Local Government Chronicle
16 February 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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A capital community
Everyone involved in the Campaign for a Queen’s Park Community Council in north Westminster is an activist of one sort or another. -
A real agent of social activism
Arguably one of the most welcome impacts of localism will be to enhance the role of every front-line councillor. For too long – and too frequently – most council decisions have been taken authority-wide, with little scope for local variation. -
Building the next generation of local leaders
We need to actively seek out potential council candidates to meet the challenges facing local government, to properly serve our communities and ensure we tap into all the possible talent available. -
Changing members' approach as service delivery changes
In Reading, families and frontline staff are radically reshaping their early years services. Parents have been trained and supported to become mentors and buddies to other families, offering continuous support and a link into other services. -
Fresh flaws found in funding reform plan
Civil servants are still grappling with how to deliver a key part of the new local government funding system that is set to come into effect in just a year’s time. -
In practice: training councillors
If frontline councillors are to be able to fulfil the wider and more demanding role following from localism, a number of things will have to change. -
Inside Out - Bonuses
I’ve spent the last few days analysing the situation on bonuses at the Royal Bank of Scotland, whose major funder is the government, and the saga of top pay in the public sector, especially local government. -
Integrated health commissioning is essential
Last week, the Government was defeated in the House of Lords and another professional body, the Faculty of Public Health, has come out to express concerns about the reforms. -
Joint working challenges us all
Here in tri-borough land we are trying to pull off one of the boldest voluntary change programmes in local government. We are aggregating services and senior management across a range of functions across three councils, reducing senior posts by 50%. Using scale we will achieve procurement gains. By comparing spend and outcomes we will remodel our budgets. -
LGA says it could 'go nuclear' over welfare reform
Local government leaders have promised to “go nuclear” if ministers fail to listen to concerns over welfare reform. -
LGC View - local democracy
The government’s localism agenda is founded on the principle of devolving power to the most local level possible. Frequently, this does not mean councils, but communities or neighbourhoods. -
No love lost on council tax
It may have been St Valentine’s Day this week, but it’s unlikely that Interflora will have made many trips to Eland House -
One-day housing cash window extended
Contingency plans have been drawn up over concerns the public loans system could collapse when 136 councils apply for housing cash on a single day next month. -
Our motto is 'more with more'
The election is over, the celebrations are a dim memory . A new day and a new council dawns. -
Real cash threat is two years off
At this time of year the focus of councils, leaders, chief executives and finance directors is on finalising budget proposals and their presentation. Many a sigh of relief will be heard as that process nears the end and members prepare for the serious business of fighting local elections. -
Redefine representation
This is the first of this series of columns, so let’s start with something defiantly positive. Ideas about how we might network democracy, and harness the power of civic discussion have changed in recent years, and a model has emerged that is much more realistic than it used to be (even if we’re only taking the first steps towards getting there). -
Silo thinking threat to policy success
Sitting in the Lords and watching the endless flow of legislation passing through the House has, sadly, reinforced many of my long-held concerns about government. -
Solace issues set of senior officer principles
Solace has called on all councils to identify one person as their most senior officer regardless of their individual management arrangements. -
Still time to go for solar
Everyone loves solar – or so it seems. However, the Government has made a complete mess of introducing financial incentives for solar PV and has attracted significant criticism along the way. The latest round of this battle was played out in the Court of Appeal a few weeks ago. -
Suppliers join in criticism of welfare deadline
More suppliers have joined in the criticism of the government’s welfare reform timetable that risks leaving councils to foot the entire bill for a £480m gap in council tax benefit funding. -
Tackling an 'acute' bias
We’ve got our public health team physically located inside the county council…a symbolic act but not one borne out of a desire to set up a new set of boundaries between public health and its former organisational locus inside the NHS. -
Tackling inefficiencies in out-of-hours customer call handling
Councils face unprecedented pressure to reduce costs, without adversely affecting frontline service delivery. Many of the ‘easy’ options have been taken, leaving difficult decisions as to where to look next. -
The challenges of reforms
Director, Greater London Group, London School of Economics -
Whitehall leads ‘private’ delegation over clean land rules
A Whitehall department collaborated with the housebuilding industry to convince government advisers to relax regulations on contaminated land.
