Closed consultation

Consultation on statutory guidance for local authorities on Best Value Duty.

Published 4 July 2023

Applies to England

Scope of the consultation

Topic of this consultation:

This consultation seeks views on the statutory guidance for local authorities, including combined authorities and combined county authorities, in England on the Best Value Duty. It is issued to local authorities in England under section 26 of the Local Government Act 1999 and they are required to have regard to this guidance under the 1999 Act.

The guidance provides greater clarity to the local government sector on how to fulfil the Best Value Duty by describing what constitutes best value, the standards expected by the department and the models of intervention at the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ disposal in the event of failure to uphold these standards.

Scope of this consultation:

The guidance is issued to local authorities, including combined authorities and combined county authorities in England under section 26 of the Local Government Act 1999.

We welcome the views of all best value authorities defined in Part 1 of the 1999 Act as they should be mindful of the principles set out in this guidance in order to ensure they deliver the Best Value Duty.

Geographical scope:

These proposals relate to England only.

Impact Assessment:

The purpose of the consultation is to seek views on the proposed statutory guidance. Any policy change brought forward as a result of the consultation would be subject to appropriate assessment.

Basic information

Body/bodies responsible for the consultation:

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Duration:

This consultation will run from 4 July 2023 and will close at 11:59pm on 15 August 2023.

Enquiries:

For any enquiries about the consultation please contact: BestValue@levellup.gov.uk

How to respond:

You may respond by completing an online survey

Alternatively you can email your response to the questions in this consultation to:

BestValue@levellingup.gov.uk

If you are responding in writing, please make it clear which questions you are responding to.

Written responses should be sent to:

Local Government Stewardship
Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
2nd floor, Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

When you reply it would be very useful if you confirm whether you are replying as an individual or submitting an official response on behalf of an organisation and include:

• your name,
• your position (if applicable),
• the name of organisation (if applicable),
• an address (including post-code),
• an email address, and
• a contact telephone number

Consultation questions

Q1. What is your name?

Q2. What is your organisation?

Q3. Are you answering the consultation as?

• an individual with personal interest
• an individual as a member of an organisation
• an Upper Tier Local Authority
• a Lower Tier Local Authority
• other – please specify
• Comments

Q4. From the list below, where are you or your organisation based?

• London
• South East
• North West
• East of England
• West Midlands
• South West
• Yorkshire and the Humber
• East Midlands
• North East
• National

Scope of the guidance

This statutory guidance has been developed for local authorities, including combined authorities and combined county authorities, in England. However, all best value authorities should bear its principles in mind.

Q5. Do you agree that the principles in section 4 should apply to all best value authorities?

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestions below]
c. Comments

Q6. This statutory guidance has been developed principally for local councils, including combined authorities. However, all best value authorities should be mindful of the principles set out in this document. Would further published guidance be welcome for other best value authorities to set out the application of best value duty given their specific responsibilities, structures and context? These include national park, fire, rescue, waste disposal, integrated and sub-national transport authorities, the London Fire Commissioner and Transport for London.

a. Yes [Please specify which type of authority and why]
b. No
c. Comments

Principles

The government’s approach to ensuring all authorities carry out their functions in compliance with the Best Value Duty is based on seven principles. These principles are local accountability, continuous improvement, openness to challenge and support, expectations, prevention, moral hazard and default commissioner powers and de-escalation.

Q7. Do you agree with the seven principles proposed in section 4?

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestions below]
c. Comments

Defining best value

The statutory guidance sets out seven overlapping themes of good practice for running an authority that meets and delivers best value. These best value themes are continuous improvement, leadership, governance, culture, use of resources, service delivery, and partnerships and community engagement.

Q8. Do you agree with the seven best value themes? (Diagram 1, Section 5)?

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestions below]
c. Comments

Q9. Do you agree with the suggested key characteristics of a well-run authority and key indicators of failure in relation to continuous improvement? (Table 1, Section 5)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestions below]
c. Comments

Q10. Do you agree with the suggested key characteristics of a well-run authority and potential indicators of failure in relation to leadership? (Table 2, Section 5)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestions below]
c. Comments

Q11. Do you agree with the proposed characteristics of a well-run authority and potential indicators of failure in relation to governance? (Table 3, Section 5)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestions below]
c. Comments

Q12. Do you agree with the proposed characteristics of a well-run authority and potential indicators of failure in relation to culture? (Table 4, Section 5)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestions below]
c. Comments

Q13. Do you agree with the proposed characteristics of a well-run authority and potential indicators of failure in relation to efficient use of resources? (Table 5, Section 5)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestion below]
c. Comments

Q14. Do you agree with the proposed characteristics of a well-run authority and potential indicators of failure in relation to service delivery? (Table 6, Section 5)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestion below]
c. Comments

Q15. Do you agree with the proposed characteristics of a well-run authority and potential indicators of failure in relation to partnerships and community engagement? (Table 7, Section 5)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestion below]
c. Comments

Q16. The seven themes have a description, characteristics of a well-run authority and indicators of potential failure (Tables 1-7, Section 5). Which, if any, of the proposed characteristics and indicators of failure do you think are priorities and the strongest indicators of best value?

a. Comments

Q17. Many of these indicators are measured by metric but there is scope to identify more to more accurately assess Best Value. What do you think are the top most appropriate quantitative metrics for monitoring Best Value, against the indicators in section 5?

a. Comments

Q18. The guidance sets out a number of characteristics and indicators across the seven themes in section 5. If certain characteristics or indicators were to be identified as key, and more important than others in achieving Best Value, what would the risks be to this approach? The department is mindful of proportionality and the need to ensure the full context and circumstances of each case is taken into account, and is clear that no single characteristic or indicator automatically results in actions relating to the use of Best Value powers. How could any risks be further mitigated?

a. Comments

Assurance and early engagement

Q19. Are you happy with the level of clarity and detail in the description of statutory and non-statutory Best Value Notices? (Section 6)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestion below]
c. Comments

Q20. Besides those mentioned in section 5, are there other ways in which the government could engage earlier with individual local authorities to prevent any challenges experienced from escalating?

a. Yes [Please provide suggestions below]
b. No
c. Comments

Q21. Based on lessons learned from interventions to date, the guidance proposes that where authorities are unable to correct failure in specific services, such as social care or education, for two years, this is potentially symptomatic of wider governance and leadership failure and the department should consider the authority’s compliance with the Best Value duty. Do you agree that two years is a reasonable timeframe to consider whether an authority’s service performance may impact its ability to deliver Best Value? (Section 6, para 32)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestion below]
c. Comments

Evidencing failure

Q22. Is the description of a Best Value Inspection sufficiently clear? (Section 7 and Annex A)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestion below]
c. Comments

Q23. Is the description of independent reports sufficiently clear?

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestion below]
c. Comments

Models of intervention

Q24. Are the models of intervention described in this guidance clear in terms of description, purpose and scenario when they would be applied? (Section 8)

a. Yes
b. No [Please provide reasoning or suggestion below]
c. Comments

Exiting intervention

Q25. Do you agree with the position that interventions should end as soon as an authority can demonstrate that it can independent sustain its journey of continuous improvement without support? (Section 9, para 50)

a. Comments

General

Q26. Are there any areas missing from the statutory guidance that you think would be helpful to include?

a. Yes [Please provide rational and suggestions below]
b. No
c. Comments

About this consultation

This consultation document and consultation process have been planned to adhere to the consultation principles issued by the Cabinet Office.

Representative groups are asked to give a summary of the people and organisations they represent, and where relevant who else they have consulted in reaching their conclusions when they respond.

Information provided in response to this consultation may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and UK data protection legislation. In certain circumstances this may therefore include personal data when required by law.

If you want the information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, as a public authority, the Department is bound by the information access regimes and may therefore be obliged to disclose all or some of the information you provide. In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will at all times process your personal data in accordance with UK data protection legislation and in the majority of circumstances this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties. A full privacy notice is included below.

Individual responses will not be acknowledged unless specifically requested.

Your opinions are valuable to us. Thank you for taking the time to read this document and respond.

Are you satisfied that this consultation has followed the Consultation Principles? If not or you have any other observations about how we can improve the process please contact us via the complaints procedure.

Personal data

The following is to explain your rights and give you the information you are entitled to under UK data protection legislation.

Note that this section only refers to personal data (your name, contact details and any other information that relates to you or another identified or identifiable individual personally) not the content otherwise of your response to the consultation.

1. The identity of the data controller and contact details of our Data Protection Officer

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is the data controller. The Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk or by writing to the following address: Data Protection Officer, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Fry Building, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF.

2. Why we are collecting your personal data

Your personal data is being collected as an essential part of the consultation process, so that we can contact you regarding your response and for statistical purposes. We may also use it to contact you about related matters.

We will collect your IP address if you complete a consultation online. We may use this to ensure that each person only completes a survey once. We will not use this data for any other purpose.

Sensitive types of personal data

Please do not share special category personal data or criminal offence data  if we have not asked for this unless absolutely necessary for the purposes of your consultation response. By ‘special category personal data’, we mean information about a living individual’s:

• race
• ethnic origin
• political opinions
• religious or philosophical beliefs
• trade union membership
• genetics
• biometrics
• health (including disability-related information)
• sex life; or
• sexual orientation.

By ‘criminal offence data’, we mean information relating to a living individual’s criminal convictions or offences or related security measures.

3. Our legal basis for processing your personal data

The collection of your personal data is lawful under article 6(1)(e) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation as it is necessary for the performance by DLUHC of a task in the public interest/in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller. Section 8(d) of the Data Protection Act 2018 states that this will include processing of personal data that is necessary for the exercise of a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department i.e. in this case a consultation.

Where necessary for the purposes of this consultation, our lawful basis for the processing of any special category personal data or ‘criminal offence’ data (terms explained under ‘Sensitive Types of Data’) which you submit in response to this consultation is as follows. The relevant lawful basis for the processing of special category personal data is Article 9(2)(g) UK GDPR (‘substantial public interest’), and Schedule 1 paragraph 6 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (‘statutory etc and government purposes’). The relevant lawful basis in relation to personal data relating to criminal convictions and offences data is likewise provided by Schedule 1 paragraph 6 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

4. With whom we will be sharing your personal data

DLUHC may appoint a ‘data processor’, acting on behalf of the Department and under our instruction, to help analyse the responses to this consultation. Where we do we will ensure that the processing of your personal data remains in strict accordance with the requirements of the data protection legislation.

5. For how long we will keep your personal data, or criteria used to determine the retention period.

Your personal data will be held for 2 years from the closure of the consultation, unless we identify that its continued retention is unnecessary before that point.

6. Your rights, e.g. access, rectification, restriction, objection

The data we are collecting is your personal data, and you have considerable say over what happens to it. You have the right:

a. to see what data we have about you

b. to ask us to stop using your data, but keep it on record

c. to ask to have your data corrected if it is incorrect or incomplete

d. to object to our use of your personal data in certain circumstances

e. to lodge a complaint with the independent Information Commissioner (ICO) if you think we are not handling your data fairly or in accordance with the law. You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk/, or telephone 0303 123 1113.

Please contact us at the following address if you wish to exercise the rights listed above, except the right to lodge a complaint with the ICO: dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk or

Knowledge and Information Access Team
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

7. Your personal data will not be sent overseas.

8. Your personal data will not be used for any automated decision making.

9. Your personal data will be stored in a secure government IT system.

We use a third-party system, Citizen Space, to collect consultation responses. In the first instance your personal data will be stored on their secure UK-based server. Your personal data will be transferred to our secure government IT system as soon as possible, and it will be stored there for two years before it is deleted.