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Total Place Programme (High Peak)

I completely understand my hon. Friend's concerns, but he puts me in an impossible position, because the Government rightly do not interfere in the decisions that are taken at local government level. Local government is accountable for such decisions, not to central Government but to electorates and the auditors. Although I understand his concerns, they must be taken up by the electorates in High Peak and Staffordshire Moorlands, particularly, by the sound of it, in the former. I note what he says and we must learn from the experience for future Total Place activities, as Total Place is not a pilot but an action. As my hon. Friend says, Total Place brings together all public service providers to look at how public money is spent in an area and to ask hard questions about the best use of it. The partnerships include primary care trusts and police authorities. I am happy to see that that is working in High Peak, and I was very taken by my hon. Friend's descriptions of the work done by people such as Lee Baker and Janet Birkin. They are the very stuff of the English local government system, and without them our country would be a much poorer place. My hon. Friend asked about the relationship between local service partnerships and Total Place partnership boards. The Total Place initiative builds on the LSP approach. Total Place pilots have developed governance structures that reflect the policy areas that they have been considering. They can involve chief executives and leaders from each local authority, primary care trusts, Jobcentre Plus, the police and other partners in the LSP, but they can go further and include organisations from outside the LSP, such HM Courts Service. Local government is embarking on this from a position of strength. The Government's recent White Paper "Smarter Government" set out our commitments, on which we will report at the time of the Budget. The door remains open for radical shifts in service delivery. As my hon. Friend rightly pointed out, Total Place is not an exclusive club, and councils and their partners need not be formally part of the pilot initiative to consider how the approach could benefit their areas. It is crucial for those running pilots, and others, to remain ambitious in their thinking. I thank my hon. Friend for highlighting the work done in the east midlands on PSA16. I assure him that Total Place will build on that excellent work, and will ensure that co-ordinated services remain focused on delivery of the best possible outcomes for the area. Both Smarter Government and Total Place are intended to improve service delivery at local level, and improving citizens' access to information and services through the use of new technology is a key part of achieving those goals. Someone who knows that £7.5 billion of public money is being spent every year in a city such as Birmingham is empowered to identify how it is being spent and where there is duplication. I believe that making such detailed information publicly, easily and comprehensively available is key to the massive reform movement that is taking place. Streamlined contact between different providers and service users is another key theme. My hon. Friend asked what was the aim of more effective collaboration between services in each locality. The Total Place approach involves moving away from protection of territory and budgets and persuading people to work together and, at times, to switch resources between different providers. That cuts out duplication, waste and bureaucracy, and saves not just time but money and effort. Some of the money runs into millions of pounds, which can be reinvested. It is designed to improve people's experience of services, and to make those services genuinely seamless. It is encouraging to learn that Total Place is already taking root so well in High Peak, and I look forward to its taking root at regional and Whitehall level. It is a radical model and one on which I hope we can build, particularly in the area of housing. I am glad that council properties in High Peak—