Minutes:
Esther Barrott, LGA Adviser introduced Simon Kaye, Director of Policy at Reform and contributor to the LGA’s Levelling Up Locally Inquiry.
Esther outlined Simon’s involvement and invited him to present his work to members.
Simon updated colleagues on work being done to emphasise reform and make the case for much deeper devolution and a much more co-productive state and clarify terms of leadership.
He made several key points, including:
· The need to make the most of councillors.
· It is clear that the current model of devolution within the levelling up agenda needs to be explored.
· It is very clear that personality has broken down barriers around devolution. But greater clarity is needed about what responsibilities should fan out to local authorities.
· Setting up collaborations is crucial to make a success on levelling up agendas.
· Re-imagining the way that the state works is needed. There is the potential for a different model, visible already in collaborations already seen.
· There needs to be a joint ambition to work collaboratively that transcends differences.
· It is clear that there is an important role for local authorities in creating more devolution opportunities, greater accountability systems and greater automity locally.
Simon thanked colleagues for the opportunity of presenting to them.
The Chair invited comments:
· There is some scepticism around central government’s commitment to devolution.
· They were unsure about the what the relationship will be between directly elected mayors and local authorities.
· The subject of devolution and clarity on criteria used to support particular projects needs much greater discussion.
· The government need to be aware of the cost of not levelling up. Have we quantified the cost of poverty to the country?
· It is a very important debate which needs to continue in the months ahead.
· Running whole city regions is very complex and to do it effectively and we need to look collectively at dialogue.
· More conversation around place-based regeneration models will be useful.
Mr Kaye responded to concerns and agreed that there are barriers with a lack of faith amongst civil servants. He informed colleagues that meetings are now taking place with officials in Whitehall and commented on variability.
He agreed that a combination of clarity around responsibility and delivery is needed and that a good programme of devolution should do this.
Members agreed support for the work being done.
Mayor Rees and Members discussed complexities and the importance of proactiveness of government in supporting devolution to a local level and prioritising the cost of not doing devolution.
Decision:
Action:
· Officers to take forward members’ comments.