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Putting communities in control - Blears

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT News Release (052) issued by The Government News Network on 5 March 2008

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has today announced radical plans to unlock talent in local communities and give people a real say on improving local services and promoting active citizenship.

Speaking at a regeneration conference in central London, Hazel Blears unveiled plans for a new White Paper focused on empowering citizens.

Local government is working much better than in previous years. However, a new survey reveals that:

* Six in ten people do not feel they are given an adequate say on how local council services are run;

* More than 9 in 10 people believe accountability of councils could be improved;

* Nearly four in 10 people do not feel councillors are representative of their communities and six in 10 do not believe they adequately reflect their views.

The new White Paper will aim to reverse this trend. Working with local councils and community organisations, it will help to put more communities in control. Local people will have new opportunities to reconnect with their councils and to provide input to improve local services. To do this, the White Paper will be built around four key pillars:

* improving deprived areas through regeneration and promoting work and enterprise

* encouraging active citizenship and reviving civic society and local democracy

* improving local public services

* strengthening local accountability

Speaking today Hazel Blears said 'citizens from Penrith to Penzance' must be given more opportunities to influence decisions affecting their local services.

The White paper is expected to be published in the summer and will seek to respond to challenges such as rising expectations of service delivery and significant social and demographic changes.

A launch document Unlocking the Talent of our Communities that has been published today outlines the many opportunities for people to contribute their views on policy development either by email, letter or through an online discussion forum.

Hazel Blears will say:

"Local Government has been transformed in recent years. But if we want to deal successfully with today's new challenges, from climate change to childhood obesity, then we must learn lessons and look at what more we can do to put more communities in control. Change goes deeper and lasts longer when people can take control of it - rather than having it imposed on them. There are few problems that British communities cannot solve for themselves - if only their talent and ingenuity can be unleashed.

"Today marks the start of a national debate and I want to hear from the Great British public about what more we can do to reinvigorate the grass roots of local democracy, to encourage active citizenship, and to enable people to connect with their local leaders. We need a little less social engineering, and a lot more social enterprise, and I look forward to hearing thoughts on how we get there."

The White Paper launch document Unlocking the Talent of our Communities sets out the challenges in four key areas:

Regeneration and promoting work and enterprise:

Building on the announcement of £1.5 billion from the Working Neighbourhoods Fund (WNF) to 65 local authority areas identified as facing particularly significant challenges, the White Paper will seek to answer two key questions:

* How can government at all levels work together to tackle worklessness and promote enterprise in the most deprived areas?

* What are the best means of focusing regeneration on people as well as infrastructure?

Encouraging active citizenship, and reviving civic society and local democracy

Local government in England is working better. But there is a drop in the percentage of people who think they can influence local decisions. The age profile of councillors is rising and they are not always fully representative of their communities.

We need to encourage a greater sense of 'active citizenship' and harness new technology to facilitate greater civic participation and political involvement at the local level.

The Empowerment White Paper will look at what steps need to be taken to revive involvement in local civic and democratic roles and incorporate government responses to the Councillors commission report.

Improving local public services

We need services to become more personalised, but this requires considerable changes over the next decade, and the direct involvement of consumers in the design and delivery.

Services will also need to find new ways of engaging with users and providing better information. They will also be subject to greater local scrutiny.

The White Paper will look at how the power of consumers can be better used to improve local services and how social housing tenants can be given 'more choice and voice'.

Strengthening local accountability

Traditional civic institutions will need, increasingly, to be more responsive and relevant to all people. We need to encourage strong and visible local leadership as well as providing more opportunities for communities to influence decisions.

Issues the Empowerment White Paper will seek to answer are what more is needed to encourage consistently strong local leadership and how best can we increase opportunities for communities to hold local public officials and representatives to account.

Notes to Editors

This press notice applies to England

1. The White Paper Launch document Unlocking the Talent of our Communities can be viewed at http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/communities/unlockingtalent

2. The survey referred to in para 3 of the above news release was a poll carried out by Communities and Local Government to measure the extent to which people feel involved in local decision-making. The results of this poll can be viewed at http://www.communities.gov.uk/unlockingtalent

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