It might be easy to dismiss much of the Government’s flashy new “empowerment” agenda¹ as yet more spin. But, despite being open to criticism, there are some really significant positives in what is now proposed.

First, a criticism – we have yet another piece of terminology. We could not find “Empowerment” anywhere in the new Act² (Consultation appears 41 times!), and as it is hardly a new term, we are likely to find that everyone will have their own distinctive interpretation of the word. Second, there is a danger that by being all-encompassing, everything but the kitchen-sink has been thrown into the soup. The Action Plan therefore boasts 23 different items – and it’s quite difficult to grasp the distinction between, say, what the National Empowerment Partnership is meant to do compared with what’s expected from the Network of Empowering Authorities!