{"id":78271,"date":"2017-01-24T11:38:17","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T11:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=402a85ff3b6a6c9e98dc65f9b0100871"},"modified":"2017-01-24T11:38:17","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T11:38:17","slug":"speech-supporting-local-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=78271","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Supporting local government"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Thank you Gary for that kind introduction, and for inviting me along to speak to you all today.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s great to be here at the Local Government Association\u2019s (LGA) temporary home.<\/p>\n

I know some people have complained that I\u2019m not as close to Gary as Greg Clark<\/a> was.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not for lack of trying!<\/p>\n

Look at it from my point of view.<\/p>\n

In July I arrived at DCLG\u2019s HQ, just around the corner from Smith Square.<\/p>\n

Literally a 2-minute walk away.<\/p>\n

By October, the LGA had moved to the other side of London!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard not to take that personally\u2026<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not the only grumble I\u2019ve heard.<\/p>\n

Unlike my predecessors all the way back to Hazel Blears, I\u2019ve never served in local government.<\/p>\n

That drew some criticism when I was appointed.<\/p>\n

People were saying: \u201cThis guy Javid, he doesn\u2019t understand us. He was never a councillor. He\u2019s just a banker\u201d.<\/p>\n

Well, I think they said \u201cbanker\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

But look, I don\u2019t have to have been a councillor to appreciate what a phenomenal job you all do.<\/p>\n

You really are the front line of democracy, our local heroes.<\/p>\n

Last month, Ipsos Mori released their annual \u201cTrust in the professions\u201d survey.<\/p>\n

And, once again, local government was by far the most trusted tier of politics.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s no surprise.<\/p>\n

For one thing, you\u2019re directly responsible for many of the services that people use and rely on every day of the week.<\/p>\n

You provide homes, take care of the vulnerable, protect consumers.<\/p>\n

You educate our children.<\/p>\n

You keep the roads open.<\/p>\n

And you do so much more besides \u2013 including, of course, managing the service that troubles my mailbag more than any other.<\/p>\n

You empty the bins!<\/p>\n

Across this huge range of responsibilities, you do a great job.<\/p>\n

These are tough times for all parts of the public sector, central and local government alike.<\/p>\n

But your record in efficiency and delivery is second to none.<\/p>\n

We asked you to do more with less and that\u2019s exactly what you did.<\/p>\n

Satisfaction with most council services has remained high.<\/p>\n

Some services, such as road maintenance, even saw rises in satisfaction last year.<\/p>\n

As I told MPs last month, there\u2019s a lot that Whitehall can learn from councillors when it comes to delivering value for money.<\/p>\n

So whatever tier of government you serve in, whatever party you\u2019re from, let me say thank you.<\/p>\n

Thank you for being willing to stand up, to put in the time and effort to represent your community.<\/p>\n

And thank for you getting on with the job and showing just how effective and efficient local government can be.<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s not been easy.<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s not all plain sailing.<\/p>\n

I know that what some of you want me to do today is stand here and promise additional funding for local government.<\/p>\n

Well, there\u2019s an old politician\u2019s adage that goes:<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything you want to hear I can\u2019t say, and everything I can say you don\u2019t want to hear.\u201d<\/p>\n

But hopefully things won\u2019t be quite that challenging today!<\/p>\n

Because I get where you\u2019re coming from.<\/p>\n

No, I\u2019ve never been a councillor.<\/p>\n

But since I became Secretary of State last summer I have worked tirelessly to get under the skin of local government.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve travelled the country, talking to councils of all types and political persuasions.<\/p>\n

A week doesn\u2019t go by that I don\u2019t have councillors in my office, talking through the challenges they face and the support they need.<\/p>\n

I recognise your innovation, your management and your local leadership.<\/p>\n

And I understand your concerns.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest, of course, is adult social care.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt about it, adult social care is a huge challenge for the public sector right now.<\/p>\n

People are living longer, and that inevitably means greater demand for care services.<\/p>\n

Every year you spend more than \u00a314 billion on adult social care.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the biggest cost pressures facing councils.<\/p>\n

The last Spending Review put in place up to \u00a33.5 billion of additional funding for adult social care by 2019 to 2020.<\/p>\n

But I recognise that more needs to be done.<\/p>\n

You, in local government, have a statutory duty to take care of vulnerable people.<\/p>\n

But I believe that all of us have a moral duty to do so.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s what a civilised society does.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I was proud to fight for and secure more than \u00a3900 million of additional funding for social care<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Longer-term solutions are needed, but this additional cash will make a huge difference here and now.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid we\u2019ll have to agree to disagree on whether it\u2019s so-called \u201cnew money\u201d.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very clear that there is more cash available for adult social care than there used to be.<\/p>\n

Nearly a billion pounds of it.<\/p>\n

I know many of you, for various reasons, view things differently.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s all be very clear on one point \u2013 whether it\u2019s old money or new money, it\u2019s all taxpayers\u2019 money.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve heard some people object to the precept on Council Tax on the grounds that central government should pay for social care.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re missing the point.<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether funding is raised or allocated by central government or local government, it is all raised by taxing the people of this country.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not your money.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not my money.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s their money.<\/p>\n

And the social care precept means that their money gets spent in their areas supporting vulnerable members of their communities.<\/p>\n

Of course, some local authorities will be able to raise less than others.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the Improved Better Care Fund, worth \u00a31.5 billion by 2019 to 2020, will take into account councils\u2019 ability to raise funding through the precept.<\/p>\n

And we have listened to calls from across the board saying funding is needed sooner in order to meet short-term pressures.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we\u2019ve made available a \u00a3240 million Adult Social Care Support Grant for one year, distributed fairly according to need.<\/p>\n

I can also give you all some reassurance today.<\/p>\n

Like I said, I\u2019ve been talking to a lot of council leaders over the past 6 months.<\/p>\n

And one concern that comes up again and again is the possibility that Attendance Allowance funding could be resourced from retained business rates.<\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m listening.<\/p>\n

Today I can confirm that the localisation of Attendance Allowance<\/a> is no longer being considered as part of the business rates reforms.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be announcing further details on business rates reforms shortly.<\/p>\n

But I can tell you now that Attendance Allowance will not be included.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not pretend that increased funding is the only solution to the care challenge.<\/p>\n

You can pour as much petrol as you like into your car; if the engine\u2019s not working it still won\u2019t go.<\/p>\n

And there is variation in performance across the country that simply cannot be explained by different levels of spending.<\/p>\n

Look at one of the biggest challenges in social care, Delayed Transfers of Care from hospital.<\/p>\n

In some areas it\u2019s a chronic problem, while others have virtually no delayed transfers at all.<\/p>\n

In fact there\u2019s a 20-fold difference between the best-performing 10% and the worst-performing 10%.<\/p>\n

That can\u2019t be explained away by differences in funding or demographics.<\/p>\n

I know that most of the delays are down to the health service.<\/p>\n

But a gap that size also has to involve some councils simply doing things better than others.<\/p>\n

Look at Southampton.<\/p>\n

It has reduced delayed transfers of care and unnecessary hospital admissions by integrating 7 health and social care teams into a single service under a pooled budget.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re tempted to shake your head and say \u201cthat\u2019s great, but things are different in the south\u201d, look at Northumberland.<\/p>\n

\u00a35 million saved thanks to the council working with the local health trust.<\/p>\n

Demand for residential care cut by 12%.<\/p>\n

And those statistics aren\u2019t just numbers on a balance sheet.<\/p>\n

They mean more people managing their own health.<\/p>\n

More people able to live independently in their own homes.<\/p>\n

More people recovering with their families in familiar surroundings rather than being marooned on a hospital bed.<\/p>\n

More efficient working is good for councils, good for taxpayers, and good for the people who matter most \u2013 those on the receiving end of services.<\/p>\n

Health and social care should be fully integrated so that they feel like one service.<\/p>\n

The Better Care Fund<\/a> is already supporting this with \u00a35.3 billion of funding pooled between councils and Clinical Commissioning Groups last year.<\/p>\n

But we also want to make sure that all local authorities learn from the best performers and the best providers.<\/p>\n

So we will soon publish an Integration and Better Care Fund Policy Framework to support this.<\/p>\n

And in the long term, we will need to develop reforms that will provide a sustainable way of working that benefits everyone who needs care.<\/p>\n

Of course, social care isn\u2019t the only big challenge on all our plates right now.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also that most basic of human needs: housing.<\/p>\n

For decades now, this country has not been building enough houses.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not the fault of any one government or any one council.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s a problem that we will all have to work together to fix.<\/p>\n

The LGA has just made a great contribution to that with the report from its Housing Commission.<\/p>\n

So thank you to everyone who worked on that.<\/p>\n

My plan for getting homes built, the housing white paper, is going to be published shortly.<\/p>\n

As you know, it\u2019s not an easy challenge to overcome.<\/p>\n

We want to make sure we get it right, that we make the biggest impact on the housing shortage that we can.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be right for me to reveal everything that\u2019s in the white paper before it\u2019s published.<\/p>\n

But I will say this much.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to be tinkering around the edges.<\/p>\n

The white paper will set out serious, lasting, long-term reforms that will boost housing supply immediately and for many years to come.<\/p>\n

I know you\u2019ve heard that before.<\/p>\n

But this white paper isn\u2019t just about changing guidelines or passing legislation or cutting red tape.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about a whole new mind set.<\/p>\n

A whole new attitude to house building at all levels \u2013 in central government, in the building industry and, yes, in local government too.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, you will have a huge role to play in the future of house building.<\/p>\n

You are the enablers.<\/p>\n

You are the planners.<\/p>\n

You are the local leaders.<\/p>\n

Leadership, as you know, sometimes means taking tough decisions.<\/p>\n

Unpopular decisions, even.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not easy.<\/p>\n

But we have to ask ourselves what kind of country we want to live in.<\/p>\n

Do we want a divided nation, with an unbridgeable and ever-widening gap between the property haves and have-nots?<\/p>\n

Where only those with wealthy parents can get a foot on the property ladder?<\/p>\n

Where elderly people are forced to work well past retirement age in order to keep paying off their mortgage?<\/p>\n

Where unfettered, unplanned and unhelpful development overwhelms communities who have no say in the matter?<\/p>\n

Or do we want a country where anyone who wants to work hard and get on can ultimately afford a place of their own?<\/p>\n

Where social mobility is boosted, the environment is protected, and quality of life is improved?<\/p>\n

I know which one I want to see.<\/p>\n

And the white paper will help bring it about.<\/p>\n

Housing is a complex business.<\/p>\n

Different people and different places have different needs.<\/p>\n

There is no simple, off-the-shelf, one-size-fits-all solution.<\/p>\n

The same is true of devolution.<\/p>\n

The Sheffield City Region and Cornwall, for example, are very different places with very different strengths and some very different problems.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why the devolution deal that\u2019s right for one area might not be right for another.<\/p>\n

The West Midlands will benefit from having a mayor, but not all areas will.<\/p>\n

Just because Wiltshire has made a huge success of unitary status, it doesn\u2019t mean all district councils should shut up shop.<\/p>\n

Areas that opt for a directly elected mayor will always be in line for the greatest degree of devolution.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve said before, I don\u2019t want to devolve power without accountability.<\/p>\n

But the whole of point of our approach to devolution and reorganisation is that it\u2019s locally led to meet local needs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about bottom-up consensus, not top-down reorganisation.<\/p>\n

The last thing I want to do is repeat the failed experiment of identikit regional assemblies imposed along arbitrary geographical lines and imposed from Westminster.<\/p>\n

But let me be very clear \u2013 we are not going cold on devolution.<\/p>\n

We have not lost interest, it has not slipped down our list of priorities.<\/p>\n

Myself, my department and my Prime Minister remain absolutely committed to making existing deals a success.<\/p>\n

And my door is always open to local authorities who want to put forward their own plans.<\/p>\n

I want to see strong, effective, efficient local government in whatever form best suits your area.<\/p>\n

If you can deliver that, I\u2019ll give you as much as I can.<\/p>\n

After all, last June, the people of Britain voted to take back control.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not about to reclaim power from Brussels only to hoard it in Westminster.<\/p>\n

On the subject of Brexit\u2026<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, as you\u2019ll have seen, the Prime Minister set out the core principles of our departure from the European Union.<\/p>\n

And on everything from consumer protection to economic growth, local government is central to getting Brexit right.<\/p>\n

Yes, we want to see a global Britain.<\/p>\n

But that has to be built on firm local foundations.<\/p>\n

I know my predecessor promised local government a \u201cseat at the table\u201d.<\/p>\n

I also know the current joke is that he didn\u2019t say which seat, at which table or even which building it\u2019s in!<\/p>\n

But, earlier this week, my colleague David Davis<\/a> announced that he\u2019d be sitting down with elected leaders.<\/p>\n

And you can rest assured that I\u2019m going to make sure your voice is heard.<\/p>\n

Because whichever party you represent, I represent you.<\/p>\n

I am your Secretary of State, your champion in Westminster, your voice in Cabinet.<\/p>\n

I am proud to speak for you, I am proud to fight for you.<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t always agree on everything.<\/p>\n

But this is a big, big year for local government.<\/p>\n

Elections in counties and combined authorities, devolution deals being delivered, the Brexit process beginning, the housing white paper\u2026<\/p>\n

And if we\u2019re going to make a success of it we are all going to have to work together.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve talked about 4 of the big issues today.<\/p>\n

I know there\u2019s a lot more on your mind.<\/p>\n

If I haven\u2019t touched on something it doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t care about it, I just don\u2019t want to spend the whole of this session talking at you.<\/p>\n

For all the time I spend meeting with council leaders, the realities of my life and yours mean I don\u2019t get enough opportunities to hear from other councillors.<\/p>\n

And I really want to hear from you.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t promise to give you the answer you want.<\/p>\n

There may some questions where I have to hold up my hands and say \u201cI don\u2019t know, let me get back to you on that\u201d.<\/p>\n

But I can promise that I will listen.<\/p>\n

That I will go on listening.<\/p>\n

And that I will continue doing everything I can to support the single most important part of the public sector \u2013 our local councils.<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sajid Javid talks to councillors about adult social care, housing, devolution and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}