DLUHC’s assessment finds that local and national systems for delivering public services are not currently designed to facilitate joined up working across government.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) have published their assessment of a programme to gauge whether central and local government working closer together, could bring measurable benefits to local communities.
The Partnerships for People and Place programme piloted a new approach to policy design and delivery, by funding 13 local authorities to select a local challenge in their area which they believed could be better tackled through national and local collaboration. Local authorities participating in the programme initially received £50,000 to develop a delivery plan, with further funding received depending on the perceived chances of the plan achieving the programmes objectives. These were to enhance co-ordination between central government departments, between central and local government, and to improve outcomes for local people.
Four authorities received over 95% of the funding requested, with projects including a student mentoring programme in Birmingham and a programme to tackle fuel poverty and energy efficiency in East Sussex. Funding was provided in March 2022, for delivery between April 2022 and March 2023.
However, the report found that “structural barriers at a national level impact the ability of local authorities to meet the needs of communities.” There are organisational barriers across regional, central and local government, resulting in a lack of coordination and occasional duplication of efforts. This means that “interventions targeting specific social problems might be designed and implemented without considering the wider neighbourhood context or potential synergies with other initiatives.”
Furthermore, duplication of funding processes was highlighted, with local authorities receiving multiple funding flows from different departments, as well as there being barriers to data sharing between departments and local authorities. The report also noted short-term funding cycles which “limits opportunities” to “invest in sustainable programmes that address long-term issues such as regeneration.” Our Vision for Local Audit calls for the reform of funding streams to enable greater focus on value and outputs, and for medium-term assurance around funding to enable more effective financial planning.
While seven of the pilot projects achieved the initial short-term outcomes set out by the programme, the report suggests that there “is limited evidence” that this was achieved by central government partners unblocking barriers. This “reflects the ingrained nature of current systems,” which reduces the ability of joined-up work between central and local government.
The release of this report coincides with DLUHC writing to local authorities asking them to formally produce productivity plans. The plans require authorities to set out how they have transformed the way they design and deliver services to make better use of resources, how they plan to take advantage of technology and make better use of data to improve decision making, service design and use of resources. Authorities must also specify how they plan to reduce wasteful spending within their organisation and identify the barriers preventing progress which the Government can help reduce or remove.
Authorities will be expected to publish their plans on their website for residents to be able to access, with plans being finalised by 19 July 2024. There are no proposals to rate or score the plans, with DLUHC stating they “will not produce any kind of league table.”
Jack Bower, ICAEW Public Sector Audit and Assurance Manager, comments: “Productivity plans created by local authorities may want to explore into the many structural barriers which DLUHC identified across central and local government. These barriers evidently hinder effective service delivery and hamper positive outcomes for residents, as it is more difficult to develop long-term plans for positive change in the current system.
Simplification of the current system could go a long way to removing many of these barriers. Introducing a more centralised funding system to prevent duplication of funding streams and allowing longer-term funding cycles with a focus on sustainable projects, would increase opportunities to address long-term issues and encourage more effective collaboration between central and local government.
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