Local area agreements 2008 to 2011

Local area agreements (LAAs) were introduced in 2004, as a framework for partnership working at local level; and between local areas and central government.

The current round of LAAs runs until March 2011. The coalition government has yet to make any definite announcements on their future (August 2010). A further round would need to be started on the instructions of the Secretary of State, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.

In its structural reform plan (July 2007) Communities and Local Government (CLG) say that their intentions for local public service delivery are to

"...design and implement a new approach with less reporting burdens on local government and greater transparency for local people".

This is in line with the view of most councils and LSPs that LAAs had become too top-down and overly bureaucratic.

What did LAAs aim to do?

As defined by the previous Government, a local area agreement (LAA):

“... sets out the ‘deal’ between central government and local authorities and their partners to improve the quality of life for local people. As such, the LAA is also a shorter-term delivery mechanism for the Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS).”

From the local perspective, LAAs started life as a key feature of a more devolved form of local governance. LAAs were a move away from ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions because they recognised that not all areas have the same priorities. Through these negotiated agreements, areas could begin to channel public resources towards the priorities of their own areas, alongside national outcomes and targets.

The LAA framework has had significant impact since 2004. It changed the way in which central government works with local government and its partners.

For local strategic partnerships (LSPs) working at first-tier level, new sets of relationships were formed with Government Offices (GOs) and others. Local strategic partnership structures were adapted to fit the themes around which LAAs were built.

The current set of 152 LAAs covers all local authority areas in England. Scotland and Wales use a variant of the model, called single outcome agreements in Scotland and outcome agreements in Wales.

Page updated August 2010.