Proposals have been invited for new Local Enterprise Partnerships, replacing Regional Development Agencies, to drive regional and subregional economic policy. Guidance and advice on how big these new LEPs should be has been virtually non-existent.
Transition arrangements are vague and it is unclear how any region-specific influence will play into the important skills and business support agendas.
Trade unions have an allocated place on the current RDA boards, with no such requirement specified to date for the new LEPs. I have suggested that a trade union place is created for the LEP proposed for my area. Whether this is a deliberate attempt to carve trade unions out of regional economic decision-making is unclear but it is important we continue to recognise trade unions as key stakeholders in local economic policy-making.
As well as a dangerous lack of clarity on the future of regional economic policy, there remains a noticeable and clumsy void when it comes to the future arrangements for local government and specifically those local authorities yet to determine their future leadership model.
The government have indicated their intention to remove the option for a four-year leader model but at the same time have provided no detail or clarity whatsoever on the Tory election pledge to introduce elected mayors in the twelve largest cities, including Leicester. This, despite the requirement under current legislation for councils to determine their preferred governance model by the end of this year ready for next May’s elections.
The proposal for elected mayors is an interesting one and could present exciting opportunities for municipal leadership in the larger urban areas. However, it is intriguing why the new government has seemingly gone so quiet on this since the election.
There are proposals for elected police commissioners. Reform of the current police authorities would have been more sensible, it would have not required much to increase the democratic accountability of local police forces and a further set of absurdly expensive elections.
The health white paper claims to be about local accountability as well. Some transfer of responsibilities for public health from PCTs to councils can be welcomed, but not without the financial resource needed to challenge local health inequalities. Giving GPs commissioning power for vast chunks of the local health budget is less welcome, and makes clear the white paper’s true intention to dismantle the NHS.
We will have to wait for the localism bill this autumn for some more answers and clarity. Meanwhile the conclusion can be reached that the government’s localism thinking is sketchy, chaotic and unclear. When local communities and regions will need strong political leadership to deal with further devastating ConDem cuts, this lack of clarity becomes doubly dangerous.