RE FORM DEV - OLVE BY DEFAULT

The ramifications of overcentralisation – the way that it entails micromanagement that consumes central government capacity, crowds-out longer-term and strategic concerns, and compromises both the quality of policy design and the likelihood of effective delivery – must be brought into the Whitehall reform debate, and recognised as an important driver of the biases and challenges in the Whitehall s. [...] A legitimised system Our system and institutions of government are faced by a crisis of public confidence: a trend of growing distrust on the part of citizens.13 Tellingly, levels of trust in local systems – even given the low overall turnout and engagement levels in local elections – are often found to be higher.14 This contributes to a sense of democratic deficit – one which reflects the reality. [...] Perhaps counterintuitively, devolution and decentralisation have the potential to significantly bolster the legitimacy of the Whitehall system by building ownership and connection with the activities of the State, the results of which often impact national politics. [...] During the ‘trailblazer’ deal negotiations some parts of the central government machine found the case for more powerful and autonomous regional government highly compelling – including, to the surprise of some of the negotiators interviewed for this report, the Treasury. [...] The elements of the framework proposed in this section are intended to function not only as the basis for a diagnostic process within Whitehall to identify the extent to which new and existing policy should be devolved, but also as a set of parameters for thinking about the maturity of local systems and their readiness for taking on new powers and responsibilities.