Tag: 2018

The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the then Local Government Minister, in Guildford on 20 November 2018.

Introduction

Good morning, everybody.

Thank you – it’s a pleasure to be at my first CCN conference.

I was reflecting back to January, when I was first appointed as Local Government Minister. It’s obviously my first ministerial job, so you make that transition from being a backbencher to joining the government. And it does make you think about who your boss now is going to be.

As an MP, it was pretty clear my boss was the people of Richmond in my constituency, but now as a Minister and a member of the government, who was I answering to?

Some would tell me ‘well, of course, it’s your Secretary of State’; some said to me ‘well no, no, it’s the Prime Minister’. But very quickly on the job I learned that my real boss was going to be this chap called Paul Carter.

In all seriousness, it’s been a real pleasure getting to know Paul and the rest of you over the past several months – and I’m very grateful for everything you do to make the case for counties in Westminster. So, thank you to you, your team, and everyone else in the CCN for continuing with that fantastic and very valuable effort. It’s been a genuine pleasure working together over the past few months.

I read an article recently making a powerful case for strong local government. The article compared national politicians and ministers like me to “generals in Tolstoy novels… moving pieces around the board, while the actual battle is nothing like they imagine”.

That struck a chord with me. Even as a constituency MP, I have always been envious of the incredible, tangible and direct impact that you all have on people’s everyday lives.

There are simply hundreds of services that you have to provide: from social care and children’s services to broadband and highways, from trading standards and weddings to blue badges and fostering.

And you do all of this for 26 million people across 86% of England’s landmass and half of England’s economy. When you think about it, it really is an incredible responsibility.

And I am the first to recognise that you have been delivering these services in what has been a very difficult financial climate.

I think it’s fair to say that no other part of government has carried a greater share of the burden in improving the country’s finances.

You are very much on the front-line, and you have shown unmatched leadership and creativity in delivering high quality services over the past several years. And I pay tribute to your work in this regard.

I am genuinely honoured to be your champion in government, and today I thought I’d spend my time to touch on three themes about why I’m incredibly optimistic for what the future holds for County Councils:

Firstly, I’m going to talk about the new fairer funding system.

Secondly, I’ll touch on the crucial role you have in driving social mobility in our country.

And finally, the vital role you play in helping our society’s most vulnerable.

Fairer Funding

Isaac Newton once said: “Nature is pleased with simplicity.”

I think, then, we can safely assume that Nature wouldn’t be that pleased with the existing local government finance formula!

I very much want our County Councils to be on a solid and fair financial footing for the future.

We can’t do that without a new formula that is more accurate, simpler, and fairer.

I can assure you that introducing this new formula is among my highest priorities.

The opportunity for such a comprehensive, fresh look like this doesn’t come that often.

So I am clear: we absolutely have to get this right.

That’s why I’m extremely grateful for the thoughtful and detailed contributions that many of you and the CCN have already made to the department. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the issues that you have been absolutely right to highlight to us.

I just want to touch on a couple in particular:

Deprivation. To suggest that vast areas of the country that you represent have no pockets of deprivation simply isn’t a reflection of reality. So it is right that any new formula recognises deprivation at a more local, individual level – it isn’t just something that happens in cities.

And we are all too aware that our country’s demographics are changing. Far faster than the designers of the current formula may have even thought possible – particularly in county areas.

The new formula must be smarter – keeping track of our rapidly changing population, giving a realistic, up-to-date picture of the pressures driving actual expenditure on the ground.

Nor will the formula overlook how rurality creates challenges for service delivery. My own constituency in North Yorkshire has a county division with more sheep than people – and while the new formula isn’t likely to accurately capture the sheep population – it certainly should deal with the genuine cost of delivering services in more rural areas.

I’m pleased to say that we will publish the latest round of our consultation shortly, ahead of implementation in 2020/21.

And I am confident that a simpler formula, which recognises relative need and resources much more fairly than ever before, is a prize that is now finally within our reach.

Social Mobility

I am very passionate about ensuring that everybody, no matter what their background, has the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

A fair chance to build a good life for themselves regardless of their family circumstances, or where they came from.

Spreading opportunity and unlocking the enormous potential of our people – that’s why came into in politics and I am sure the same is true for many of you.

But, like almost every area of public policy, without local government this ambition simply can’t be realised. So I’d like to thank you sincerely for all your work on the Social Mobility in Counties report.

The report was absolutely right to highlight that social mobility is a particular issue for our counties.

There is of course no one silver bullet but the work that you are doing every day is making strides towards a more socially mobile society:

Providing the transport networks that a young apprentice might use to travel to their work placement, equipping them with the skills they need for a successful career.

Rolling out the high-speed broadband that an entrepreneur will use to start a successful business and increase local employment.

Investing in nursery provision to ensure high-take up of early years education – so crucial for a child’s development.

At every step of the journey for a person to fulfil their potential, you all are there.

I commend the CCN for using its powerful voice to show both your commitment to social mobility, and your willingness and capability to make it reality.

As the Secretary of State rightly said at the report’s launch, the government will look closely at the recommendations you have made to see how best we can empower you to do more.

It is clear that when it comes to spreading opportunity, you all have a vital role to play. I am delighted that you have made it such a priority and I look forward to backing all of your ambitions.

Supporting the most vulnerable

Now, of course it is exciting and inspiring to talk about how you are all helping to help people achieve success, but we should also remember that:

Yours are the first hands that reach out to those who fall on hard times.

You are the front line of how we treat the most vulnerable in our society.

It is a really daunting responsibility that you shoulder, but you never let us down, and I thank you for all your work. But the important work that you do isn’t just about fixing the problems of today. I am more ambitious than that, and I know that you are too.

At this very moment, your key workers are helping to bring stability to the lives of tens of thousands of families dealing with multiple complex issues through the Troubled Families Programme.

My first visit as a Minister was spending time with some of the families that the programme has helped. It is an experience that I will never forget.

This revolutionary way of working, this whole family support, has saved children from going into care. It has helped people find the dignity and security of employment.

And it has ensured that families stay strong and stay together.

It is a testament to how your intervention today prevents problems tomorrow.

I want your councils to be free to innovate and tackle problems before they even arise. So as the spending review approaches, I think we, collectively, need to think about how best your councils can be resourced to invest in prevention.

I am passionate about learning from all of you how central government can best support your aspirations in this area. Because your track record already shows us that you can make a major difference.

If we can get this right in the future, working together, we can truly transform the lives of tens of thousands of the most vulnerable people in our society.

And that really would be something to be enormously proud of.

Conclusion

So, while the intense debate may continue to rage at Westminster and dominate the headlines, I know that you will go on delivering for your 26 million constituents.

Ensuring that their communities are enriching places to call home.

I have always seen my role as being your champion in government.

Now, of course, my voice is one of many – so I can’t promise that we will win every argument.

But I can promise you that I will keep making your case.

And I genuinely believe that the concerns of local government are being listened to now more than ever.

I hope that the recent announcements in the budget were a clear sign that this approach is working.

If we can get this right in the future, I’m incredibly positive about all the good that we can do.

So, in conclusion, I am very proud to be your champion.

I’m humbled by seeing everything that you have achieved.

And I’m enormously excited about what we can achieve working together in the future – ensuring that our communities and our constituents can look forward to a safer, brighter and more prosperous future.

Thank you.

The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the then Local Government Minister, on 31 October 2018.

Introduction – importance of parish councils

Thank you Sue for that kind introduction, and thank you for all of the vital work you do, strengthening local government.

Firstly, I’d just like to say how fantastic it is to see so many of you here. I just spent some time outside speaking to people and there’s a real sense of excitement and energy. This is ‘parish power’ in action.

The subject of today’s conversations – ‘shaping the future’ – is one that is close to my heart.

Since taking up my role in January, I’ve been inspired by NALC’s ability to bring people together and represent us. And I really welcome your leadership on the ‘Big Conversation’.

I’m personally delighted to be small part of that conversation.

In my ministerial role, I speak to everyone from Metropolitan Mayors to Church Wardens. I’ve seen how local government can be an incredible force for good. Not faceless bureaucracies, but mirrors of our places and our people.

And the message I often hear is: the closer the locality, the greater the trust. But I know that trust comes with great responsibility too.

I remember something the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said recently, which will resonate with all of you. He said: “I have never had demands so acute as when I was a parish priest”.

So it is with local government – a lot is demanded of you.

And from my own constituency work, I can tell you, it’s often those issues closest to home that can keep me awake at night.

And those responsibilities for you are growing further still, in a sign of the confidence that people have in your abilities.

When it comes to neighbourhood planning, for example, parish councils are now leading the way.

From helping to make buildings reflect local tastes and preferences to directing development to preferred sites, neighbourhood plans have been transforming communities – and helping to alleviate our housing crisis in the process.

We’ve also seen how parishes can help our vital community assets flourish – from our village halls to our tennis courts.

I’m so pleased to see the numerous examples of parish councils using the opportunities afforded by the Community Right Bid, nominating cherished local spaces and buildings as Assets of Community Value.

Year on year, as the take up of this Community Right grows, I want to ensure that how this scheme operates improves for town and parish councils, community groups, local authorities and asset owners.

That’s why we are working with partners at Power to Change and mySociety to promote a new online platform, launched in September, called Keep It in The Community, to strengthen how the scheme works by providing a digital directory of all of the Assets of Community Value that have been successfully listed across the country.

And I’ve seen the benefits in my constituency first hand, where one of our local communities in Hudswell has taken over a local pub, the George and Dragon. It’s now won Yorkshire pub of the year 3 years in a row, so it’s clearly a winning formula!

The Star Council Awards are a perfect reflection of just how much we achieve at a local level. Because, for all the talk of structures and processes, we’re only as good as the people who represent us.

People who are dedicated to improving people’s lives every single day through their hard work and dedication. So, I’d like to say a big thank you to all of you in this room and our committed public servants up and down the country for everything that you do.

And I’d like to just take a moment to celebrate, in particular, our Star Council Award winners:

Northwich Town Council (from Cheshire, which won Council of Year)
Councillor Nick Penny from Gloucestershire (Councillor of the year, from Coleford Town Council)
Clerk of Year Jayne Cooper (from Gnosall Parish Council, Staffordshire)
The County Association Project of Year, which was won by West Sussex Association of Local Councils
Young Councillor of Year, Melissa Boyden of Asfordby Parish Council (Leicestershire)

Please join me in saying thank you and congratulations to all of the winners.

Your voice in government

With all of the tremendous work that you are doing, I’m mindful of my responsibilities to all of you. And I very much see my role, as Local Government Minister, to be your voice in government and your champion in Whitehall.

And I want to be completely honest with you: I won’t be able to win every single battle. But what I can promise you, is that I will always make your case and fight your corner at the highest levels of government.

And I hope that you can see the results of that already.

Shortly after I got this job, you told me that some elements of GDPR would be a significant burden on parish councils. We’ve listened and worked closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to ensure the new GDPR legislation exempts parish councils from needing a data protection officer.

You told me that Parish Polls needed reforming – we’ve listened and we’re now updating the rules to modernise them and ensure they better meet your needs. I hope to introduce new regulations on this as soon as parliamentary time allows.

You told me that many of you wanted to bring much-needed public toilets under parish control without being stung by business rates – we’ve listened and worked with the Treasury, and I’m sure all of you will have been absolutely delighted with the Chancellor’s announcement in the Budget on Monday: 100% business rate relief when parish councils take over these facilities.

It’s something that my officials like to call the “relief on relief”!

You also told me that many of you wanted to refurbish your village halls, many of which were built a century ago to commemorate the sacrifice of World War One. Again, we’ve listened, and at Budget the Chancellor outlined plans to provide £8 million of funding for grants equivalent to the VAT chargeable on such refurbishment projects.

And lastly on community governance, you told me you wanted communities to have a stronger voice and the ability to more easily create new parishes. I’ve listened, and today I can also confirm that I’m actively looking at how we can strengthen the guidance.

Because your voice is being heard. Your voice matters. And I will continue to listen to you and support your mission to build better and stronger local government.

Digital

People in this country turn to that most local of levels for that anchor and representation in the places they call home. Your ultra-local knowledge is essential in building that bridge between people and government.

As a result of that, I believe you have a vital role to play in shaping the services people use every day – services that are increasingly moving online. And I believe you have that local knowledge we need to redesign and run our digital services.

It’s something that’s at the heart of our new Local Government Digital Declaration – which I recently announced at the Local Government Association conference – a joint initiative between my department (MHCLG) and the Government Digital Service.

It’s about relentlessly focusing on the needs of our citizens to deliver digital services that are centred on the user.

I was impressed to learn during that process, that the village of Scruton in my own constituency in North Yorkshire – a small parish with an annual turnover of around £20,000 – has had a website since 1998. To put that into perspective, it wasn’t actually a legal requirement to have a website until 2015!

It goes to show that small councils can be innovative and creative too. In fact, your smaller size and entrepreneurial spirit give you the potential to be more agile than your larger neighbours.

That ability to feed back, interact and shape services has to be the new norm – and it’s something I was particularly inspired by during my time studying, working and living in Silicon Valley, California.

Because you can now use data in any number of ways, from developing an app to report fly-tipping, to building a platform to monitor local wildlife.

And I’m pleased to say that we are supporting these kinds of opportunities through our new £7.5 million Digital Innovation Fund – which parishes can also sign up to.

Loneliness

Whilst technology can bring local government closer to people, I’m also mindful of one of the great paradoxes of this era: in this time of unprecedented connectivity, sadly many people in our country are lonelier than ever.

There are people who can go for days, weeks or even a month without seeing a friend or family member.

Up to a fifth of all UK adults feel lonely most or all of the time – it’s shown to be as unhealthy for you as smoking.

It’s why the Prime Minister recently launched the first ever cross-government Loneliness Strategy.

It represents the beginning of what we hope will be a long and far reaching social change in our country.

The Prime Minister also appointed the first ever Minister for Loneliness, who will work collaboratively across the Commission on Loneliness and our partners in charities and businesses across the UK.

But we all know that we’ll only be able to get to grips with these kinds of challenges when we think locally.

At a central government level, we tend to ask: “What can we do about loneliness?”. But at parish level, you tend to ask: “How can we help Helen, or James, to feel less lonely?”

It’s that kind of emotional intelligence that parish councils have in spades.

I know that parish councils will play a pivotal role in understanding loneliness and its pressures on society.

It’s something I saw just last week at a coffee morning in the village of Welbury in my constituency. The event was just the kind of community-spirited thing that can really break down barriers that can lead to social isolation and loneliness – reaching out not only to the elderly, but also young mothers in that community.

And as the government continues to prioritise tackling loneliness, I look forward to hearing from all of you and from NALC about how, working together, we can overcome this great generational challenge.

Conclusion

Because when it comes to shaping the future, I have no doubt that many of you will be at the heart of that change – and we in central government have a lot to learn from all of you.

And that’s why NALC is so important.

Helping to sew together that patchwork so it can become greater than the sum of its parts; raising the bar; inspiring people across the country – and shaping the future.

So thank you for everything you do.

It is a true privilege to represent you. I am proud of everything you do. And I’m so excited to see what you achieve in the future. Thank you very much.

The speech made by Rishi Sunak, the then Local Government Minister, on 4 July 2018.

Good afternoon.

I wanted to start by painting 2 pictures for you; a day in the lives of 2 different council employees.

Let’s start with Janet. Before Janet goes to work she remembers that it’s bin day, but isn’t sure which one. She logs onto the council website, finds the waste page, the check collection page, enters her postcode and then selects her address. Turns out today is black bags.

Janet’s daughter attends athletics club, but the club only accepts cheques. So she roots around in her drawer, looking for that chequebook she knows is somewhere there.

When she gets into work at the council, rings her dad to make sure that he is OK. She hopes her brother remembered to go and let the carer in earlier.

Today Janet’s working on a performance report, but her system doesn’t have any way to access all the data it needs. So Janet spends most of the morning emailing lots of different colleagues and agencies asking for those bits of information.

Now let’s take Jane.

Jane works for another council. Just before she leaves for work she gets a text on her phone to remind her that today is black bag bin day.

She quickly pays for her son’s school club on her phone, then another app lets her know that there is someone ringing her mum’s doorbell. And she can see on the phone that it’s the carer.

Jane remotely unlocks the door and lets the carer in.

And when it comes to doing her performance report, Jane’s computer gets the data she needs from multiple other systems and automatically updates the partner agencies when she’s done.

I apologise for the rather laboured examples, but I wanted to emphasise clearly just how technology is already transforming public services, offering real benefits to local government employees, the general public and the council’s bottom line.

And if you take away one thing from my speech today let it be this: an understanding of digital is no longer something we can leave solely to the IT department. It doesn’t belong in the basement, it belongs in the boardroom.

And most of the time people in my job, Local Government Minister, when they have this opportunity to talk to you, spend a lot of their time talking about local government finance. And indeed, as I have wondered round the conference today, and in my other meetings, that is what I have mostly been talking about.

But I did want to take this opportunity today where I had all of you in the room – council leaders – to talk about technology.

What I would like is to have that conversation about technology not just with the people running council IT departments but with people running councils.

So today I want to talk about 3 specific things:

Firstly, about how we should focus relentlessly on the needs of our citizens.

Next, I’ll talk about fixing our digital plumbing, and how that opens up a world of possibilities.

And lastly, I’ll outline what I am going to do in a small way to help make this happen.

Part 1: services for citizens

Today, we now think nothing of checking the location of trains in real time, or looking round a hotel room halfway across the world before booking it.

And doing all of that from something that fits in our pocket.

This revolution has affected public services too.

If any of you have recently renewed a passport online you’ll know the process is a delight to use. No more hanging around in the post office waiting for the photo booth.

Now you do a selfie straight from your phone into the system.

There are some great local examples too:

Adur & Worthing is piloting the Going Local service. And here GPs are directly referring can directly referring patients to the council’s social prescribing team, helping thousands of them become fitter or stop smoking.

Hackney’s Pay My Rent platform, has now been used almost 70,000 times by 15,000 people.

The thing that marks out these top class digital services in both public and private sector is a relentless focus on meeting the needs of their users.

For example, there’s no point putting a form online if it’s so confusing someone needs to ring up to find out how to fill it in.

We’ve all been there: you just want to pay your taxes to HMRC, apply for a service, perhaps to get your residents parking sorted. But after you’ve worked out what the site is trying to get you to do, sometimes you still have to print the form and email it back – or not so long ago – take 2 forms of ID to the town hall.

A few years ago, Camden council found that every time someone came into a council building, it cost them nearly £14. But when they rang up it was £4 and if they did it online it cost just 30p. By moving transactions online, they saved £3 million in just 3 years.

Similarly, think of your staff. A recent study showed that up to 60% of a social worker’s time is spent typing data into a system. We should ask ourselves, is that really the best use of such a precious resource?

So getting this right has a huge impact – both in saving people’s time but also saving your council money.

So as we continue to innovate and redesign services, the question you as council leaders should be asking your IT departments is this: are we thinking about how our citizens and employees live their lives?

And is what we do making life easier for them, or is it forcing them to do things that suit us but actually end up costing money?

Relentlessly focusing on what our users need is the way forward.

Part 2: fixing the plumbing

The next thing we need to do is having a look at our digital plumbing.

And by this I want you think about an idea that we need to embrace: the idea of “Government as Lego”.

Lego bricks come in different shapes and sizes, but they all fit together and allow you to build almost anything.

And that’s how we should think about our IT.

Today, quite a lot of government IT is a black box. Too often, whether it’s government departments or councils, using huge, proprietary systems for each different thing they do. And they are locked into long-term, inflexible contracts, with opaque cost structures.

But those at the forefront of this digital services revolution, Essex, Greater Manchester and Leeds for example, are thinking about the components of our IT that are like a utility and shared across different services.

Now there are lots of bits of IT that are essentially like electricity. Electricity works to a common standard and there is no point in creating your own version.

For example, Adult Social Care and Revs and Bens are very different services, but each has a few common elements – workflow, case management, payment systems. And it may not be right to have services in the same organisation paying the suppliers twice to have two things doing the same thing.

And if you multiply this across the hundreds of services a council offers you can see how the costs rack up.

Worse, because all these different systems might come from different providers, they can’t talk to each other and it becomes hard for a council to share the information it needs across different areas.

Instead we should think about separating out those bits of IT that are used a lot across different services, the utility or electricity-like bits.

And for those boring, standard components, we can use modules, or Lego blocks, that we can slot in, swap out and upgrade as we see fit.

Crucially, these Lego blocks are built on common standards which means they are much cheaper and enable information to be shared much more easily.

And as more and more organisations use the same common standards for bits of their IT, this encourages developers to innovate and provide new services and products based on those widely used standards.

Now a simple example of this fixing the plumbing concept is moving services to the cloud

Many local authorities still have services hosted on machines kept in a council warehouse – or even at times – behind the stationary cupboard or under the stairs. As one council found out a couple of years ago that can mean problems if there’s a fire in your data centre

But increasing numbers of you are finding out for yourselves that digital services can be hosted for a fraction of the price in the cloud. This cloud hosting has become a commodity. For example, thanks to their cloud strategy, Aylesbury Vale has incredibly saved several million pounds.

For local government, fixing the digital plumbing has the potential to be truly transformative.

Part 3: what I will do

Lastly, I did say what I would talk a little bit of what I can do to help make all this happen.

Well, I believe that we are stronger together than alone. And while the whole point of local services is that they need to differ in how they respond to local need, all of you will have a different approach to how you think you can serve your citizens best.

But it makes sense for us to learn from each other, and share the common technical features that means councils don’t have to start from scratch if they want to implement a more user friendly and cost-effective digital service.

And so today a group of us are launching the Digital Declaration.

This isn’t my Declaration, or the government’s – this is a joint endeavour with over 40 organisations in the sector, including Greater Manchester, West Midlands and Greater London combined authorities, SOLACE, CIPFA, the LGA Government Digital Service and a cross section of local authorities of all sizes and colours from across England.

The Declaration sets out our shared vision for world class public services, and invites everyone else to join the movement.

It commits all of us to work together to make sure that the vision is made a reality.

Words are important. But better when they are backed up with deeds.

That’s why I am delighted to announce today that Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will invest up to £7.5 million over the next two years through a new Digital Innovation Fund. This fund support and strengthen your digital capacity.

So what exactly will the money be available for?

Well, a report from the MJ and BT last year found that more than 80% of public sector chief executives see digital transformation as one of their key priorities. That’s fantastic.

But many feel that their organisations lack the skills and capability to take full advantage.

So part of this money could be used to fund key leaders from the sector to go through a new world class digital leadership programme that we are in the process of creating.

You might be a Leader, Portfolio Holder, Chief Executive or CFO, but you will be passionate about public services and developing your digital own skills and capabilities.

But beyond this, I recognise that everyone is in different places when it comes to this digital journey. Some are at the cutting edge, others are nearer the beginning of their journey.

So this should not and will not be a one size fits all Fund. Before we open up the fund later this year, I want to hear from you about what would be most useful for you? Where will a small amount of extra resource make the most difference in achieving these aims?

And lastly, in addition to the funding, we at the department are creating a delivery team to support everyone who signs up to this ambitious Digital Declaration.

We’ve worked with 50 to get this far. We now want to work with many more to turn this into a national movement.

We want 50 to turn into 80.

And 80 to turn into hundreds.

Together, I know we can achieve more than we can alone. By supporting each other, and building on each other’s work we can build better services at lower cost, for our residents.

Services that are efficient, modern, responsive and simple and delightful to use.

Services that are built around our citizens’ needs.

And services that save us money, allowing more of our precious resource to be where it should be: not in the basement cupboard of our IT department, but on the front line where it belongs.

I believe this is the exciting first step of a journey.

And I cannot wait to see where we get to and what we can achieve together.

I have seen so much already in the short time I’ve had this job – the exciting innovation that is happening on the ground. And I hope that this small catalyst can drive us forward to ever more greater things.

Thank you.