This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Local Government Bill in Parliament
16/05/2002
The Local Government Bill is an important step forward
in the Executive drive to modernise local government and
improve the delivery of public services, the Scottish
Parliament was told today.
Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Services Peter
Peacock was speaking as the Bill, providing a package of
measures designed to improve delivery, was introduced. The
measures include:
- A duty of Best Value which will sweep away CCT and
place the Best Value framework on a statutory footing
to improve accountability and make sure that scrutiny
is rigorous
- A statutory footing for Community Planning placing
the need for local authorities and other bodies to work
together and with communities in planning and
delivering services
- The power of well-being giving councils a can-do
power to promote and improve the well-being of their
area, as long as it is not restricted by
legislation
Mr Peacock said:
"Improving the delivery of customer-focussed public
services is our priority. We want public services in
Scotland that are of the highest quality and this Bill
provides a framework to achieve that.
"The package of measures in this Bill are designed to
make it easier for councils to do their jobs, while giving
them more responsibility to act within a sensible
framework. It will encourage them to work in partnership
with other bodies and the communities they serve and to
embed a culture of quality, equality and improvement.
"We are committed to building a close and constructive
relationship with local government and their Community
Planning partners. And this Bill - which complements the
Local Government White Paper - underlines that relationship
and the trust we are placing in local authorities.
"All the measures in the Bill can make real
differences to the lives of people in communities in all
parts of Scotland. I am confident that the power of
well-being, the duty of community planning, and the duty of
Best Value will bring about genuine improvements in public
service delivery."
Councillor Corrie McChord, COSLA's Modern Governance
Spokesperson, said:
"COSLA and Scottish Local Government share the
Executive's aim of the highest quality possible for
Scotland's public services and this Bill provides a
framework to help achieve that.
"The package of measures in the Bill should make it
easier for councils to do their jobs. As well as providing
duties of Community Planning and Best Value, the Bill
provides a new power of well-being. This will give councils
the freedom and flexibility to get on with the job of
meeting their communities' needs in a way that was not
always possible before."
The Bill's provisions are:
This gives local authorities the power to do anything
likely to promote or improve the well-being of their area,
as long as it is not expressly restricted by legislation.
This is a subtle but important change in emphasis which
shifts the balance in favour of local authorities being
able to consider what they can do to improve their area,
rather than what they cannot do because of the current
legislative pictures .
This will place on a statutory footing the need for
local authorities and other bodies to work together in a
joined-up and cross-cutting way. It will also formalise
procedures to ensure communities are fully involved in the
planning and delivery of services.
Best Value has already been in practice among local
authorities since 1998 and CCT is currently suspended.
Putting the framework on to a statutory footing will
improve accountability and make sure that scrutiny of Best
Value is rigorous. The Accounts Commission's powers to set
performance indicators and monitor performance will be
updated to fit Best Value. They will also be given the
power to set indicators which look at cross-cutting
'quality of life' issues. As now, the Commission will
report to Scottish Ministers if there is a problem - and
Ministers will be able to step in if there is a
'catastrophic' failure.
- Miscellaneous provisions:
Remote participation in and calling of council meetings
- This provision will allow, for example, a councillor or
councillors to take part in a meeting by video conference
and will allow the use of e-mail to send out notices for
council meetings.
Travel concessions - This provisions equalises for both
men and women the age for concessionary travel at 60.
Taxis and private hire cars - This is a minor technical
amendment to section 20 of the Civic Government (Scotland)
Act 1982 and requires all regulations made by Ministers
under this section to be subject to Parliamentary
scrutiny.
Suspension of requirement to advertise principal teacher
posts - This section amends the Education (Scotland) Act
1980 to enable the introduction of the new career structure
for the teaching profession. The advertisement and
appointment procedures required by that Act, requiring
Principal Teacher posts to be advertised are to be
suspended for 1 year.