DCLG sets out single data list for local government

The government has launched a consultation on a single, comprehensive local government data list that would streamline the information councils have to provide to Whitehall in 2011/12.

Under the proposals, where a request is made, councils will not – except in emergency situations – be under any obligation to provide the information where it is not on the list.

The move is part of a package of measures that has seen the abolition of Comprehensive Area Assessments and the ending of the Place Survey. Councils will, however, be expected to publish online all spending data over £500 from next month.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said local authorities would “no longer have to spend money reporting to government or hitting targets on things like how people do the school run, how long the morning rush hour takes, whether people have 'access to nature', if people know how to complain; if migrants have taken English lessons; or whether people enjoy the arts”.

Ministers argue that lessening the burden on local authorities will allow them to do more to protect frontline services. The benefits of the single list, according to the DCLG, are that:

• Councils will have a clear list of what data they are expected to produce in a given year
• Cataloguing the list makes it possible to identify the scope to reduce the burden
• It will aid transparency
• It will be easier for residents to find comparable data on local authorities, and so give them a greater ability to hold public sector bodies to account.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: "For too long central government has kept council staff hunched over desks crunching numbers and clipboard carriers asking the public intrusive questions so they can send reams of pointless paperwork back to Whitehall bean-counters – those days are over.

"Instead of being bombarded by Whitehall, with no structure or understanding of the reporting burdens, I want to free councils from the revolving door of red tape. By creating a comprehensive list, of the least amount of data needed, we can let councils get back to their day jobs of eliminating waste and delivering frontline services.

"If the information is not on the agreed list, councils will not be obliged to provide it. We trust councils to get on with the job without big brother looming over their shoulder double checking every detail."

Cllr David Parsons, chairman of the Local Government Association’s improvement board, said councils wasted thousands of staff hours and millions of pounds every year collecting and reporting information which disappears into a black hole of central government bureaucracy.

He praised the publication of the draft list as the first step “in what we hope will be a slashing of pointless red tape”.

Parsons said the LGA looked forward to further action in paring back the bureaucratic burden of data reporting. “We need that to start happening before the next financial year, when cuts to local authority budgets will really start to bite.”

He added: “As a starting point we believe the government should introduce an assumption against Whitehall-imposed surveys and data collection. Government departments should have to prove to councils that the information they want is necessary, explaining why it is needed and what it will be used for.

“Across the country local authorities are working extremely hard to improve their productivity and unearth savings in response to a 27% cut to their budgets over the next four years. One way central government can help is by taking action against the £127m annual burden that reporting data creates, putting an end to the pointless rigmarole which soaks up man hours and money which could be better spent on frontline services.”

More information can be found here. The deadline for comments is 4 February 2011. Once in place, the list will be reviewed annually.