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Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Answer

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Overarching Evaluation of the Local Government Modernisation Agenda will be implemented; how far implementation will extend; and what the cost of implementation will be to public funds. [191261] Mr. Raynsford: The Overarching Evaluation of the Local Government Modernisation Agenda (LGMA) commenced in January 2002 and is due to be completed in December 2007. The evaluation aims to draw together the lessons learned from evaluations of the 20 or more individual policy elements of the LGMA, such as the Best Value Regime, Local Public Service Agreements, New Council Constitutions and Local Strategic Partnerships. It seeks to provide an overview of the impacts of the LGMA as a whole in the key areas of service improvement, accountability, community leadership, stakeholder engagement and public confidence. It also seeks to provide an understanding of how these policies interact and key drivers of change to inform current delivery of policies and future policy development. The evaluation is designed to produce a series of annual reports, conference presentations, seminars, and specific thematic and policy papers throughout the lifetime of the study. This approach is to ensure flexible and timely use of research findings by a range of policy and practitioner audiences. The project is overseen by a Steering Group, administered and chaired by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister with the Audit Commission, IDeA, LGA, Employers Organisation and SOLACE as members. The Steering Group has developed a dissemination strategy, drawing on the resources available to each organisation, to ensure the lessons learned from this work reach local government as effectively as possible. The total contract cost of this programme of work over its entire five years is £1,817,328.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

425 c570W; 191261

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Costs Local government Modernisation Reform Research

Link

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