Local Government Chronicle
3 June 2010
View all stories from this issue.
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A new role for councils in the Big Society
The Big Society lives. For a while during the election campaign it looked as if David Cameron was quietly dropping his flagship concept but it emerged alive and well in the Queen’s Speech. -
Academies prompt funding fears
Proposals to significantly increase the number of academy schools could leave councils underfunded for supporting the central education services provided to all children, the sector has warned. -
Cameron’s ‘beacon’ bank's off to sluggish start
The high-profile bank set up by Essex CC in 2009 to help support local firms through the recession has so far helped 10 businesses, early figures show. -
Commission calls time on area assessment regime
The Audit Commission has been dealt a double blow after its flagship inspection regime was ended and ministers ruled out paying its new chief executive £240,000. -
Consistency is needed
As the new government’s programme takes shape, we can see just how far the Conservatives’ and the Liberal Democrats’ commitment to localism is likely to go. -
Core service needed
The increasing use of volunteers in sensitive fields such as child protection needs to be held up to public scrutiny. While volunteers can make an immense contribution, there is a danger that their use could be a slippery slope, ending with more holes in the safety net for vulnerable children. -
Could this turn be a marriage made in heaven?
Sponsored article: The dust has barely settled on the outcome of this year’s general election, yet it appears that Britain is starting to get used to its first coalition government since the Second World War. -
CSV scheme set to be forerunner in services revolution
We are likely to hear a lot more in the not too distant future about programmes such as Volunteers in Child Protection. -
Emerging from the margins
Sponsored column: At the recent local authority National Association of Pension Funds conference there was quite rightly a considerable focus on equities and emerging market (EM) equities in particular.. -
Figures of responsibility
Why does corporate governance matter? Local authority pension funds in the UK are trustees of funds worth billions of pounds. A significant proportion of those assets are in the form of equities. As such, the local government pension scheme is a major owner of UK plc. -
Floodgates open to next wave of cuts
After months of uncertainty before the election and a few days afterwards, we now have a very clear picture of what the new government will mean for local authorities and their partners. -
Getting ready for the changes ahead
Mark Johnson assesses the impact of Con-Lib Dem policies on partnership working and outsourcing in local government. -
Homes agency facing £610m black hole
Councils and housing associations are facing a possible “doomsday” scenario for housing funding after England’s housing quango was told that it should prepare for cuts totalling £1.1bn this year. -
House-building strategy shift ‘recipe for disaster’
Home builders and planners have warned of a hiatus in house building after ministers told councils they could disregard housing targets imposed under the outgoing government’s regional planning system. -
Improving your 20-20 vision
For all sorts of obvious economic and political reasons, 2010 has got to be the year of reviewing asset allocation. -
Laying down a fresh agenda
The economic woes of Greece have turned the spotlight on some eye-catching retirement behaviour. -
Legal - 3 June 2010
Legal briefing - the top local government news in one place. -
Local lessons from far afield
We are notoriously bad in Britain at looking to other countries to see what we can learn about ourselves. To be fair, this is partly because consistent information is hard to come by, particularly on issues such as views of local quality of life and local government. -
Merton set to launch own graduate scheme
Merton LBC intends to set up its own graduate scheme because numbers on the National Graduate Development Scheme are too limited, the authority’s transformation director has said. -
Neill supports Total place principles
Communities minister Bob Neill has told councils to forge ahead with Total Place projects, although questions remained about how much support the programme had outside the Department for Communities & Local Government. -
News review - 3 June 2010
LGC’s comprehensive round-up of local government news. -
Parent mentoring 'can save £50,000'
Using volunteers to help support families with children at risk of being taken into care can be 20 times cheaper than a conventional support programme, according to one programme operator. -
Planning - 3 June 2010
Planning briefing - the top local government news in one place. -
Plans to fix a broken society
In the week leading up to the general election, Nat Wei, executive chair of the Big Society Network, was calling around to gather signatures for a letter to be sent to the Daily Telegraph. -
Responding to an age of austerity
The age of austerity came to local government and the Homes and Communities Agency in a big way last week. -
Success for families
Sometimes you get the best idea of how valuable a project is through its impact on service users. -
The appeal of the absolute
Sponsored column: Investing to achieve an absolute return has been around for more than 60 years -
Views of the week: 3 June 2010
LGC rounds up the best comment, analysis and opinion from the past week. -
We risk facing a strategic policy vacuum
It is a relief ministers are delaying the Decentralisation and Localism Bill until the end of the year. The implications of key aspects of their localism plans, not least the move to scrap Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs), need careful thought. -
What is expected of local citizens
Big Society could epitomise the ‘more for less’ agenda. -
Why staff investment must be a priority
As the personalisation agenda continues to expand, less of the future adult social care workforce is likely to be employed directly by local government. Yet conversely the sector will remain a key player in commissioning and planning that workforce. -
Workforce - 3 June 2010
Workforce briefing - the top local government news in one place
