MINISTERS are drawing up plans to give mayors significant new powers over hospitals and schools as part of a new wave of devolution that could change how public services are run in England.
Steve Reed, the local government secretary, wants to give mayors control over many more local services, and is weighing up handing over some NHS services and even parts of the criminal justice system.
The plans have received the backing of the Labour Together thinktank, which Reed helped found, in a report published yesterday. Government insiders say any changes could be included as amendments to the devolution bill that is going through parliament.
Reed claimed: ‘Giving communities more power is why I am in politics. As a former council leader, I cut violent youth crime and improved social housing by empowering local people.
‘This government’s mission is to transform the country. That starts with putting people in control of their own communities and lives. That is how we restore trust in politics and restore pride to the areas people call home.’
Reed has been in position at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) for only a few weeks after the resignation of Angela Rayner.
His new role gives him control of the government’s devolution bill, which provides local leaders ‘greater freedom’ over how they spend their money.
The local government secretary is looking at ways to expand the scope of those proposals so that it unilaterally hands over significant new powers to mayors, potentially by amending the bill in the Commons.
Supporters of the plans point out that if mayors could gain control over hospitals and social care, for example, they could divert NHS funding into community care schemes, ‘saving money in the process’.
Decisions over hospital funding are currently taken by NHS bodies known as integrated care boards. But Reed is calling for mayors to be given the power to appoint health commissioners to take charge instead.
At present, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester for instance, leads bodies that can set strategy for the area’s health services but they do not have full control over their budgets.
