Putting People First Guide - Department of Environment and Local ...

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 1A Guide to:PuttinG PeoPle FirstAction ProGrAmme For eFFectivelocAl Government

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Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 3C o n t en t sF o r e w o r d F r o m t h e m i n i s t er 5V i s i o n 7s u mm a r y o F th e m es 8s t r u C t u r e s t h a t w o r k F o r C o m mu n i t i e s 10F u n d i n g, a C C o u n t a bili t y a n d goV e r na n C e 14e C o n o m i C d eV el o pm e nt a n d J o b C r e at i o n 16d e l i Ve r i n g s e rV i C e s e F F i C i e nt l y 18C o n C l u s i o n 20

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Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 5Fo r e w or dlocal government represents and serves the citizen. uniquely, it is given afranchise by all residents in ireland. putting people First involves the mostfundamental set of changes in local government in the history of the statefrom regional and county level through to the municipal level of governance.these changes are an integral part of the government’s comprehensiveprogramme to improve the way the political system serves our people. thereforms include: making our political funding system more transparent;increasing the participation of women; reducing the number of tds;establishing the Constitutional Convention; and introducing legislation toaddress conflicts of interests, lobbying procedures and to strengthen our planning system. my department hasa key role in spearheading many of these reforms.this action programme, putting people First, outlines government policy for reform and development rightacross the local government system. the reforms put a strong emphasis on accountability as the bedrock of aproperly functioning system of local democracy, providing for better engagement with citizens. i believefervently in the need for local government to build strong relationships with and gain the interest of localpeople. however, local government structures in ireland have not been updated since the 19th Century. i amrenewing those structures and introducing more effective democratic arrangements, which will increaseefficiency and give better value for money for the people it serves. this will involve radical measures, such asa substantial reduction in the number of Councillors and the number of local and regional authorities.local government must also operate to the very highest standards. putting people First introduces newdegrees of accountability, transparency and external scrutiny, as essential pillars of local democracy. therewill be a new national oversight and audit Commission with external expertise, which will provide a morerobust system of performance monitoring with a focus on: key performance indicators, customer service andcomparative performance of local authorities. i will strengthen the role of local authority audit Committeesand i will also review reserved powers under section 140 of the local government act 2001 to ensure thatCouncillors will no longer be allowed to direct managers in respect of planning functions.local government has been ahead of most sectors in the changes it has made to reduce costs and driveefficiency, with €830 million savings made since 2008, and the sector is well on the way to achieving the €511million savings identified in the report of the local government efficiency review group. i will ensure thatlocal authorities continue to vigorously pursue the efficiency agenda, while maintaining essential frontlineservices and delivering the highest standards of customer service. the reform programme will yield savingsof up to €420 million on full implementation.putting people First reinforces local government as the primary means of public service at local level,harnessing the commitment of elected members and officials. For my part, i am committed to buildingstronger, more cohesive local government, giving it a greater capacity not only to address the challenges weface, but also to promote local community, social and economic development, and collectively to maximise thestrengths of our country as a place in which to live, to invest and to work. at a critical time for our country, local5

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 8summary of themes:1. structures - local government will be streamlined:• a new model of municipal governance within counties will be introduced. all 80 existing townauthorities and their 744 members will be replaced by a comprehensive system of municipaldistricts, integrating town and county governance. this will mean:• local authorities will be reduced from 114 to 31 City and County Councils with integrateddistricts;• there will be a reduction from 1,627 council seats to about 950;• there will be a rebalancing of representation nationally and more equality ofrepresentation between local electoral areas within counties;• elected members will decide relevant local matters at district level and collectively theywill form the plenary city or county council; and• there will be a unified county-wide administration with no duplication of functions betweendistrict and county levels.• the eight regional authorities and two assemblies will be replaced by three regional assemblies toperform an updated range of strategic functions, with a reduction in overall membership from 290to 62.• the structural reforms at regional, county and sub-county level are anticipated to realise netsavings of €40 to €45 million.• waterford City and County Council will, together with tipperary and limerick, be unified, witheffect from the 2014 local elections.2. Funding, accountability and governance:8• local services administered by local authorities will be locally funded through an equitableproperty tax. this financial responsibility will underpin local democratic decision-making.• a new independently chaired national oversight and audit Commission for local government willbe established, involving external evaluation expertise.• local authority audit Committees will be put on a full regulatory footing and the Committee’sreview of the audit report will be included in its report to the Council.• the position of local authority manager will be replaced by a Chief executive post.• reserved functions of elected members will be strengthened.• powers of councillors under section 140 of the local government act 2001 will no longer apply inrespect of planning functions and consistent with this, these powers will not apply to any decisionby a local authority involving financial or other benefit to an individual or a specific organisation.• the two representative bodies of local Councillors will be merged after 2014.

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 93. economic development and Job Creation:• there will be an enhanced role in economic development and enterprise support.• a new dedicated strategic policy Committee for economic development will be created in eachlocal authority and a specific director of services for economic development will be created inmany local authorities.• local economic development strategies will be adopted as part of the City and Countydevelopment plan.• local authorities will build on the 2,000 initiatives already in train to develop innovative bestpractice approaches for mainstream application across the local government sector.• new local enterprise offices (leos) will be integrated with local authority business support unitsto create a one-stop-shop for business support.• there will be closer alignment of local and community development supports with localgovernment.4. delivering services efficiently:• implementation of recommendations of the local government efficiency review implementationgroup and the local authority workforce planning process will yield significant savings.• there will be a more robust system of performance monitoring by a national oversight and auditCommission with a focus on: key indicators, outcomes rather than outputs, value for money,customer service and comparative performance of authorities.• local authorities will be required to provide good quality public information, particularly in relationto local services and resource utilisation. they will now have to prepare annual action plans withspecific actions and targets and the resources they need to facilitate comparison of output againstapproved budget at year end.• service level agreements (slas) will be developed between government departments and localauthorities.• service plans will be approved by elected members in respect of each programme for allauthorities.• as part of an enhanced customer complaints initiative, each City and County Council will berequired to have a dedicated, suitably trained, Customer service officer.• the customer service initiative www.fixyourstreet.ie website will be rolled out in every authority.the service is a publicly accessible web site with associated mobile technologies on which nonemergency issues such as graffiti, road defects, issues with street lighting, water leaks/drainageissues, and litter or illegal dumping can be reported. issues raised will be responded to within twoworking days.efficiency gains:• over €830 million in total savings have been achieved since 2008 and almost €196 million inefficiency savings under lger in the last two years.• there is a further target of €150 million efficiency savings to be achieved over the next 18 months.• a dedicated programme management office has been established to support shared servicesand a work Force planning process to drive staffing and organisational rationalisation.• through work force planning and shared services an additional 500 staff will be taken out of thelocal government system in the next 18 months.• the reform programme will yield significant savings of up to €420 million on full implementation.9

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 101. structures that work for Communitiesputting people First is the most fundamental and radical reform of local government structures since the 19thCentury. while local authorities have changed hugely and contributed enormously to ireland’s development,the basic structures have changed little for over 100 years. to support a stronger local government role, thestructure of its component parts at sub-county, county and regional levels, must be rational, economic,efficient, reflective of modern day realities and capable of advancing the objectives of operational efficiencyand representational effectiveness.in keeping with public service reform generally, local government structures will be streamlined andstrengthened. the disparate array of 114 local authorities at present will be replaced by 31 City andCounty Councils, with integrated districts.Changes at sub-County level – municipal districtsthe most extensive change will be at sub-county level. previous reports recommended either outrightabolition of the 80 existing town councils or transfer of most of their functions to county level. however, a morepositive approach to sub-county structures and functions will be taken under this reform programme.while some counties may see an increase at the integrated county level, it is envisaged that the overallnumber of council seats nationally will not exceed 950, compared with the current 1,627. there will alsobe a rebalancing of representation nationally and more equality of representation between local electoralareas within counties.10key Features:• the new municipal districts will cover each entire county and will be built as far as possiblearound the main towns and their natural hinterlands, unlike the current isolated town authorities.• a single county-wide administrative structure will deal with operational functions and electedmembers will decide relevant matters at municipal district and County levels, respectively, withno duplication or overlapping of functions.• Councillors will be simultaneously elected to the municipal districts and the County Councilinstead of current separate town and county councils.• the areas of the municipal districts will be drawn up on the basis of a review by an independentstatutory committee, which will report by early 2013.• Current weaknesses and anomalies, for example, town councils’ lack of powers and resources;town and county duplication; boundary issues; inconsistency between municipal and nonmunicipaltowns, will be removed.

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 11more power will be devolved to local level, closest to the people. elected members will perform asubstantial range of “reserved” functions at municipal district level.• Functions of members at district level will involve a local policy/regulatory role in areas ofplanning, roads, traffic, housing, environmental services, recreation, amenity, community matters,civic functions; citizen and community engagement; and representational and oversight functions.• district functions will be consistent with county level policy.the identity of each county will be maintained.unification of the City and County councils in limerick and tipperary, as already decided by government,will proceed in accordance with recommendations by the implementation groups for these areas.a single new local authority will also be established in waterford, as recommended in the report of thewaterford local government Committee.City/County levelputting people First will preserve the City or County Council as the core element of local government. theidentity of each county will be maintained in the new structures. Joint management arrangements as proposedby the lger group will not be implemented and existing councils will be retained subject to amalgamation inthree cases.Consolidation of City and County structures is being pursued where this is warranted to strengthen localgovernment. the key objective of local government unification is to increase the capacity of local governmentto promote economic and social development.the tipperary implementation plan, a progress report by the limerick implementation group and the reportof the waterford local government Committee are published on www.environ.ie.the waterford local government Committee recommend the unification of the existing waterford City Counciland waterford County Council, with effect from the 2014 local elections. the Committee identified a number ofbenefits with the merger including strong local leadership; more cohesive economic and social development;enhanced public service coordination and integration; better and more efficient staffing arrangements; andfinancial savings that could be used to reduce the rate burden while improving services. implementationarrangements, similar to those in limerick and tipperary, will apply, including an independently chairedimplementation group to oversee initial reorganisation arrangements and dual management arrangements indue course.11

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 12local government structures will reflect appropriate metropolitan areas in the cities. metropolitan districtswill be defined within merging city and county authorities which will underpin the status of cities such aslimerick and waterford as major regional centres.in the case of dublin, having regard to the relatively recent major restructuring and the extent of reforms beingimplemented, it is not proposed to consider reorganisation of local government structures ahead of the 2014local elections.there will be devolution of specific functions from central level to local government and delegation ofgreater responsibility to local authorities:• in addition to local micro-enterprise support (through the leos), certain functions will be assignedfrom departments/agencies to local authorities in the areas of transport, local roads, tourism,sport, management of state property and heritage sites, flood management/relief, food safety andcertain infrastructural functions.• there will be delegation of greater responsibility in certain existing local authority functions in theareas of environment, water, foreshore, local/community development, roads, housing andenergy efficiency.• separate structures for the delivery of public services will not be established outside of localgovernment unless clearly necessitated in exceptional circumstances.• the scope for further extension of the reserved functions of the elected members will be fullyconsidered as part of the reform programme. in particular, the default provision which grants themanager power to act unless powers are specifically assigned to members, will be examined.regional leveltotal regional membership will reduce from 290 to 62 composed of two members of each constituent Cityand County council.the new regions:• Connacht-ulster region• southern region (the province of munster and counties Carlow, kilkenny and wexford)• eastern-midland region (the counties of leinster other than those in the southern region)12

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 13regional structures and functions will be revised and the eight regional authorities and two assemblies will bereplaced by three new regional assemblies to perform an updated range of strategic functions.the main functions of the new regional assemblies will include formulation of regional spatial and economicstrategies, eu funding programme functions, oversight of local authority performance and implementation ofnational policy working with the new national oversight and audit Commission.the structural reforms outlined above at regional, county and sub-county level are anticipated to realise netsavings of the order of €40 million to €45 million, arising from local authority mergers, rationalisation andcreation of a more streamlined system of governance.13

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 142. Funding, accountability and governanceFunding:the relationship between local government and the community it serves needs to be strengthened anddeveloped. this will only come from the citizen trusting in the system that serves them. to build on that trust,governance and related aspects of the local government system will be strengthened. the plan will deliverincreased local government oversight, accountability and the ability to raise funds locally.over 40% of the total current expenditure of local government comes from the central exchequer. it isrecognised international best practice that local services administered by local authorities should be locallyfunded. Consistent with the overall local government reform process the government is committed to theintroduction of a local property tax that provides funding for local services. necessary detailed work will beundertaken in relation to implementation, including the completion of a database of liable properties andpreparation of collection systems. Final details of the approach to the property tax will be dealt with in theimplementing legislation.decisions will be made as close to the people they affect as possible. there will be a greater emphasis onempowering local representatives to make decisions on behalf of the electorate.accountability and governance:• a new independently chaired national oversight and audit Commission for local government will beestablished, involving external evaluation expertise and competent professional membership. it willprovide high quality scrutiny of local government performance in fulfilling national, regional and localmandates and the implementation of efficiency measures at local level. the Commission will examineeach local authorities financial and general performance and results (including audit and other reports)and report to the elected members with findings and recommendations. reports will be made public. akey objective of the Commission will be to identify and encourage best practice on efficiencymeasures.• local authority audit Committees will be put on a full regulatory footing and the Committee’s review ofthe audit report will be included in its report to the Council.• the local government auditor will make a presentation to a meeting of the council, and whererequested, to the Corporate policy group, regarding the audit.14

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 15• a critical review of the possible merger of the local government audit service and the office of theComptroller and auditor general is being carried out.• in line with the programme for government, the position of local authority manager will be replaced bya chief executive post, and consideration will be given to strengthening the statutory position of theelected council and the reserved functions of elected members in that context. legislative provisionwill also be given to revised terms and conditions for chief executives of local authorities.• strengthening the local government ethics code, involving integration into a strengthened, unifiednational legislative framework.• powers of Councillors under section 140 of the local government act 2001 will no longer apply inrespect of planning functions and consistent with this, these powers will not apply to any decision by alocal authority involving financial or other benefit to an individual or a specific organisation.• the structures and levels of all payments to councillors will be reviewed by the national oversight andaudit Commission, having regard to the reformed sub-county structure and regional governance, andthe need to ensure sufficient incentive for high quality representation of the community. this reviewwill be completed to provide for the revised payments for councillors elected in 2014, at the latest.• the overall maximum expenditure in respect of attendance by councillors at conferences will besignificantly reduced. to help improve the relevance of such conferences, attendance will be limitedto conferences organised by the proposed new amalgamated councillor representative body, by aregional assembly, or by professional bodies (such as planning bodies) operating in the localgovernment sector.• there will be a review of the structure, role and operational mechanisms of local authority strategicpolicy Committees.• mechanisms to promote citizen engagement with local government will be considered includingparticipative democracy arrangements.• to complement the steps taken by political parties to promote and assist women candidates, localauthorities will make appropriate arrangements, including the timing of meetings, to ensure that theway they conduct their business encourages the greater participation of women in politics.15

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 163. economic development and Job Creationlocal authorities will take on the local micro-enterprise support service through local enterprise offices(leos) integrating the functions of City and County enterprise boards and local authority businesssupport units to improve and build on existing structures to sustain and create jobs.with the direct role of local authorities’ in the economic and community areas confirmed, the 34 City andCounty development boards will be phased out. they were established primarily to provide a linkagebetween local government, the local development sector and economic development agencies.local authorities have shown strong support to the national action plan for Jobs through their own sectoralstrategy supporting economic recovery and Jobs locally. this is being developed further. to date, over2,000 separate local initiatives have been reported. these involve direct actions by local authorities, andactions taken in collaboration with other bodies, business, community or voluntary groups. other reforms tostrengthen the economic development functions of local authorities will include:• the establishment of a dedicated strategic policy Committee in each local authority and in the caseof areas with designated gateways and hubs, a specific director of services for economicdevelopment;• formulation of regional spatial and economic strategies by the regional assemblies;• a systematic and proactive approach to ensure that general functions and services supportenterprise and economic development; and• intensifying those actions in the sectoral strategy that require the involvement and collaboration oflocal government.Community sector’s role in job creation:a central role for local government in the oversight and planning of local and community developmentprogramming will operate through the recommendations of a steering group on alignment of the localgovernment and local development sectors, which is being published on www.environ.ie in conjunction withthe action programme. alignment of the areas of the local and community development programme withcity and county boundaries will be undertaken as far as possible.16

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 184. delivering services efficientlyputting people First contains a range of measures to ensure that local government is organised andoperates as efficiently as possible, achieves the highest standards of performance and provides the bestpossible quality of service and degree of responsiveness to customers, citizens and taxpayers. the Firstreport of the lger implementation group is published on www.environ.ie. 105 of the 106recommendations made by the local government efficiency group will be implemented in this package.local authorities are prioritising customer service and will be required to provide good quality publicinformation, particularly in relation to local services and resource utilisation.service level agreements (slas) will be developed between government departments and localauthorities.service plans will be approved by elected members in respect of each programme for all authorities.a more robust system of performance standards and monitoring will be introduced in local government,with a focus on key indicators, outcomes rather than outputs, an emphasis on value for money, andcomparative performance of local authorities.existing service indicators will be replaced by an enhanced system of performance indicators which willdemonstrate a local authority’s overall performance in delivering a particular activity or service and willfacilitate evaluation against the performance standard for that activity or service. local authority annualreports will include a comprehensive review of performance against these standards.18

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 19already delivering more with less :savings:€830.3 million in total savings since 2008 have been identified (revenue payroll €236.5 million, non-payexpenditure €406.7 million, agency services division €92.6 million and Capital payroll €94.5 million).€195.5 million in direct efficiency savings have been reported in respect of the period 2010-2011 (staffingreductions €98.1 million, procurement €78.8 million, Consultancies and professional Fees €10.6 million,Consolidation of hazardous waste controls into lead local authorities €5 million and shared hr and payrollsystem €3 million). the reform programme will yield significant savings of up to €420 million on fullimplementation.staff:with savings of €288 million on staff, the sector has already achieved the highest proportionate staffingreduction of any sector in the public service, with staff numbers reduced by 8,478 or 23% from 37,243 inmid-2008 to 28,765 at march 2012, involving significant reduction in senior management grades. Furthermeasures may be considered as part of the wider public sector reform programme, includingstandardisation of annual leave entitlements, redeployment and introduction of targeted voluntaryredundancy schemes, in order to continue the efficiency agenda and reach optimum staffing levels acrosslocal authorities. through work force planning and shared services an estimated additional 500 staff willbe taken out of the local government system in the next 18 months.agency rationalisation:reduction in the number of bodies from 21 to 11 and projected staff reductions of 239 or 25%.more Can be achieved:€41.7 million savings were made during the period 2010-2011 through cost recovery and revenue raising.there will be a target of €150 million in efficiency savings over the next 18 months while maintainingexisting services.the majority of savings to date have been achieved on an individual authority basis. now the focus will be onspreading cost-saving methods and on developing strong sectoral and shared services approaches. othersavings will be made through procurement, debt collection measures and standardisation of businessprocesses across the sector nationally to streamline efficiency.local authorities have already implemented considerable shared services arrangements, for example in theareas of charges, waste permitting, financial management systems, human resources, payroll systems andprocurement. implementation of the recommendations in the lger report will proceed as a priority. adedicated programme management office has been established within the sector to support local authoritieswith the shared services agenda and a sectoral shared services plan is being prepared.a work Force planning process is in progress to determine optimum local authority organisational andstaffing requirements and rigorous rationalisation will continue in the context of the reform programme.19

Putting People First Summary_Layout 1 16/10/2012 10:50 Page 20Conclusion:implementation of this action programme for effective local government in the period up to the localelections in 2014 is already underway. there is an unprecedented appetite for change and specifically forimproved service to and contact with, the customer.a central element of the implementation work will be a major programme of legislation to put changes inplace in time for the 2014 elections and to ensure that the delivery of these proposals will benefit thepeople as soon as possible.while the reform programme will yield significant savings on full implementation of up to €420 million perhaps,of even greater significance are the non-financial benefits that will accrue in the form of more effective servicedelivery, better quality local representation and closer engagement between communities and authorities. thiswill represent the long-term success of thereforms envisaged in putting people First.20