LEDC's final espresso shot for November, discusses Public Services Reform and Devolution – a report authored by Sam Freedman and published by Labour Together in October. It makes the case for Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) to be given much more prominent roles in the government’s five missions - health, clean energy, opportunities and crime as well as their traditional focus on economic growth. Is this an inevitable next step in the UK’s devolution journey – at least for England? If so, what might it mean for decentralisation in general and economic development in particular?
What are the report’s main arguments and how much traction might it have?
The report advocates giving much more power to MCAs to oversee health, education, criminal justice, and other public services. It highlights examples of Metro-mayors and MCAs already going beyond their economic focus with some success – from public health to statutory Police and Crime Commissioner roles, Integrated Care System convening, and even school improvement programmes. The author argues this as a strategy for countering the weaknesses of the UK’s acute over-centralisation that is increasingly recognised as one of the main contributors to overall economic underperformance and regional inequalities.
Five major principles are outlined – mayoral accountability and/or convening powers, first refusal on new programmes, flexible funding, commissioning roles, use of MCA boundaries for coterminous devolved structures and processes.
There were some signals of this direction of travel in the Autumn Budget, but at the time of writing this policy area was still in play in terms of the impending Devolution White Paper. Nevertheless, Labour Today’s closeness to the new government means it is likely to be an influential analysis and set of recommendations.
Does this direction of travel make sense?
Mike and I are both broadly positive about wider MCA roles both for public service reform and LED reasons. Regional differentiation requires an effective ‘intermediate tier’ to set objectives for, and performance-manage public services in areas like health and education. The economic benefits of better health and care, education, and criminal justice is potentially huge.
There will, however, be tensions to address. MCA capacity and capability to discharge enhanced roles effectively is very uneven. The political management of determining, agreeing and performance managing priorities with Local Authority constituent members is not straightforward, particularly if there are major disagreements at any stage of the process.
The Devolution White Paper will need to determine frameworks for recognising variability in capabilities, track records, and collaborative maturity for wider intermediate tier roles in public service reform.
How might LED policy makers and practitioners use and develop the proposals in Public Services Reform and Devolution
Overall, the Labour Together report is helpful for LED and devolution. Contemporary fit-for-purpose economic strategies will typically cover topics like net zero, health inequalities, and education as part of a holistic and integrated approach to growth and development. As MCAs become more clearly legitimate as an intermediate tier, expanding their coordination, convening, commissioning and performance management functions beyond traditional economic development programmes makes a lot of sense. Some intra-tier tensions are inevitable, and there will need to be ways of resolving these both with national and with local partners. The LED and placemaking perspectives will be critical in identifying the economic dividends of these enhanced responsibilities, and in advising on how to realise them.
Comments