LGA conference - current buzz word

Concordat – noun

1. An agreement or compact, esp. an official one.
2. An agreement between the pope and a secular government regarding the regulation of church matters.

If there has been one buzz word at the Local Government Association’s annual conference so far, it’s been that used by Gordon Brown to describe the future relationship between councils and Whitehall in his statement to Parliament on constitution changes. There’s been no suggestion yet that Pope Benedict XVI is being brought in to take on the work of Sir Frank Layfield, Nick Raynsford and Sir Michael Lyons (although some might comment that divine intervention would be the next logical step), so we will assume the new prime minister was referring to definition 1.

The supporting documents contain the following paragraph:

“The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government will now work with the Local Government Association to establish a concordat to govern the relations between central and local government. This will establish for the first time an agreement on the rights and responsibilities of local government, including its responsibilities to provide effective leadership of the local area and to empower local communities where possible.”

All very exciting. And doubtless the LGA are looking forward to working with Hazel Blears to produce this new agreement. Only problem is no-one is entirely sure what it means.
Some at the conference are optimistically saying it could something along the lines of the independent commission to make sure the costs to councils of meeting Whitehall’s policies are fully funded.

One thing’s for sure, new local government minister John Healey was letting nothing go when asked to elaborate.

Added by Dan Drillsma-Milgrom live from conference