Cockell spoke on Monday at the Communities and Local Government Committee’s first evidence session of an inquiry into community budgets.
The government launched the WPCB programme in October 2011, asking four council alliances to produce detailed plans explaining how their local services could be reformed over the next five years.
The business cases were submitted to the government last October; and whilst those areas move to implementation, other groups of English councils are being encouraged to work up similar approaches. Consultants commissioned by the LGA have estimated that if the four areas’ plans were rolled out across England, the net annual benefit would be £4.2-7.9bn.
When asked to predict the outcome if these programmes are not implemented across the country, Cockell told the committee that, given the financial constraints facing councils, this is not an option.
“There is no alternative,” he said. “This is the way to provide services in the future. Many local authorities have yet to do the work, and have to understand that this isn’t just something [the government is] doing in four pilot areas.” If they were to undertake the research, he argued, “increasingly, local authorities and government would realise it’s the way to operate.”
A new multi-agency network, which will help spread the lessons learned from WPCB to other local authorities, was announced by the Department for Communities and Local Government in March.
But Cockell urged government to ensure that councils don’t rely on this network to implement the community budgets. “It should be possible for any area to decide to get on with it, and hopefully government will make sure it’s possible,” he said.
“We are making progress, but now is the time to move from an acceptance that this is validated and the potential savings are there, to delivery. There is no reason now to hold back.”