LGA welcomes “positive step” towards wider devolution in ‘Rewiring the State’ paper but warns of capacity pressures

Prime Minister Andy Burnham set out his goals in a paper published late last month (31 July) entitled 'Rewiring the State'.

The document revealed that the new Government aims to achieve full coverage in England of strategic authorities by 2028 - and will hand out new powers to those authorities over skills, employment support, transport, housing, innovation and public services.

It also committed to fiscal devolution, including expanding overnight visitor levy powers to all strategic authorities and assigning a share of income tax to mayoral strategic authorities from 2028.

Further reforms include aligning public service boundaries around strategic authorities, a devolve-by-default approach across Government, and changes to support council financial sustainability.

Commenting on the raft of changes, the LGA said it had long advocated for further devolution and highlighted the work it is doing to support the current phase of devolution.

However, it warned that the timeline for achieving coverage of strategic authorities by 2028 is the same as for local government reorganisation (LGR), adding: "Doing so concurrently is a significant undertaking."

It also noted that the pressure may further impact local government’s capacity and resource constraints. "Clarity on milestones, timelines and expectations will be key," the response said.

According to the LGA, the Government will provide more detail at the upcoming Autumn Budget and in a forthcoming fiscal devolution roadmap. A white paper detailing plans for the full set of reforms and implementation timetable is also forthcoming.

The LGA said the Government's white paper must look beyond devolution, LGR and public service boundary alignment to consider public service reform more broadly.

"This must consider all interacting public service reform agendas, producing a single coherent timeline and strategy to make the best use of resources to deliver on national ambitions," it said.

Adam Carey