Snub for localism
Author: Jonathan Werran, the MJ |
Alex Thomson was quoted in an MJ article on DCLG blocking of annual reports on decentralisation.
DCLG ministers have rejected a key recommendation made by cities minister Greg Clark that government should issue annual decentralisation progress updates, MPs learned this week.
In news that raises concerns about the Government’s ongoing commitment to devolving powers, the Communities and Local Government Select Committee heard the coalition has blocked proposals for regular reports on decentralisation and an annual Parliamentary debate on how successfully departments are transferring powers.
Former decentralisation minister Greg Clark and communities minister Don Foster, who gave evidence jointly to the committee on 15 April, presented a united front before MPs.
Mr Clark, who as financial secretary to the Treasury also retains his brief as cities minister, said the decentralisation report ? issued last December some 18 months after a first draft was submitted to the prime minister ? was a personal assessment.
‘Everything I recommended in this report I stand by and I will continue to press and to agitate in public and private for it to be adopted,’ Mr Clark said. However, he insisted the study, which gave a star-rating to Whitehall departments for their progress in shifting power away from the centre, was issued as personal rather than official advice.
Communities minister Don Foster confirmed the Government would not accept the recommendations to formally monitor central government’s progress because there is now no longer a decentralisation minister. Mr Foster suggested select committees would be best placed to raise the issue.
Commenting in a personal capacity, committee chair Clive Betts told The MJ he was ‘disappointed and quite surprised’ at the DCLG’s decision.
‘I hope it doesn’t indicate a shift of policy by the Government,’ said Mr Betts. He added it was ‘not a helpful move in advancing progress’ and would allow Whitehall departments to avoid scrutiny.
According to Alex Thomson, chief executive of the Localis think tank, the decision to cease publishing further decentralisation assessments is disappointing because they had the potential to promote localism within Whitehall and make a wider case for shifting power away from the centre.
Some local government experts have expressed fears the coalition’s decentralisation drive has become bogged down, citing the watering down of the core package offered to areas embarking on the second wave of City Deals.
There are also anxieties the single pot for local growth will be far smaller in scale than first envisaged ? running into the low billions rather than 73bn estimated by coalition growth guru Lord Heseltine.
However, there is no strict need for assessments provided the City Deals are driven forward and the sector can cast light and keep challenging Whitehall, said Alexandra Jones, chief executive of the Centre for Cities.’But the sector still needs to demonstrate why decentralisation is the best way to achieve local economic growth,’ she added.
Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit said the problem was more one of institutional inertia on the part of big-spending Whitehall departments, rather than a lack of political will.
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