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Tuesday 28 June, W3 - Sector self regulation and improvement - Cllr Jill Shortland
- 1. Taking the Lead: sector self regulation and improvement Cllr Jill Shortland OBE Vice Chair, LG Group Improvement Programme Board 28 June 2011 www.local.gov.uk
Editor's Notes
- Welcome to this Conference workshop session This is W3 – its about sector self regulation and improvement – so if that is not what you were expecting, now is the time to move! My name is Cllr David Parsons and my role is to chair this workshop – and set the scene. I am very pleased to welcome the other panel speakers Cllr David Simmonds, Deputy Leader of the London Borough of Hillingdon George Garlick, Chief Executive of Durham CC and Dr Janette Karklins, Director of Children, Young People and Learning, Bracknell Forest Our aim is explain the opportunities that sector self regulation and improvement provide – and the support that is being made available to you and your council. I know that what we have to say is important – but we are going to brief and succinct– because the most important part of this session will be what you have to say to us.
- “ Taking the Lead” sets out the LG Group’s approach to sector self regulation and improvement. It was agreed following extensive consultation with the sector and finally published in February this year. Why is this important ? because it is about councils “stepping up” and claiming the space we won as a result of our successful lobbying to cut back inspection and assessment And because the support we are providing to councils to help them capitalise on this is a core part of the LGA Group offer to the sector – its important that you understand what is available and think how your council could benefit So let me briefly set out some Background and context Some key elements of the proposals And some Next steps
- We launched our initial “Freedom to Lead” campaign nearly two years ago. We had two objectives First we wanted to reduce the burden of inspection and assessment. In Leicestershire the public sector has to respond to 83 inspections pa It costs £3.6m And as the same is true of data returns and reporting to Government Over 3000 data sets requiring 92 staff costing £3.7m pa Simply not sustainable Second – we wanted to develop a new approach to self regulation based on what we have learnt about how to make improvement sustainable At that time it was a key part of our agenda to influence the new Coalition Government
- The first part of our campaign has been a great success We have seen the abolition of Place Survey and NIS Local Area Agreements Comprehensive Area Assessment Adults and children’s scored assessments to be stopped for every council Audit Commission – is to go soon Government Offices – are being abolished Of course there is more to be done – there is always more to be done – but this is a good start.
- And as for the second part of the campaign - we have now developed a robust approach to self regulation This is based on three principles : First: that councils are responsible for their own performance, Second: that councils are accountable to their local communities and Third: that councils have collective responsibility for the performance of the sector. And that the role of the LG Group is to support councils We consulted widely as we developed our thinking. We had a huge response to our consultation proposals Over 120 individual council responses Another 200 responding through RIEPs and other bodies One of the best responses ever! And councils were very supportive of this approach and the underlying principles .
- Taking the Lead was launched at the end of February – in the run up to our Annual Improvement and Innovation Conference In it we set out a seven point support offer – free of charge – to all councils accountability tools peer challenge peer support knowledge hub Transparent and comparable data leadership support learning and support Let me stress Its up to councils to decide to use these tools or not - you choose! Most of the tools can be tailored to the needs of your council – there is no rigid template We are NOT trying to replace one top down framework with another This is built from the bottom up In a minute George will talk in further detail about one of these tools – LG Inform - and Janette will talk about another – peer review. Because we are keen that you and your council understands what is available and begins to use it.
- Our approach is not without risk. What happens if/when - things go wrong? We know the damage that can cause to the sector as a whole. Indeed councils told us they want us to find a way to manage that risk So we will look to Identify some key early warning signals – the things that tell us something is not quite right We will find new ways to gather the intelligence in the system And we will bring it together through the LG Group. And if that tells us that there might be something not quite right – then the next step will be to talk to the council, to explore the issue – to see if we can help But – let me assure you we will not become an inspectorate We will not impose any burden on councils. Our motivation is always to support improvement and to prevent failure.
- And finally We want to continue to work with councils so that the tools and support we develop is what you need locally – that’s why we are launching a prototype of LG Inform – so that you can engage with it and help us finalise the product We will continue to work with existing improvement partnerships to ensure that the support we provide nationally ties in with the arrangements councils develop regionally and sub-regionally We are continuing to lobby for further reductions in assessment, inspection and reporting data to Government We want the Government to minimise their data collection and reporting requirements. Audit should be streamlined to focus on the accuracy of the accounts and probity – its not auditors job to have an opinion on value for money or financial resilience And we will seek to mainstream the approach in other areas – in particular adult social, care, children’s services and social housing Cllr David Simmonds is going to explain how sector self regulation and improvement is being developed in Children’s services.