Leaders' Committee Queen's Speech - May 2021 - London Councils
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Leaders’ Committee
Queen’s Speech – May 2021 Item no: 5
Report by: Doug Flight Job title: Strategic Lead
Date: 8 June 2021
Contact Officer: doug.flight@londoncouncils.gov.uk
Summary: The government has announced a wide range of measures, ranging from
planning reform, health and care reform, environment, climate change,
building safety and levelling up.
This report summarises key measures which members may wish to
consider as priorities for our engagement and influencing work, with a
view to ensuring that boroughs and our communities can help shape the
detail and deliver improved policy outcomes.
Recommendations: The Leaders Committee is asked to:
1. Note the report.
2. Comment on those issues raised by the government’s
legislative agenda which are most pertinent to London local
government.
3. Provide a steer to help prioritise our engagement and
influencing work.Queen’s Speech – May 2021
Introduction
1. The government announced a wide range of measures in the Queens Speech on 11
May 2021, ranging from planning reform; health and care reform; building safety and
levelling up.
2. The Speech contained many measures that will be of relevance to London boroughs
and our communities, and this report seeks to draw out details of the key proposals
which members may wish to consider as priorities for our engagement and
influencing work in the year ahead.
3. The Queen highlighted 30 laws, including a number of bills carried over from the
previous "session" of Parliament, which ended in April.
4. Full details of the Queen’s Speech can be found on the government’s website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/queens-speech-2021-background-
briefing-notes
Key Measures for London
5. Health and care reform:
5.1 The Queen’s Speech committed to bringing forward a Health Bill. The Bill is likely
to lay the foundations for a range of reforms first set out in the NHS Long Term
Plan, specifically to place Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) on a statutory footing.
However, the wider policy intention behind the reform is to break down the
barriers to closer collaboration and integration within the NHS in terms the
relationship between health commissioners and providers, as well as to improve
integrated working between councils and the NHS at the place/borough level. In
particular, the NHS Long Term Plan noted an essential role for local government
in:
• Shifting the emphasis of health and care towards earlier intervention
and out of hospital care.
• Breaking down the barriers between health and care services through
new budget pooling and joint/single commissioning arrangements.• The White Paper which preceded the Health Bill further emphasised the
important role councils will have in setting the strategic direction at the
ICS level, as well as reaffirming the vital role of place level partnership
working. Alongside the reform of sub regional arrangements, therefore,
it is anticipated that NHS and local government partners will have the
opportunity to advance and evolve their borough level partnership
arrangements.
5.2 The Queen’s Speech Reforms focus disproportionately on the sub regional and
regional structures, which will erode planning and managerial capability at the
borough level.
• Place and borough level partnership working is weakened rather than
strengthened by reforms which concentrate on the setting up of sub
regional arrangements, or which focus on the breaking down of barriers
internally within the NHS rather than between the NHS and other public
service partners.
• The learning from the pandemic about the power of place/borough level
working is not harnessed and the opportunity to accelerate closer working
between the NHS and councils is not realised.
5.3 Possible London position for consideration:
• London Councils’ Leaders’ Committee received and endorsed a paper on
health collaboration at its meeting in July 2020. That paper set out a series
of principles for consideration in taking forward partnership working with the
NHS at place and sub regional level.
• Those principles are likely to have been further shaped by the experience
of responding to the pandemic and will need some reconsideration in light
of the detailed proposals provided by the White Paper earlier in 2021.
• Furthermore, London Councils hosted a significant event on 21 May,
attended by Leaders, Chief Executives and Health and Wellbeing Board
Chairs. The event focused on understanding the risks and opportunities as
the health reforms are implemented.
• The London Councils Executive Lead for Health, in closing the event on 21
May, committed to bringing a paper to Leaders for discussion. That paperwill be an opportunity to reflect on the principles endorsed by Leaders in
2020, the more detailed understanding of the nature of reforms now
available and learning and key issues from the event on 21 May.
6. Skills
6.1 The Queens speech indicated that a Skills and Post-16 Education Bill will introduce
a new "flexible loan" system designed to promote wider participation in further
education in England. It also sets out measures to make technical and vocational
education more responsive to local employer need.
6.2 Potential issues of concern for boroughs include:
• The proposals do not include a role for local authorities in the development
of local skills improvement plans (LSIPs) or in identifying local need. The
requirement for providers to review how their provision responds to local
need is welcome, however it is vital that in London this requirement relates
to local need at a borough and sub-regional level, and not simply at a pan-
London level.
• There is a risk that the requirement for the Secretary of State to approve
LSIPs creates a more centralised system which bypasses London
government entirely. It is also unclear how LSIPs relate to the Local Skills
Reports, which Skills Advisory Panels (SAP) are currently required to
publish every year. In London, the Skills for Londoners Board acts as the
SAP. London Councils nominates five Leaders to this Board.
6.3 Possible London position for consideration:
• London government should have a central role in the decisions around
Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), so that provision funded through
this route contributes to the strategic aims of the economic recovery in
London and the skills needs identified by the Skills for Londoners Board.
This would also reflect the delegated arrangements in London over the
Adult Education Budget (AEB).
• Whilst the government’s commitment to improving further education is
welcome, this does not compensate for the long-term fall in FE funding.
Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies published in November lastyear revealed that per-student funding in further education and sixth form
colleges fell by 12 per cent in real terms between 2010/11 and 2019/20, the
largest fall in funding for any part of the education system. The government
should increase funding for Further Education as part of the Spending
Review.
7. Planning
7.1 The Queens speech indicated that main elements of the planning measures will:
“create a simpler, faster and more modern planning system to replace the current
one.” The measure which has drawn most comment concern proposals to
introduce a new zoning system.
7.2 Potential issues of concern for boroughs include:
• The proposals set out in the Planning White Paper would mean fewer
opportunities for local accountability and oversight; notably through
measures such as the introduction of zoning arrangements with more
availability of automatic planning permission.
• The ending of Section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure
Levy (with a new Consolidated Infrastructure Levy) leaves councils with few
mechanisms to ensure affordable housing targets are met and ensure
planning gain benefits the local community.
• There are approximately 305,000 new homes in London's development
pipeline that have not yet been built out, but the White Paper did not set out
powers to help boroughs ensure developers build out the planning
permissions they have been granted.
7.3 Possible London position for consideration:
• The measures need to ensure local democratic accountability and effective
resident engagement as core parts of the planning system so that councils
retain control over local development and ensure that developments meet
the needs of their local communities.
• The government needs to empower councils so that they can ensure
approved planning permissions are built out.• The government should provide councils with the resources and funding
required to ensure that genuinely affordable housing is brought forward,
including higher levels of investment in affordable housing.
8. Building Safety
8.1 The Queens Speech indicated that a new system for regulating the safety of high-
rise buildings, and inspecting construction sites, will be set out in the Building
Safety Bill
8.2 Potential issues of concern for boroughs include:
• London Councils has expressed concerns about the scope of the proposed
legislation, which only applies to buildings 18 meters and over. This is an
arbitrary threshold, that does not take account of the wider risks posed by
different resident cohorts.
• There is little clarity on the transition period that will be applied to the new
legislation, which London Councils has pragmatically suggested should be
five years.
• There is a need to address concerns regarding access to leaseholder
properties and enable enforcement of the new standards. Without sufficient
enabling powers, councils (and the new Building Safety Manager/
accountable person proposed as part of the Bill) will find it challenging to
ensure a whole building approach to safety.
8.3 Possible London position for consideration:
• The government needs to ensure councils have sufficient resources to
deliver the new duties, particularly given the existing pressures on borough
Housing Revenue Accounts from the impact of the four-year rent freeze,
COVID-19, building safety works already initiated and ambitions around
new build and zero carbon retrofitting.
• Boroughs require robust powers for entering, inspecting, and enforcing
safety action in leaseholder-owned properties in multi-occupancy
residential buildings. As it stands, local authorities have uncertain legal
rights, which makes whole-building safety works problematic and costly.• On scope and implementation timescale, the government has proposed
measures only covering buildings over 18 metres or more than six storeys.
This is an arbitrary figure and London Councils wants the Bill to reflect the
recommendation of the London Fire Brigade and apply to all multi-
occupancy residential buildings above 11m and all buildings where
vulnerable people sleep.
9. Other Key Areas – Where No Bill is being brought Forward
9.1 There were two major themes in the Speech where no specific Bills were
promised, but are nonetheless significant issues for London boroughs:
a) Adult Care reform
b) Levelling Up
a) Adult social care
9.2 The Speech suggested that the government would bring forward measures to
reform the operation of the social care system in England, however it did not
commit the government to introducing a specific Bill to overhaul how the sector
is funded.
9.3 Potential issues of concern for boroughs include:
• A third of local government spending currently goes on adult social care.
An ageing population and growing complex needs within working age
adults are characteristics of the need in London, meaning demand and
costs will continue to rise in the years to come.
• Through the pandemic care act assessments were not applied to very
significant numbers of Londoners who were discharged onto fully funded
care packages. Although funding was provided to support councils and the
NHS to ensure the smooth and efficient discharge from hospital to
community based care, the funding was time-limited and the system is
being asked to regularise funding arrangements through the reintroduction
of assessments. Nevertheless, as a legacy of the health impact of Covid on
Londoners, it is likely that care packages needed for some will be morecomplex and costly, and more people may need borough funded social
care support.
• Funding it appropriately is arguably the biggest challenge hanging over the
sector’s future financial sustainability. The IFS estimate, without broader
reform of council funding, this could increase to over 50% by the mid-2030s
with an inevitable squeeze on all other services.
9.4 Through London Councils work on the Comprehensive Spending Review, we will
continue to lobby for full financial support to boroughs meet the cost of providing
adult social care to Londoners. London Councils will continue to press for reform
proposals to be brought forward and published as soon as possible, and will take
steps to support the integration of health and care at the place/borough level as part
of the wider reform of the health system and as a means to helping reach a more
financially sustainable basis for meeting Londoners needs in the long term.
b) Levelling up:
9.5 The Queens Speech indicated that the government’s priority “is to deliver a
national recovery from the pandemic that makes the United Kingdom stronger,
healthier and more prosperous than before. To achieve this, my government will
level up opportunities across all parts of the United Kingdom, supporting jobs,
businesses and economic growth and addressing the impact of the pandemic on
public services.”
9.6 The government is also committed to a Devolution White Paper and it is expected
that this will also link to the levelling-up agenda.
9.7 Issues identified by boroughs include
• London economy, in common with large cities across the UK has been hit
hard by the pandemic. The Capital ’s labour markets have been the worst
hit in the UK, experiencing the highest number of job losses, highest
unemployment rate and highest proportion of its workforce furloughed
among the UK regions. London’s economy contracted by 9.9% in 2020.• The experience of the pandemic has illustrated how boroughs can innovate
and deliver new services from scratch and at speed. This potential can
and should be harnessed to help drive growth and tackle the key
challenges we will need to face in the future.
• London boroughs know their local places and communities best and will be
central to efforts to address the stark inequalities that have been exposed
by the pandemic and support the drive for economic recovery, join up
public services and support job creation.
• The pandemic’s dramatic impact on London’s economy is sharpening
inequalities in the capital, which are already among the most apparent in
the country.
• The government recently announced two major funds to support economic
development and recovery in the UK: the Levelling Up Fund and the
Community Renewal Fund. London Councils is concerned that the funding
allocation processes for these flagship investments in economic
development will not address the relative disadvantage of London’s poorer
communities – only two London boroughs have been identified as priority
areas for investment for the Levelling Up Fund and none for the Community
Renewal Fund (out of a list of 100). In addition, the process for allocating
funding represents a significant step-back from devolution, with decisions
made in Whitehall that in the past were made at a pan-London level.
9.8 Possible London position for consideration:
• Large cities across the UK, including London, will be key to the country’s
economic recovery and the ability to fund levelling up. In partnership with
other cities, there is a joint case to made to government for the freedoms
and flexibilities required to restart our economies, underpinned by
investment that will reap rewards for the country as a whole.
• Our city economies have been scarred by the pandemic and are
experiencing significant structural changes. Assumptions that London’s
economy will simply ‘bounce back’ to provide the same levels of
employment and growth are misplaced. In practice, the pandemic is
exacerbating long-standing challenges around unemployment, inequality,and deprivation in the capital. These challenges should be part of any
levelling up agenda.
• In response to the linked devolution agenda, we have an opportunity to
reiterate the evidence of our pandemic response, in relation to boroughs’
ability to innovate and deliver new services from scratch and at speed. If
unleashed, this capability would not only help drive growth, but help tackle
long-standing challenges we will need to face in in the future including
health inequalities; obesity, youth violence, and disengagement from the
labour market.
• The processes for allocating the Levelling Up Fund and Community
Renewal Fund are a major step back from local areas making their own
decisions. This will lead to less effective spending and decision making.
Devolution must be an integral part of the UK’s economic recovery, with
local areas defining their own funding priorities.
• Looking forward to the delivery of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, this
should follow a devolved process – with decisions made locally, not in
Whitehall. Given the disproportionate economic impact of the pandemic on
the capital, London’s share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund must be at
least equal to that seen under European Structural and Investment Funds,
which it will replace.
.
10. Other Notable Bills being brought Forward
10.1 The Queens Speech also included several other measures which will need
consideration within the appropriate portfolios during the coming session:
a) Procurement – which will introduce a framework to replace the current EU-
derived arrangements. This has the potential to both simplify procurement
processes for boroughs and allow greater scope to seek social value through
the commissioning cycle
b) Environment and Climate Change – The Queen's Speech reaffirmed the UK
government's commitment to the net-zero by 2050 emissions target. This is
likely to lead to ambitious new interim targets, enshrined in legislation which
will require local action and initiatives if it is to be successful.c) Policing and Crime – Measures in a new Bill range from sentencing matters to
the introduction of a duty on local authorities to work together with the police
and other statutory to prevent and reduce serious violence – this largely
mirrors existing good practice across the Capital.
d) Mental Health – in the context of the Health Bill, there are a number of
opportunities to improve Londoners’ experience of and access to Mental
Health services.
Recommendations
11. Leaders Committee is asked to.
1. Note the report.
2. Comment on those issues raised by the government’s legislative agenda
which are most pertinent to London local government.
3. Provide a steer to help prioritise our engagement and influencing work.
Attachments n/a
Financial Implications for London Councils
None specifically flowing from this paper.
Legal Implications for London Councils
None specifically flowing from this paper.
Equalities Implications for London Councils
None specifically flowing from this paper; however it will be important to take account of
the impact of the measures on communities and the need to generate opportunitiesYou can also read
