New inquiry - Localism

Terms of reference for localism inquiry

The Communities and Local Government Committee has decided to conduct an inquiry into the Government’s plans for localism and decentralisation of public services.

The Committee will be considering:

• The extent to which decentralisation leads to more effective public service delivery; and what the limits are, or should be, of localism;

• The lessons for decentralisation from Total Place, and the potential to build on the work done under that initiative, particularly through place-based budgeting;

• The role of local government in a decentralised model of local public service delivery, and the extent to which localism can and should extend to other local agents;

• The action which will be necessary on the part of Whitehall departments to achieve effective decentralised public service delivery;

• The impact of decentralisation on the achievement of savings in the cost of local public services and the effective targeting of cuts to those services;

• What, if any, arrangements for the oversight of local authority performance will be necessary to ensure effective local public service delivery.

• How effective and appropriate accountability can be achieved for expenditure on the delivery of local services, especially for that voted by Parliament rather than raised locally.

The Committee would be particularly interested to hear of examples, from the UK or overseas, of models of decentralised public service delivery from which lessons could be learnt for further decentralisation in England.

The Committee is inviting written submissions, addressing any or all of the points above, in accordance with the guidelines stated below by Friday 1 October 2010.

For further details about this inquiry please contact Judith Boyce,  inquiry manager on 020 7219 3290.