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CHAIRMAN: Mirza F. N. Ahmad, M.B.A.,
LL.M, Barrister Chief Legal Officer, Ingleby House, DX : MDX 13053 Tel: 0121-303 9991, Fax: 0121-303 1312 E-mails : Chairman@balgps.org.uk;
Mirza.Ahmad@birmingham.gov.uk
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HONORARY
SECRETARY: Robert
Posner MBA, Barrister Electoral Commission, Trevelyan
House, Great
SW1P
2HW T:
020 7271 0500 E-mail: bposner@electoralcommission.org.uk
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Your
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Our ref.: |
Date: |
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MFA/YB |
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The
Right Honourable Hazel Blears MP
Secretary
of State for Communities and Local Government
House
of Commons
SW1A
0AA
Dear
Ms Blears MP
I
refer to your attached article in the November 2007 edition of the Public
Servant with regard to, “Freedom and flexibility – with financial strings
attached” and welcome the Government’s continuing drive to devolve greater
powers and freedom to Local Government so that it is better able to deliver
what local people want and need, backed up with appropriate resources to
deliver that agenda, but always being mindful, of Local Government’s
responsibility to get its house in order and deliver greater value for money,
efficiency and effectiveness for local citizens, businesses and partnerships.
It
is with particular reference to local strategic partnerships and the role that
Local Authorities play in partnerships with other public / private / voluntary
sectors to deliver better local governance for their areas that I write to you
to highlight a deficiency in the current legislative framework with regard to
Local Authorities. I attach a paper
setting out my thinking on the matter and possible solution(s) to the issue for
consideration by you and your Civil Servants.
In
view of the importance of the issues raised, I have copied this letter (and the
covering briefing paper) to the people mentioned on the attached distribution
list. I hope that we can all work
together to clarify the law to avoid the difficulties highlighted in the covering
paper, and ensure that we further improve governance arrangements at the local
/ regional levels.
I
apologise for the length of the covering paper, but the issues are quite
intricate and, based upon my own experiences in local government, I know they
have caused anxiety for many responsible Monitoring Officers and are of great
confusion to policy, finance and non-lawyer officers dealing with local
strategic partnerships.
It
is important, therefore, that we get these issues right, once and for all. I stand ready to support the national drive
to further improve local governance arrangements.
Please
note that the press has already shown a keen interest in this important area
and they will be provided with a copy of the attached paper one week after
today’s date in order to give you time to reflect on the issues. I look forward, therefore, to hearing from
you.
Yours sincerely
Mirza Ahmad, MBA LLM Barrister
Chairman
cc Sir Simon Milton, Chairman of the Local
Government Association
Paul Rowsell, Department of
Communities and Local Government
Steve Bundred, Audit Commission
Tony Redmond, Chair and Chief
Executive of the Local Government Ombudsman
David Prince, Standards Board for
Sir Anthony Holland, Standards Board
for
David Clark, Director General of
SOLACE
Steve Freer, CIPFA
Alison Kelly, Audit Commission
David Carter, ACSeS
Hilary Kitchen, Local Government
Information Unit
George Krawiec, North East
Lincolnshire District Council
John Whiteoak, Chairman of CIPFA / SOLACE Good
Governance Framework 2007
Tony Kilner, ACSeS