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Total Place Programme (High Peak)

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for High Peak (Tom Levitt) on securing this debate. He is a friend in the House and outside, and I commend his enthusiastic dedication to his constituents and his constituency, which, as we could tell from his speech, he knows well and has served well for many years. I know that, like me, he is standing down at the general election, and he will be very much missed both in the House and in High Peak. I wish him well in his new life. First, though, back to the old life for a moment, but to an interesting and crucial part of it—Total Place. Like my hon. Friend, I am passionate about Total Place and feel that it brings a long overdue overhaul of how and where public money is spent, and how we can spend that money to best effect. It identifies blockages that prevent change and create barriers, particularly funding barriers, which have for so long proved to be such big stumbling blocks to reform of government at all levels. I am glad that local government is the most open of all levels of government to Total Place, but it will eventually move right through the system, to regional and central Government. Before dealing with Total Place in more detail, I should like to address the sharing of chief executives and back-office services by councils, which my hon. Friend mentioned. I understand his concern that such arrangements could lead to unequal partnerships, with one council dominating the other. However, an arrangement has been put in place by agreement between High Peak and Staffordshire Moorlands councils and their leaders, who are committed to making it work. I understand that there is a feeling that some of the political members have been marginalised, which I regret, but it is for the councils themselves—quite rightly—to make such arrangements, which are part of a growing trend in English local government and a quest to develop innovative approaches to service delivery at the same time as maximising operational efficiencies and savings. The overriding aim of the trend is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the services being delivered to residents.