At the inaugural meeting of the Australian Council of Local Government last November, one of the announcements made by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was that the Federal Government would provide up to $8 million in funding for a Centre of Excellence for Local Government.
The Prime Minister said that improved workforce capability is critically important to building an effective 21st century Local Government.
“We intend this to be based in a university, but delivered virtually as well as physically to maximise access across all of Australia’s
565 local authorities,” Kevin Rudd said.
Earlier this year, the Local Government Innovation and Partnership Section in the Department of Infrastructure consulted with representatives from peak Local Government professional and elected member bodies on the role of and requirements for such a centre.
This consultation process found that while a range of dispersed education and training services for Local Government already exist, there are some shortcomings in regard to research, education and training.
As such the centre should establish new approaches at a national level to share knowledge and better practice as well as bridge the gaps between Local Governments, training providers and research institutions.
Universities, other providers or consortiums of interested parties were then invited to submit an application to run the new centre.
The background material provided to prospective applicants states: “It is anticipated that the new centre will enhance the professionalism of Local Government through showcasing and encouraging the adoption of innovation and best practice across the sector.
“The centre will also improve Local Government workforce capability to address skill shortages, assist councils to attract and retain skilled staff, coordinate personnel training and development, including specialised leadership programs and help to establish Local Government as an employer of choice.”
With applications closing on 22 April, the competitive process to identify the best applicant is currently being undertaken by an independent panel.
The successful applicant is expected to be announced in June.
Under the five year funding agreement, the Government has stipulated that part of the capital of up to $8 million will be required to be retained and invested to generate income to allow for the continued operation of the centre.
Other criteria provided for applicants was generally nonproscriptive, allowing scope for the centre to evolve as it grows to meet the ongoing needs of Local Government.
There are a number of Local Government centres for excellence already in operation overseas. One of these is the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government (IDeA) in the UK (see www.idea.gov.uk).
At this point a key difference of the proposed Australian model is that IDeA is owned by the UK Local Government Association (LGA) and as such wholly belongs to Local Government.
IDeA aims to improve the performances of councils to better serve people and places.
Using experienced Councillors and senior officers, known as peers, they support and challenge councils to improve their performance and operations.
Councils are able to share their good practices through IDeA’s national Beacon Scheme and regional Local Government networks with the best ideas available on the IDeA website.
Its Leadership Academy programs help Councillors become better leaders, balancing the diverse demands of people living in the same community.
It also promotes the development of Local Government’s workforce.
Established in 1998, IDeA’s 2008/2009 budget is £48.9 million. Its main source of revenue is a share of the top slice of the Revenue Support Grant (RSG), as agreed to by the LGA. This financial year £25.3 million went to IDeA. RSG is an amount of money given by Central Government to UK councils each year, equivalent to the Federal Government’s Financial Assistance Grants (FAGs) to Local Government. With the RSG for 2008/2009 just over £2.9 billion, the amount going to IDeA represented .087% of total grants.
Additional income of £13.7 million comes from various UK Government departments for specific programs, such as the Department for Health for the Healthy Communities Program.
A further £8.1 million is from councils and other organisations in purchasing its services.
