This prospectus from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister sets out proposals to pilot Local Area Agreements as part of the Government’s ten year strategy to build a new relationship between central and local government. The Agreements are presented as a new radical way of working through Local Strategic Partnerships to build a more flexible and responsive relationship between central government and a locality on the priority outcomes that need to be achieved at local level. It is acknowledged that building new relationships will require a significant shift in the way central and local government relate to each other and to other local partners.The expectation is that Local Area Agreements will provide a mechanism to join up the delivery of local public services under one umbrella. They are designed to tackle the problems caused by a myriad of separate pots of funding from various Whitehall departments being channelled to different public bodies serving the same local populations. Councils will take the lead in setting up Agreements, and work in partnership with other public bodies in the area to join up spending and services in a flexible way that meets local needs, rather than Whitehall-led requirements.
The Environment Minister has set strict new ‘green’ purchasing and estate management targets for government departments. Elliot Morley outlined the new standards when he spoke at a conference set up for procurement managers from across the public sector and organised jointly by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Office of Government Commerce in the Treasury.Mr. Morley’s announcement means that all central Government departments and their Executive Agencies in England have until December 1st to draw up environmental purchasing policies and to ensure these are integrated with departmental procurement activities. They will also have to establish mechanisms for measuring progress in this area and reporting on it.
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The government is warned today against believing that easy savings could be made by cracking down on incapacity benefit claimants. A study from the TUC shows that most of the 1.5 million receiving the benefit are either too ill to work or are people who want to work but who face prejudice from employers when they try to find a job.The report, ‘Defending Incapacity Benefit’, has been sent to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Alan Johnson, who is currently looking at welfare reform. It sets out to challenge what it calls ‘the myth’ that Incapacity Benefit is supporting millions of people who have chosen not to work.
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