the impact of their policies on the young

Data from the 2007 Citizenship Survey shows that in the last year just 38% of people felt able to influence decisions in their local area. 50% of respondents to the same survey wanted to be more involved in the decisions that their local council makes that affect their local area.

We have seen some excellent improvements in the performance of local government in recent years. This makes local government well placed to take on the significant challenge of rejuvenating local democracy.

Councils remain the vital elected voice of local people. The White Paper is about finding new ways to allow more people to influence decisions directly. Petitions have been a well-understood part of our public life for centuries. They represent a recognised method of bringing people's views together into a single collective voice. New data published today shows that more must be done to ensure petitions are acted upon.

A new YouGov survey of 1,906 adults across England shows -

* 70% of people have signed a petition - 63% in the last 5 years, and 42% in the last year;

* 90% of people think that councils should take account of views raised through petitions when making decisions - but only 21% of people agree that they currently do;

* 84% of people said they were more likely to sign a petition is a response was guaranteed and over half (54%) of respondents were more likely to organise one if a response was guaranteed

* Of those who have signed or organised a petition 48% were not satisfied with the way in which the council took their views into account; and,

* 34% of us do not know their council's process for submitting petitions.

The new duty on councils to respond to petitions will make sure that petitions have a greater impact and unlock local democracy for a lot more people.

Hazel Blears added:

"The White Paper is an important step in rebalancing power in local communities to ensure that the voice of local people is heard and acted on, and where it isn't, people have the levers to make a difference themselves if they so choose.

"As the best councils already show, local government has nothing to fear and everything to gain by involving local people is shaping and delivering services. When local people are given a greater say in how decisions are taken not only do they feel more empowered but satisfaction with services rises too."

Notes to Editors

1. Communities in control is about providing the real and practical routes people need to become more empowered. The White Paper contains three new duties - to promote democracy, to respond to petitions and for quangos to do more to involve the public. Taken together they establish a clear set of democratic rights for ordinary citizens.

2. The You Gov survey was carried out on behalf of the Department for Communities and Local Government. A total of 1906 adults in England were surveyed to establish basic measures of public knowledge of, and opinions on, their right to petition local authorities.

3. Research including surveys and literature reviews show that some of the key barriers to greater participation include lack of interest or understanding about local governance; negative perceptions and lack of trust in public institutions; lack of awareness of how to get involved and inaccessible recruitment practices and scepticism about the difference participation will make. But where people have positive experiences of participation, the confidence and skills they need to get involved or a personal invitation to do so, then they are more likely to play an active role. Details of this research can be viewed at http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/communitiesannex

4. The White Paper Communities in control: Real people, real power can be viewed at http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/communitiesincontrol

News Releases: http://www.communities.gsi.gov.uk