New laws will unite services around local vision

Hazel Blears will mark a milestone in the empowerment of local services this week, as regulations come into effect which will sweep aside the bureaucracy and barriers that hinder services in their efforts to deliver for local people. Authorities will now have greater incentive to work together and pool resources, making the changes that make a tangible difference to their communities.

Under the new duty to cooperate, all key government service providers will have a responsibility to work together to identify regional priorities and shape and change services at a local level. Sports England, the Health and Safety Executive, the jobcentre and the Highways agency will be empowered to work closely with authorities like NHS Trusts and local police to tackle the issues that affect their local area and ensure that their services are meeting their community’s high standards.

This drive to bring control of services out of Whitehall and back into local hands is a key part of discussions taking place in communities across the country. Through these Local Area Agreements, services are coming together to agree up to 35 challenging targets to tackle issues that really matter to their area and how best to deliver effective solutions.

Chosen priorities can cover any local issue; cutting obesity, hospital waiting lists, improving roads, reducing pollution, or a need for more affordable housing. The authorities providing these everyday services can pool their resources and work with partners to make effective and innovative changes to the things that really matter to local people.

There are many ways in which joined up working can benefit a community:

• National Park Authorities can work with schools, health trusts and sports centres to get people more active and tackle obesity.
• Highways, environment and transport agencies could pool resources with councils to get people out of their cars and onto the bus.
• Truancy could be tackled with education, police and youth offending teams working in unison.

Key to the delivery of these priorities will be the already-established Local Strategic Partnerships. Local private, public, community and voluntary services who understand the needs of their community can pool their expertise, resources and experience, to deliver services in the best possible way for their area.

Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government said: “People should be able to rely on services which are all working in partnership, not working across each other. Responsive, joined up services are already a reality, and with these new powers they are only going to improve.

“Authorities will now have the ability, and responsibility, to do so much more and improve the things that make a difference to their residents’ everyday lives. 

“From improved communication between police and ambulance services to decreases in pollution through work between the highways and environment agencies, the barriers to change have been removed and the possibilities of such partnerships are endless.”

"Even at this early stage of negotiations it is emerging is a strong sense that many areas share the same desire as Government to tackle the most difficult challenges in their communities."