LGA roles

For several years now I have been a member of the LGA Improvement board.

The Improvement Board has responsibility for Local Government Asociation activity relating to the support of local authorities in improving their performance and relations with the central bodies contributing to that process.

Board objectives

• to challenge poor performance in local authorities and supporting poor performers to improve
• to get the most from the new governance and funding proposals for localities such as local area agreements, local public service boards (LPSBs) and local public service agreements (PSAs)
• to influence the performance framework within which local government operates to achieve significantly less inspection, intervention, and central targets and more self-regulation through a combination of self-assessment, peer review and user assessment.

To find out more about our work, take a look at our business here

Improvement Board membership for 2011/12:

Conservative (6)

Peter Fleming, [ Chair], Sevenoaks District Council
Rod Bluh, Swindon Borough Council
Michael White, London Borough of Havering Council
Richard Stay, Central Bedfordshire Council
William Nunn, Breckland Council
Teresa O'Neill, London Borough of Bexley Council

Substitutes

Tony Jackson, East Hertfordshire Council
Jonathan Owen, East Riding of Yorkshire Council
Peter Britcliffe, Hyndburn District Council

Labour (5)

Ruth Cadbury, [ Deputy Chair], London Borough of Hounslow Council
Tony McDermott MBE, Halton Borough Council
Tim Cheetham, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council
Helen Holland, Bristol City Council
Judith Blake, Leeds City Council

Substitutes

Theo Blackwell, London Borough Camden Council

Liberal Democrat (2)

Jill Shortland OBE, [ Vice-chair], Somerset County Council
Edward Lord OBE JP, Corporation of London

Substitute

Sir David Williams CBE, London Borough Richmond upon Thames Council
Independent (1)

Jeremy Webb, [Deputy Chair], East Lindsey District Council

Substitute

John Taylor, Northumberland County Council

(14 member Board)

I am also their lead member on Data and Transparency. 
An open civil society, technical advances on the internet and greater accountability and efficiencies in delivering open public services drive the opening up of public sector data. Open data means the data is free to access, use and reuse and is available via the internet, based on the open government licence.

Open government licence – National Archives website.

Publishing performance, financial and other data that support democracy leads to greater accountability and scrutiny. Open data enables self-improvement and better performance, empowers communities, citizens and businesses and leads to greater productivity, social and economic growth and a sustainable environment. The transition to a local open government should be driven by local needs and demand.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has agreed a work programme to develop a sector-led approach to data transparency which puts local authority data into the public realm in ways that provide real benefits to citizens, business, councils and the wider data community. Available outcomes include: 

• Guides on publishing data
• Local Government response to open data consultation 
• LGA's own public information.

Many authorities already publish considerable data. Best practice and shared experience can be found on Local Open Data Community, which is housed in the Knowledge Hub.

Local Open Data Community – please note you will be prompted to sign-in and register if you are not already registered to the Knowledge Hub.

The Local Open Data Community is a  forum to share practice and hold conversations on:  

• how authorities publish their data
• how to make better use of data how to publish your data in a linked open format so that they can be combined and compared
• when data cannot be published due to privacy, national security, commercial sensitivity or other restrictions. 

For further information, please email: transparency@local.gov.uk