Regional ministers will not upset 'effective' partnerships

The latest we are hearing on the sub-national review is that it won't be out on Wednesday as we originally though but maybe later this week. Either way it's not far off and could significantly add to the jigsaw that will show us what place government has for local government in its future devolutionary world. It could be the nail in local government's devolutionary coffin, of course. There is palpable fear out there that these many announcements coming from No. 10 are offering devolution to regions and neighbourhoods only.

One of the regional ministers, Liam Byrne, who represents the West Midlands, spoke today with LGC about these new posts. He told us, which you can read more about in Thursday's magazine, that the new roles are not expected to mess with 'effective' local partnerships which are already working to boost local economies and facilitate better planning across boundaries. These might be city regions or councils already working on multi-area agreements.

Reading between his lines then, this means that regional ministers could however quite easily end up messing about with regional bodies which aren't cutting the mustard. Interestingly the Centre for Cities has just brought out a new report, Two Track Cities, examining exactly which cities aren't really delivering on their potential in terms of key economic indicators such as jobs and those that are.

If we put two and two together from this and all those other north/south divide reports out there we might be able to figure out which areas might have the busiest regional ministers as a result. That is indeed assuming they will have enough time off their days jobs to do regions justice. Oh yes, still no word on what might happen to regional assemblies.

Added by Nina Lovelace

Conservatives announce 'regional' ministers

The Conservatives have also just annouced their own version of 'regional' ministers for England, although they do not exactly mirror those which were recently annouced by government. They are:

• Alan Duncan for Tyneside
• George Osborne for Manchester
• William Hague represents the Leeds/Bradford area and will have and overall responsibility for the North
• Caroline Spelman for Coventry
• Andrew Mitchell for Birmingham
• Francis Maude for the Black Country
• Andrew Lansley for Nottingham
• Dominic Grieve for Leicester
• Cheryl Gillan for Cardiff
• David Mundell for Glasgow
• Chris Grayling for Liverpool
• Stephen O'Brien for Stoke
• And Jacqui Lait for London
  

Further announcements regarding the north-east and south-west will apparently be made over the summer. As yet no one has been appointed for any area in the south east.

It in interesting that the Tories have gone much more for a city-based focus, and many unsurprisingly in the north, whereas the government ministers are most certainly based on the nine regions.

LGA conference - the unitary question

Gossip is rife at this year's LGA conference on what decisions if any will be made on which unitary councils will get the go-ahead in the next few weeks. The date being bandied around by some is July 25 for a final decision, and some at conference who have unitary bids in are near-convinced they will be given the green light.

It's hard to see how anyone can be be certain as to what new communities secretary Hazel Blears has in mind, however. It seems unlikely that she has had time as yet to really take on board what unitary councils could mean, especially in the light of recent announcements about the constitution and particularly the regions. The situation may not be helped by the fact local government also has a new local government minister John Healey who will probably also have his own views. The new regional ministers might also want to feed in.

Could this all see a decision put off about unitary councils, and July's 'annoucement' be one of delay? Or will Brown push on to make his mark in his first 100 days, citing efficiency as his main argument for change?

The complexity of what is happening could also be added to today, as the Lib Dems have said that during the committee stage of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill today Lib Dem peer Lord Greaves will propose an amendment which will set up a 'devolution commission' to investigate and report on the devolution of powers to local authorities in England.

As Lord Greaves said in a release put out yesterday: "Gordon Brown’s talk of a new concordat between central and local government is just that – talk. There should be a clear commitment to serious and sustained transfer of powers to a local level along with a bonfire of the detailed controls, targets and regulations which are strangling local democracy. I challenge the government to make this commitment. It’s time for them to let go on a massive scale. Unless they do so all the talk of a new localism is just hot air.”

Regions to get select committees

We've just had in some more details about what the regional ministers' roles and responsibilities will be. The justice secretary's new green paper, The governance of Britain, sets out the following on page 38:

Regional ministers will:

• advise the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on the approval of regional strategies and appointment of regional development agency (RDA) chairs and boards;
• represent regional interests in the formulation of central government policy relevant to economic growth and sustainable development in areas that have not been devolved to the RDAs;
• facilitate a joined up approach across government departments and agencies to enable the effective delivery of the single regional strategy;
• champion the region at high level events and with regard to high profile projects (including through a programme of regional visits); and
• represent the government with regard to central government policy at regional select committee hearings and at parliamentary debates focused specifically on the region.

In summary, regions get select committees and a parliamentary 'Question Time'. It's still not clear how this will work as the paper also talks of the need for limits on the number of meetings at a select committee level. It's also hazy where local government fits in, as councils will certainly also want to have more say now than ever about what regional bodies and ministers are up to.

Added by Nina Lovelace

Brown appoints regional ministers

The New Local Government Network has already leapt on the announcement that there will now be ministers for all of the English regions. Director Chris Leslie and his colleagues obviously view this as a significant step towards proving the devolutionary rhetoric Gordon Brown has been talking is about to become action.

For those who haven't picked this up yet, the new posts have come about as part of the reshuffle (which we will be reporting on in detail in the July 5 issue). The following have been given regional roles:

• Minister for the North East of England: The Rt Hon Nick Brown MP



• Minister for the North West: The Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP



• Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber: Caroline Flint MP



• Minister for the Olympics and for London: The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP



• Minister for the South West: Ben Bradshaw MP



• Minister for the East Midlands: Gillian Merron MP



• Minister for the West Midlands: Liam Byrne MP



• Minister for the East of England: Barbara Follett MP
  

This move is not as significant as many would have hoped, mainly because the above have bigger 'day' jobs, but it is a certainly a shift. However, some have met the news with considerably less enthusiasm than the NLGN, especially by those who remember what happened the last time government tried to inch towards regional government.

For example the Conservative MP for Shrewsbury & Atcham, Daniel Kawczynski, told the West Midlands NO! campaign: “The Conservative Party is continuing to fight this government’s move towards regionalisation and I am deeply concerned at the appointment of ministers for the regions.

"What is more, I note that Gordon Brown has appointed a Birmingham MP as Minister for the West Midlands – yet again ignoring how much of the West Midlands is a rural area, whose interests are unlikely to be effectively represented by an inner city MP. This in itself demonstrates the nonsense of a regional system of government that does not reflect the diversity of an area.”

Exactly what the regional ministers' roles and responsibilities will be are as yet unclear - we are in the process of finding out - but this is probably a prelude to proposed changes in Westminster that will see Commons question time sessions for each of the regions, along the lines of those already held for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The other big news is that John Healey is now the new local government minister, taking over from Phil Woolas. This is more good news as Healey is considered a fan of devolution. For the moment however it's not apparent what fate has befallen Phil.