Government Offices work very closely with local authorities – who have a major impact on most aspects of people’s day to day lives – to help them improve service delivery and value for money, and to promote better policy integration across the country.
More information on the national picture
More information on the national picture
The Government Office for the South West (GOSW) plays a key role in linking central and local government to ensure an effective balance of local, regional and national priorities. The vision for local government sets out the context for the next 10 years across four broad themes:
GOSW carries out work on behalf of 10 Whitehall Departments, drawing together a variety of national policies, strategies and funding. In seeking to develop and improve public services we work with partners to:
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Promote a good understanding of the Governments vision for local government and the key role local authorities and local strategic partnerships have to play
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Promote LIFT SW – a regional strategy and programme devised to ensure ambition is raised, performance improves and collaboration increases to provide public services of higher quality in the South West
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Improve the delivery and value for money of local services through the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) process, giving additional support to those councils that have been marked as 'weak' or 'poor'
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Negotiate and monitor Local Area Agreements
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Engage with local authorities in improvement planning programmes and other improvement initiatives
Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, launched the Local Government White Paper on 26 October 2006. You can find the entire document and an executive summary on the link below to 'Strong and prosperous communities, the Local Government White Paper' link below.
