Local Government Reform Consultation on Policy Proposals Consultation Response: Early Years the organisation for young children

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1 Policy and Legislation Unit Local Government Policy Division Department of the Environment 8 th Floor, Goodwood House May Street, BT1 4NN 08/03/2011 Local Government Reform Consultation on Policy Proposals Consultation Response: Early Years the organisation for young children Early Years the organisation for young children welcomes the publication of these consultation proposals for the reform of local government in Northern Ireland. It is essential, considering the Executive s failure to rationalise the current 26 district councils to 11 district councils and transfer new functions to them for 2011, that renewed momentum be generated towards realising the full potential and opportunities for all sectors associated with councils working within a new statutory governance framework and ethical standards regime with a statute-based community planning process and a power of well-being. Early Years the organisation for young children is the largest organisation in Northern Ireland for young children and represents a sector which supports the needs of almost 28,000 children, an estimated 11,000 families and over 5,200 staff. In working within a strong set of values which place listening to children and those who care for them; ensuring a strong voice for children; participation; community and partnership at the forefront of what we do we are particularly interested in the proposals relating to transparency; ethical standards; community planning and the power of well-being. We are keen to highlight throughout that there are significant opportunities to learn and develop lessons and best practice, both at home and from other areas of the UK, which have already initiated such measures, in order to best deliver on the department s vision of a strong, dynamic local government that creates vibrant, healthy, prosperous, safe and sustainable communities that have the needs of all citizens at their core. Governance Arrangements We strongly encourage the updating of the existing framework, which as the consultation document points, out is almost 40 years old and agree with the objectives underpinning the proposals providing for efficient and effective decision making; checks and balances to support equality and fair treatment and greater transparency. It is essential that local and central Government have a vision where the delivery of public services and public information is characterised by customer focus, a choice of means of access, convenience, effectiveness and continuous improvement. This will mean that public service and information delivery is driven by

2 the needs of citizens and by a commitment to a customer service culture and to measurable improvement in accessibility and quality for all. Transparency Early Years encourages proposals that councils be required to prepare and publish constitutions which set out decision-making structures and how decisions are reached; mandatory standing orders and the scheme of delegation in operation for decision-making by officers, with clear links to Corporate and Business Plans. Transparency is the solid basis towards greater accountability. Local people, comprising of all sectors of the relevant community, should be able to hold their council to account over how money is being spent, and decisions made on their behalf. Therefore the published materials should also include reference to guidance, support and mechanisms on how decisions can be challenged. In addition to accountability, increased transparency also carries the associated potential benefits of greater efficiencies in identifying areas of wastage and in encouraging businesses or community and voluntary organisations to work in partnership with their council to maximise on available opportunities to bring new ideas and solutions to the table, regarding a particular service delivery for example, in a more flexible and cost effective manner for the best results to the customer. For this it is essential that that the necessary information be made available online via Council and partner websites and in as many other hard copy and alternative formats as befit the respective needs of the community which they serve. This is a practice already utilised by Councils in other areas of the United Kingdom and examples of good practice and guidance can be readily obtained from simple web searches. Ethical Standards The present situation, as outlined in the consultation document, whereby Northern Ireland is the only jurisdiction in the United Kingdom which does not have a mandatory code of conduct for district councillors is unacceptable. It is therefore imperative that, as has been the case in England, Wales and Scotland (further information below), a statutory ethical standards framework, including the introduction of a mandatory Code of Conduct for councillors with supporting mechanisms for investigation, adjudication and appeal, be introduced for members of district councils in Northern Ireland.

3 Code of Conduct A Code of Conduct for councillors and co-opted members plays a vital role in setting out, openly and clearly, standards to which councillors must apply when in their Council duties. The vital nature of such a Code is to give assurance to the public that their elected members are acting in accordance with high ethical standards. In developing a much needed mandatory Code of Conduct for councillors in Northern Ireland, as noted above, it is strongly recommended to follow and learn from other examples in operation in other areas of the United Kingdom, in not only the public but also the voluntary and community sectors. In Wales 1 The Local Authorities (Model Code of Conduct) (Wales) Order 2008 issued a new model Code of Conduct for Members and Co-opted Members of County/ County Borough Councils, Community and Town Councils, Fire and Rescue Authorities and National Park Authorities in Wales. In England every authority is required to adopt a Code of Conduct, which sets out rules governing the behaviour of an authority s members. A model Code of Conduct is approved by Parliament. The Code covers all elected, co-opted and independent members of local authorities, including parish councils, fire, police and national park authorities. Furthermore Standards for England 2 provides advice and guidance to authorities on the application of the code. The Scottish Parliament also demonstrated its commitment to the promotion of high standards in public life by passing the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 as one of its earliest statutes. This Act introduced a new framework which requires Ministers to issue a Code of Conduct for Councillors 3. The Act also created the Standards Commission for Scotland and the post of the Chief Investigating Officer to promote high standards in public life in Scotland. The Commission has responsibility for issuing guidance to assist councillors and members in their understanding of and compliance with the Codes. Our organisation has always worked within a strong set of values that place children, their parents and carers and their communities at the core of what we do. Being values-led means we look at how we work together and our attitude to work. Applying these values and their underpinning behaviours gives our organisation clear and positive guidance about what our values look like in practice and what we can do to make the most of our values. We believe that our members and users have the right to expect and receive high quality services and deserve to be valued and respected and Early Years staff continually feedback and are encouraged to identify

4 to how the core set of values and behaviours relate to them during regular sessions and staff training day events. The general principles to be specified in the code as a guide for councillors behavior in the execution of their duties and underpin the mandatory code, including selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership; and in particular the four additional principles adopted by the Northern Ireland Assembly on 12 October 2009 of respect, equality, good working relationships and promoting good relations are very much to be welcomed. Not only because they make the principles and code relevant to the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland but also because they would further cement the enhanced relationship between central and local government. The consultation document (paragraph 4.10) states that the Department should be required, before issuing the actual Code of Conduct, to consult with councils and bodies representative of councils, councillors and council officers. We would expect that such a consultation should be made much wider than this to include other individuals, groups and bodies to reflect the communities and voices represented by the councillors. Furthermore, as highlighted in examples illustrated above, in association with the release of the Code the Department should also be required to issue guidance notes, including more detail on supporting mechanisms for investigation, adjudication and appeal, and hold regional and national events for councillors and their advisers concerning the Code. Linked to this, not only should council members give a written undertaking to comply with the Code before accepting office but councillors should be required to undertake training / information and assessment sessions relating to the full implications of the Code. The proposals in the consultation document relating to complaints, investigation and adjudication, in that all complaints concerning alleged breaches be sent in the first instance to the Commissioner for Complaints to determine how they should be investigated, with cases deemed to be high profile or serious being retained for investigation by the Commissioner s Office and minor breaches referred to the local council for resolution are deemed to be acceptable. This is on the provision however that further guidance is released on the relevant terminologies employed in assessment of breaches, including examples and case studies, and an overview of the system being maintained at central government level, through reporting mechanisms to assess and review the system accordingly. Further information is required concerning the proposals related to the establishment of an independent monitoring officer and standards committee for each council, in the light of current economic and budgetary considerations affecting the region, before effective decisions could be reached on these matters. If each council were to have monitoring officers and standards committees to deal with complaints referred to it by the Commissioner, as proposed in the consultation, it would seem to be important to their relevant operation of functions that an element of independence is maintained,

5 such as inclusion of independent members and an independent chair for the committee to support any investigative actions and recommendations or findings. It would also be advisable that provision be included for subsequent revision of the Code to reflect relevant legislative changes and in light of experience gained in its first years of operation and that all information associated with the Councillors' Code of Conduct be made publicly available in as many accessible formats as possible appropriate to each authority with supporting public information sessions. Service Delivery & Performance Improvement Early Years the organisation for young children believes that our members and users have the right to expect and receive high quality services and deserve to be valued. Again the fact that Northern Ireland appears to be behind other areas of the United Kingdom in this respect too is unacceptable. All councils in Northern Ireland should have a duty of best value (continuous improvement) placed on them. The key requirement of this duty would be to deliver continuous improvement in everything the council did, whilst keeping an appropriate balance between quality and cost. This in turn would mean that the Council would have to have the management arrangements in place to deliver this continuous improvement. Such provisions would ensure that councils would understand better how they were performing; plan more effectively to improve and more efficiently deliver on improvements. Equally the Department should be able to issue guidance in relation to the application of best value and councils should be required to have regard to this guidance. Key lessons and good practice can be gained here particularly by following the example of Scotland where best value is closely linked to Corporate Improvement and Performance Plans and Local Authorities undergo Best Value reviews by Audit Scotland, which provides a baseline for how Scottish Councils perform and they utilise the Single Outcome Agreement Process 4. Working with Community Planning Partners (CPPs) and the Scottish Government, Councils produce a Single Outcome Agreement which sets out a plan of action to deliver better public services. Outcomes cover a variety of applicable areas to the particular authority such as the environment, enterprise, education, services for young and older people, health and community safety. Performance against these outcomes are also routinely assessed and scrutinised at local and central government level. Furthermore councils should be required to publish their annual performance against best value targets and performance indicators publicly online, on council tax information and council newsletters and Ministers should be able to intervene if a council is failing to effectively deliver services. 4

6 Community Planning In order to achieve the Executive s vision of a strong, dynamic local government creating communities that are vibrant, healthy, prosperous, safe, sustainable and which have the needs of all people at their core Early Years the organisation for young children strongly emphasises the critical need for the introduction of an effective community planning process. This should be led and facilitated by councils, working in full partnership with a range of relevant businesses, bodies, individuals and community and voluntary organisations to facilitate linking the delivery of services in an area and provide a joined up approach to meeting the economic, social and environmental needs of local communities. A note of caution is advised in the wording as used in the consultation document. Paragraph 6.3 states that the Department proposes that councils be required to make arrangements for community planning and, further in the same paragraph, that they would also be expected to engage with the community and other bodies and individuals in planning the provision of public services. Early Years would recommend that the terminology used in all such cases be required so a legal requirement is placed on councils to not only make arrangements to lead and facilitate community planning and ensure community plans are produced, reviewed and revised but also to engage with community, voluntary and other bodies in the planning of provision of services. Related to this there also needs to be a requirement that any community planning forum, board or other structure establish by a council under its community planning requirements is fully representative of all interests associated with that community. It is equally advisable that in all cases the much wider term 'engage' is used to replace the term 'consult'. It is also strongly recommended that the Department issue guidance to support community planning and engagement and in relation to the format and content of a council s community plan. Here again an excellent example is provided by Scotland which utilises National Standards for Community Engagement. 5 The National Standards define community engagement as Developing and sustaining a working relationship between one or more public body and one or more community group, to help them both to understand and act on the needs or issues that the community experiences. The Standards, which were commissioned by the Minister for Communities and developed by the Scottish Community Development Centre, set out best practice guidance for engagement between communities and public agencies. We also encourage the Department in this consultation process, with regards to Community Planning, associated guidance and potential standards, to also emphasise the importance of building better capacity within communities to be able 5

7 to engage with their councils and a robust programme of awareness raising and training initiatives to support the community planning process and application of any standards. Power of Well-Being Early Years the organisation for young children also would welcome the proposals for the introduction of a new power of well-being for councils, based on a fully consulted and acceptable community plan, to take an action not specifically provided for in legislation and not already the responsibility of another agency (unless that agency has given explicit agreement) to promote or improve the well-being of their district. We would further encourage and emphasise that Councils would give particular consideration to the wellbeing of the youngest citizens of their district in the exercise of such a power. The proposals do not carry further detail on this power other than a council would not be able to use the power of well-being to do anything that it is unable to do because of any other legal prohibition, restriction or limitation on their powers. Therefore the Department would be advised to issue detailed guidance to support the operation of the power and implementing or encouraging associated measures to raise the profile of the power as a priority. Guidance would have to set out such things as more definition or description on the power, without being too prescriptive; how councils could use the Power as a tool for strategic community leadership, enabling them to enhance service delivery and to address local policy agendas; who the power would be designed for use by; case studies of the power in exercise from other areas of the United Kingdom and illustrations of limitations of the power. An example of research, which could assist in the formulation of such guidance, could be research commissioned by Communities and Local Government entitled Practical use of the Well-Being Power 6. This examined take-up and use by local authorities across England of the Well-Being Power, the factors which had affected it and practical examples of how the Power has been used. A Partnership Panel The community planning powers and performance reporting and monitoring initiatives proposed by the Department will require departments and agencies to work with councils in development and delivering on the themes and targets identified in community plans and target identification. Therefore the proposals for the establishment of a Partnership Panel for Northern Ireland, to formalise relationships between the Executive and district councils and provide a forum for collective consideration of strategic issues, would seem an acceptable one. We would further propose however that, in addition to representation on the panel of Northern Ireland Ministers and representatives from Councils, participants from the business and 6

8 community and voluntary sector also be included, as true gateways to the voices of the communities to which they represent. We look forward to working with the Department in the further development of these proposals and would urge you to consider and recognise that the voluntary and community sector has a significant role to play in this and that there are considerable opportunities and benefits of our sector working as an equal partner. Yours sincerely Siobhán Fitzpatrick CBE Chief Executive Officer