Local government
The third sector is increasingly being asked to work in
partnership with public bodies to revitalise the economic,
environmental and social well-being of our citizens. The role of
the sector will continue to expand and diversify in response to new
opportunities and demands, such as ChangeUp, the Compact, local
strategic partnerships (LSPs), local area agreements (LAAs), Safer
and Stronger Communities Fund, the Cabinet Office Public Services
Action Plan and the Local Government and Public Involvement in
Health Act. Similarly the role of the sector's infrastructure
bodies will expand and diversify in response to demands for
strategic leadership and practical support of the sector. LAAs
place an increased emphasis on community engagement and empowerment
and NAVCA believes that the Government's proposal for a
comprehensive approach to community engagement through the LSP
offers much that could and should be built upon - the key to
success is that it must be owned by the local third sector.
We welcome the Government's commitment to a healthy and vibrant
third sector in all localities; however it will not be achieved
unless there is strong, high quality infrastructure to support it.
This requires investment from local authorities in local
infrastructure services and in support for third sector local
infrastructure organisations to achieve nationally recognised
performance standards.
Local area agreements
For many third sector organisations, progress on LAAs has been
limited to date. There is, for example, evidence that the level of
third sector involvement in LAAs is directly related to the quality
and level of resources available for third sector infrastructure .
This, in NAVCA's view, demonstrates a clear link between investment
in local infrastructure and strong support for a healthy local
third sector.
The introduction of LAAs has created the necessary climate for
stronger local partnership. A strong and well networked third
sector is vital to:
- effective community engagement - developing a voice for
communities to enable them to participate more effectively and to
increase the accountability of service providers within local
authorities;
- building social capital and civil renewal - to increase the
confidence and ability of individuals and groups to get involved in
activities that hold communities together;
- improved service delivery - to ensure that local communities
can properly influence and, where appropriate, deliver services on
behalf of local government and other public bodies.
To make the best of this opportunity we believe that LAAs must
provide the conditions to:
- enhance community engagement and capacity in LSPs;
- build social capital;
- redirect public service revenues towards community
priorities;
- provide greater accountability to local people;
- recognise the rights, duties and responsibilities of all
participants;
- set out how, and to what standards, public services are to be
delivered;
- empower citizens.
Voluntary and community organisations repeatedly face the
frustration of piecing together a patchwork of funding from a
variety of schemes and sources, which frequently operate different
timetables and criteria. LAAs present an opportunity to tackle this
problem by opening up resources to the third sector as part of a
coherent and consistent local strategy that can be integrated into
sub-regional and regional planning. Government offices have a key
role to play in ensuring that LAAs and regeneration strategies are
properly integrated and that the third sector is fully involved in
helping to identify, shape and deliver regeneration programmes.
The Government Office role
Government Offices (GOs) have a major interest in ensuring that
the local third sector is properly represented at the regional
level, particularly given the minimalist approach to partnership
identified in the Government's national evaluation of LSPs. NAVCA
considers that support for LSP partners and the negotiation of LAAs
places considerable demands on GOs' responsibility for managing
performance. It is vital to ensure that GOs have sufficient
resources, including skills, knowledge and experience to carry out
their negotiation and mediation duties.
GOs can also play an important part in ensuring that the Compact
forms the basis of relations between local public bodies and the
third sector. We are concerned that GO interest and understanding
of the local third sector is highly variable and is often dependent
on the skills and experience of a few key individuals. NAVCA
believes that, given the importance of the sector's role in LAAs,
strong leadership from the Office of the Third Sector and
Communities and Local Government is crucial if we are to see a
strong, high profile GO function that is capable of supporting
third sector engagement.
Performance assessment
The Audit Commission's Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) needs
to be robust enough to assess the nature and quality of partnership
work in the area. In order to effectively marshal the resources of
all local partners, an LSP must ensure that all partners from all
sectors have an equal voice and, as the locally elected authority,
it is the council's role to promote inclusive partnership. This is
not to argue for the LSP to become a mechanism with which to bypass
the local democratic process. On the contrary, we contend that if
public trust in the democratic process is to be maintained, then
the voices of the most disadvantaged groups must be heard. It is
precisely these groups that our members seek to represent. In order
to ensure that there is a consistent and vigorous means of dealing
with these questions it is essential that the local third sector is
involved in the assessment process. We believe that CAA must assess
the extent to which local authorities invest in the local third
sector as a means of reaching excluded and marginalised
groups.
The policy positions on this page have been approved by the NAVCA
Trustee Board.