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The Consultation Institute (TCI) notes that \u2018Levelling up is a collective endeavour\u2019 according to Government\u2019s Paper, but asks \u2018why don\u2019t they want to hear from you?\u2019.<\/h3>\nThe Consultation Institute (TCI) notes that \u2018Levelling up is a collective endeavour\u2019 according to Government\u2019s Paper, but asks \u2018why don\u2019t they want to hear from you?\u2019.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
TCI writes:<\/p>\n
2nd February saw the publication of the Government\u2019s landmark \u201clevelling up\u201d paper. It\u2019s fair to say there\u2019s quite a lot riding on it- it was a key promise for the Government in the 2019 election, and the few elements that have been delivered at this point have often been decried as being either underwhelming, or\u00a0overly favouring<\/a>\u00a0marginal seats with Conservative MPs. With the Prime Minister struggling somewhat to gain control of a fractious party and restore floundering poll numbers, it could prove to be make or break.<\/p>\n In light of the fact that the responsible Minister was reported this weekend as\u00a0decrying<\/a>\u00a0it, it\u2019s not been a great start.\u00a0 The paper runs to over three-hundred pages and covers matters ranging from the state of the city of Jericho in 7000BC to net zero, to Covid and education. It\u2019s quite the ride. It makes several mentions of consultation- almost all of which we already know about, but perhaps the most interesting part on a first read for us comes in section 4.2 on \u201cEngagement and Informal Consultation\u201d.<\/p>\n The first paragraph starts well.\u00a0\u201cLevelling up\u201d<\/em>\u00a0it says\u00a0\u201cis a collective endeavour. Success in closing spatial disparities across the UK will rely on input, buy-in and partnership with a wide range of stakeholders\u201d<\/em>. So far, so us with a big smile on our face. It continues\u00a0\u201cwith a wide range of stakeholders including local leaders, devolved administrations, businesses, civil society, academics and think tanks.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0OK\u2026 but what about people? Communities? Is it just going to be institutional consultation? You might argue of course that this falls under the more general \u2018civil society\u2019 head, but we\u2019d prefer it to be made clear.<\/p>\n The closest it gets to promising community involvement is in element c of this section which proposes\u00a0\u201csetting up local panels, drawn from a wide range of stakeholders, to serve as a sounding board on levelling up delivery and implementation, working closely with the new Levelling Up Directors once established\u201d<\/em>. Even that doesn\u2019t quite promise that it\u2019ll be a truly consultative process.<\/p>\n Another concern might be found in the title of this section which seems, on consultation at least, somewhat noncommittal. Why \u201cinformal consultation\u201d? We hope they\u2019re not trying to evade listening to the public- as they were\u00a0reminded very recently<\/a>, even an informal exercise you consider to be engagement can be treated as a consultation in courts if it sufficiently resembles one.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all bad news. The paper acknowledges that\u00a0\u201cMany of the policies contained within\u00a0the programme of change will need to be co-designed and co-delivered\u201d<\/em>\u00a0and states that engagement and (informal) consultation will be necessary to\u00a0\u201cavoid the siloed, short-term and small-scale approaches that have hindered attempts to tackle spatial disparities in the past.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0This latter one is particularly important- for too long communities have been ignored or unheard, and it\u2019s good to see an acknowledgment of that and the many structural problems that cause problems.<\/p>\n The truth however is that words are one thing, and delivery quite different. The paper may be ambitious, but does the Government really have a grasp of the scale of the challenge, and the will to take the necessary actions to tackle it? Especially given that these actions might mean moving power centres away from Westminster? We\u2019re not yet entirely convinced.<\/p>\n