This month's letter from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government minister Jim McMahon to the Office for Local Government's (Oflog) chief executive commits the Government to ‘resetting' the relationship between central and local government. The Institute of Local Government Studies' (INLOGOV) new report, Equipping Local Government to Deliver National and Local Priorities, argues for critical changes to local government's performance management, financial arrangements and community participation.

We argue that councils' wide remit, local knowledge, democratic accountability, public service ethos and key roles in working with partners and shaping local places makes them critical to the delivery of the new Government's five missions.