Written - The Local Government Partnership Scheme

Section 73 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 ("the 2006 Act") requires Welsh Ministers to make a local government scheme. It will set out how they propose, in the exercise of their functions, to sustain and promote local government in Wales. In this context, local government comprises county and county borough councils, community and town councils, police authorities, fire and rescue authorities and the national park authorities.

The 2006 Act also requires Welsh Ministers to lay before the National Assembly an annual report of how the proposals set out in the local government scheme were implemented in each financial year. The Local Government Partnership Scheme was first made by the National Assembly for Wales in 2000 and was reviewed and updated in 2004. The Annual Report for 2006-07 sets out how the scheme put in place under the Government of Wales Act 1998 was implemented in that year.

The present Scheme, which has been endorsed by the Partnership Council for Wales, reflects the new constitutional and legislative framework provided by the 2006 Act. Through the Scheme, the Welsh Assembly Government and local government in Wales are committed to working together in partnership, within a spirit of mutual trust and respect, recognising the value and legitimacy of the roles both have to play in the governance of Wales.

This ethos of partnership and collaboration will continue to be embodied in the Partnership Council for Wales. It provides an effective forum for direct discussion and joint-working between Welsh Ministers and local government representatives in furthering the Scheme. The Scheme also provides a framework for frequent, timely consultation and collaboration between the Assembly Government and local government at all levels in taking forward our shared agendas.

Our public services reform and improvement agenda recognises that effective public services must be provided by a wide range of collaborations between public service providers and others. Significant improvements are being made through the "Making the Connections: Delivering Beyond Boundaries" programme, which commenced our journey towards a new style of working. This new approach was endorsed in the local government policy statement “A Shared Responsibility” published in 2007. This recognises that local government has a huge role to play in hearing our citizen’s voices and acting upon them. At the local level, Local Service Boards are bringing together service providers to integrate their roles wherever necessary to achieve better outcomes for the people they serve.

The Assembly Government, working with local government and other partners, has put in place a range of mechanisms to support the reform and improvement of public services. Value Wales provides support in the form of advice, guidance and support of best practice, as well as in shared procurement. Public Service Management Wales is addressing the development needs of managers and leaders, individual public sector organisations and the wider public service community.

Public services are managed at a number of levels in Wales - nationally, regionally and locally. The focus of all public service providers must be on connecting and integrating services for the benefit of the citizen.

To support this, we are consulting on the opportunities for creating a duty to co-operate between named partners. We will create a national framework where the Wales Spatial Plan at a national and regional level and the Community Strategy at a local level will be connected. We also intend to consult on proposals for reform of local authority governance and scrutiny structures designed to allow them to operate more effectively in the era of partnership working.

The Partnership Scheme also recognises the important role that community and town councils play in representing the views and concerns of their communities. They are well placed to identify community needs and priorities; provide leadership to encourage local people and agencies to meet those needs; and deliver specific services when a bespoke solution provides the best option for the community.

One of the Assembly Government’s priority commitments is the continued development of effective relationships between unitary local authorities and community and town councils in Wales. We will shortly be issuing guidance with the aim of encouraging and facilitating the development of agreements or charters between both parties, setting out how they will co-operate with each other to help promote good practice and remove ambiguity.

Ultimately, the result of closer partnerships may be the delegation of functions to those community and town councils that have both the capacity and willingness to take these on, where all parties agree this represents the most appropriate way forward. Within the wider partnership arena, there is also an emerging challenge for the community and town sector to find its place within the Local Service Board mechanism.

Local government provides services upon which many of the most vulnerable in our society rely. They are fundamental to improving the quality of life for all citizens and communities. I commend the continuing commitment of all in local government to maintaining and improving the quality of public services. The Assembly Government is supporting them in this.

Since June 2007, we have provided a performance management software package – Ffynnon – free of charge to all local authorities in Wales. Ffynnon is a unique and potentially world-class system. It provides for top-quality performance management within local authorities and allows quick and easy sharing of data with other service providers. In doing so, it facilitates comparative analysis of performance and collaboration between agencies to provide better services to citizens.

Between 2004 and 2007, each local authority had a policy agreement with the Assembly Government under which they pursued service improvement targets and received a grant in return for attaining them. Policy agreements demonstrably improved service quality. We need to move on from them to encourage local authorities to think more creatively about how best to meet local needs while also contributing to our One Wales objectives. During 2008-09, the Assembly Government will look to develop a set of tailored Improvement Agreements with each local authority which do just that.

Local discretion to meet local needs is important. Citizens also expect to receive at least an adequate standard of service wherever they live in Wales. While local government service quality continues to improve, the performance varies considerably. We intend to consult on a small set of national minimum standards for key services, which will clearly demonstrate service quality to both local authorities and those that they serve.

The Partnership Scheme provides a framework for promoting co-operation and closer understanding between the Assembly Government and the wider local government family as we seek to address the needs and aspirations of the people of Wales. I look forward to reporting progress to Members in due course.