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Local Government

Answer

““Strong and Prosperous Communities—The Local Government White Paper”” was published in October 2006. The White Paper set out the Government's commitment to reform of local public services and builds on earlier progress in improving the quality of local services to turn reform into lasting transformation.The White Paper includes a large number of commitments. The vast majority of actions are proceeding to plan. These include the successful negotiations of all 150 Local Area Agreements (LAAs) which were signed-off on 30 June 2008, the agreement on 14 July 2008 of the first seven Multi-Area Agreements (MAAs), and the implementation of nine new unitary councils, which Parliament has approved, which is on track for 1 April 2009.There are three areas which have taken longer to implement than the estimated timetable set out in the November 2007 Implementation Plan. These are:"the Councillor Call for Action and new overview and scrutiny powers. We are working with key stakeholders to implement in a coherent fashion changes to overview and scrutiny arrangements flowing both from the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 and the Police and Justice Act 2006—including the Councillor Call for Action, for which we are currently analysing the response to a consultation exercise which closed in March. We will work with the Local Government Association to issue guidance on this later this year. We will consult shortly on implementation of the overview and scrutiny powers.""extending the power to promote well-being to eligible parish councils. We are consulting stakeholders on secondary legislation and related guidance, with commencement scheduled before the end of this year.""we will also give local authorities the power to deal with local problems both by making certain byelaws without confirmation from the Secretary of State and by enforcing them with fixed penalty notices. A consultation exercise will be launched shortly and the intention is for these provisions to be in place by the end of 2008."A further version of the White Paper Implementation Plan will be published shortly.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

221525; 479 c1167W

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Local government

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk