Local Government Chronicle
March 2012 - online articles

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‘Whole place’ pilots to share Whitehall officials

Some of the areas piloting ‘whole place’ community budgets are sharing the Whitehall officials that have been seconded to work on the projects.
Accounts debacle leads to sharing

Brentwood BC has been urged to share its finance service with Essex CC after a report found a catalogue of mishaps in preparing its accounts.
Amber light for local control of rail

Consortia of councils could gain powers over rail services, a government consultation has said.
Are councils really saving energy and carbon costs?

Councils almost invariably claim to be doing the right thing by the environment, saving energy and costs. However are Councils actually reducing energy spend? What are those who are reducing energy spend doing and what are those that have an increased energy spend not doing?
Audit mutual plan scrapped after contract snub

Plans for a staff-owned mutual to take over the district audit service lie in ruins after the Audit Commission awarded it just one of 10 contracts on offer.
Baker calls councils to satnav summit

Highway authorities have called in today by transport minister Norman Baker to thrash out problems caused by obsolete information on satnav systems.
Bill will leave public health 'compromised'

The Health Bill represents a “danger to the public’s health” and should be dropped, despite government insistence that public health is one of its priorities, a group of specialists has claimed.
Broadband planning stage complete

All but two councils have put plans to culture secretary Jeremy Hunt on how they will bring superfast broadband to their areas.
Budget 2012: Alarm over housing reform threat

Housing experts have raised the alarm over an obscure part of yesterday’s Budget that appears to threaten councils’ borrowing plans.
Budget 2012: As it happened

All the news of interest to local government on Budget day.
Budget 2012: Broadband and rail head infrastructure list

Ultrafast broadband will come to 60 cities, chancellor George Osborne said in a series of Budget announcements on infrastructure investment.
Budget 2012: Cheaper borrowing for select councils

Chancellor George Osborne has unveiled plans to lower the costs of borrowing for councils that lay out in advance their long-term spending plans.
Budget 2012: Councils stripped of health and safety control

Local government is to be stripped of control over its health and safety work following last week’s Budget.
Budget 2012: Extra council tax support funding hinted at

Details of how £30m of funding for council tax benefit reforms will be distributed have emerged.
Budget 2012: First 'city deal' gives Manchester tax back

Greater Manchester councils will be able to keep a share of the extra national tax revenues generated in the conurbation under the first city deal to be struck by the government.
Budget 2012: Funding picture worsens

The Budget gave more detail on the scale of the cuts to departmental expenditure in the next spending review period.
Budget 2012: Manchester ‘earn back’ details emerge

Details have emerged of Greater Manchester’s innovative ‘earn back’ mechanism that sits at the heart of the city region’s city deal.
Budget 2012: One council in ten to increase council tax

The proportion of councils that increase council tax rates next year despite ministerial pressure and funding for a freeze will be 10%, official figures have confirmed.
Budget 2012: Osborne warned off regional pay for councils

The chancellor’s call for departments to move to regional pay next month has sparked fears councils will move to a similar system.
Budget 2012: TfL could grab share of business rates

Transport for London could be financed by retaining a share of the capital’s local business rates, the Treasury has said.
Budget 2012: Threat to tax consultants at source

A government pledge in the Budget to crack down on tax avoidance through the use of personal service companies, potentially leaving councils responsible for the tax and national insurance of staff employed through such companies.
Budget 2012: TIF funds only for 'one or two' projects

The government has confirmed that proposals in the Budget to make funding available for ambitious new infrastructure financing mechanisms are only meant to go to one or two “flagship” projects.
Builders urge government to 'stand firm' on planning

House builders have called on the government to “stand firm” on planning reform, saying that the system has delivered too few new homes in the past year.
Bus bonanza for transport authorities

Transport authorities could be handed a slice of the £360m bus service operators grant (BSOG) and also compete for new government fund to improve local services.
Call for care reform urgency

Social services directors have said the government must make up its mind about the future of the care system after it emerged an eagerly awaited white paper had been delayed.
Call for certainty in care costs

Social care finance must be reformed so that elderly people do not have to sell their homes to secure the services they need, the LGA.
Call to hand DWP's work to councils

A senior councillor has tried to convince the Treasury to break up the Department for Work and Pensions.
Call to link officers' pay to engagement

Officers’ pay could be tied to how well they engaged with key individuals identified in their communities, a thinktank has said.
Cameron to host 'cabinet of mayors'

Elected city mayors will have direct regular access to the highest levels of government, David Cameron said today.
Capita letter sparks action at DCLG

Ministers have set up a working group of local government and Whitehall officials after IT suppliers warned the timetable for localisation of council tax benefits was impossible to meet.
Care homes struggling for access to health services

More than half of primary care trusts do not offer access to the full range of health services care home residents may need, according to analysis of data collected by the Care Quality Commission.
CCG leaders to be assessed on 'aptitude and attitude'

Prospective clinical commissioning group leaders are to be assessed for “aptitude and attitude” in the next two months.
Chief executive pay 'frozen'

Chief executives in local government saw no pay growth last year with many taking a voluntary pay cut, according to new research.
Chief of three to go ahead

The first shared chief executive post covering three councils is set to be created in May after councillors backed the cost sharing move last week.
Clark warns Manchester over mayoral future

Cities minister Greg Clark has warned Greater Manchester that it must embrace elected mayors as part of its future.
Commissioning board says support bodies 'on the cusp of failing'

“Too many” of the support services vital to the success of the new NHS clinical commissioning system are “on the cusp of failing”, according to leaked NHS Commissioning Board papers.
Commissioning support development falls to PCT staff

Primary care trust directors and junior staff are leading the development of commissioning support services in many areas.
Coughlin takes senior LGA role

Reading BC chief executive Michael Coughlin is to become executive director of the Local Government Association.
Council pension funds 'should invest in infrastructure'

Local government pension funds should plough money into infrastructure investment both to boost their own returns and to support essential projects, a think-tank has said.
Council's contractor jobs rescued

A third contractor has stepped into take over a council’s street cleaning and maintenance, securing more than 150 jobs, after two others failed.
Councils urged to keep investing in school improvement

Councils have been urged to keep investing in their school improvement functions, despite more and more secondary schools taking academy status.
Defra targets waste PFIs for savings

Waste private finance initiative contracts are to be targeted for retrospective savings as part of a Whitehall probe.
Districts to share cross-county

Two district councils are set to share finance and procurement services across a county boundary.
Do you know enough about cyber security?

The Government is driving ‘Digital by Default’ to make more services available to citizens online. At the same time as cost pressures are forcing public sector organisations including local authorities to share services and utilise the latest developments in technology for example cloud computing. Delivering these digitised services requires organisations to collaborate, align processes and integrate systems.
Employers "baffled" by unions

A union pledge to involve arbitrators in the row over local government pay has provoked surprise amongst negotiators after the employers side refused to take part.
Exclusive: Council 'brokering' role on school closure contested

The expansion of academies and free schools will place successful schools in jeopardy, a government-commissioned study has concluded, leaving councils a major headache dealing with their potential closure.
Farrar to be Bath chief

Jo Farrar is to be Bath & North East Somerset Council’s new chief executive after incumbent John Everitt retires in August.
Fear over scale of election fraud misplaced, says commission

Public concern about malpractice in elections runs far ahead of its actual occurrence, an Electoral Commission report has said.
Former environment secretary criticises bins fund

Former environment secretary John Gummer has become the latest high-profile Tory to speak out against ministers’ campaign to increase weekly rubbish collections.
Four rapped over FoI sloth

Four councils have been told to sign undertakings to improve their response times to Freedom of Information requests.
Getting on with it after the Budget

This week’s budget is unlikely to hold many surprises for local government. Potential changes to public procurement and the extension of credit easing to SMEs seem to be the most likely areas where local government would have a part to play in helping thinking develop. The autumn statement was very infrastructure heavy so it’s unlikely we’ll get anything new on that front now.
Gove 'shines light' with adoption scorecards

The LGA has condemned the introduction of score cards for council adoption services.
Housing and procurement top local government frauds

Fraud cost local government £2.2bn in 2011, up from £2.1bn in the previous year, a Home Office report has said.
Kemp to contest Liverpool mayoralty

A strong critic of elected mayors is to stand for the post in Liverpool on a platform of knowing how to avoid problems that have disrupted mayoralties elsewhere.
Labour plots health changes through councils

Labour will attempt to link “waste, waits, stresses and strains” in the NHS to the government’s reforms, and try to redesign services through the local authorities it runs.
Legal challenge fear over waste changes

Councils could face costly legal battles because of proposed new waste collection regulations, local authority chiefs have warned.
Legislation threatened to force creation of local councils

The Cabinet Office has threatened to legislate to help neighbourhood councils into life unless an acceptable number are created by 2013.
LEPs get 'arbitrary' Growing Places increase

The flat rate increase awarded through the Growing Places Fund is arbitrary and unscientific, the Institute of Economic Development (IED) has said.
LGA tries to renegotiate outsource deal

The LGA is seeking a 17.6% cut in the cost of its outsourcing contract with Liberata following a large contraction in the organisation’s size in the past year.
LGC Future Leaders Network - On the day

All the presentations in one place from LGC’s Future Leaders Network events, click on the speaker’s name to download their presentation where one is available.
Lib Dems clash over elected mayors

A senior Liberal Democrat figure in local government has come out in favour of elected mayors, risking anger amongst party colleagues who oppose the concept.
Manchester achieves another first

Cynics may sneer and mouth “MAA” and “statutory city region” to claims that the city deal is anything other than an alibi exercise to enable ministers to show they are genuinely “localist” and that cities sit at the top table.
Mapping Out Service Delivery

A new deal from Ordnance Survey is designed to provide better access to mapping for public bodies who want to better plan and deliver innovative services. Ian Carter explains how it works.
Metropolitan councils seek control over trains

Metropolitan councils have urged the Government to transfer responsibility for local rail services to them.
Ministers seek advice on conflict of interest in commissioning

Ministers have asked the Co-operation and Competition Panel for advice on how commissioners handle conflicts of interest, following a test case.
More evidence councils shunning bins fund

Nearly half the local authorities who took part in fresh research on Eric Pickles’ weekly bins collection scheme have said they are not going to apply for funding.
Narrow support for mayors - new poll

New opinion polling has shown moving to the elected mayoral model for running councils is narrowly favoured in those areas without mayors, alongside a lack of strong feelings on the issue.
National collaboration for commissioning support

Commissioning support services are likely to be closely involved in the four national scale commissioning support functions, HSJ has learned.
National NHS surplus rises by £329m

The NHS is on course to finish the year with a surplus of more than £1.5bn - £300m more than originally planned - HSJ can reveal.
National policy imposed on plan-less councils

Councils without local plans face a year of “confusion and challenge” after the government issued the final version of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), planning experts have said.
News round-up 1/3: Planning consents at five-year low

Your daily media round up of all the key stories affecting local government
News round-up 12/3: Cities could keep unemployment savings

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News round-up 13/3: 'Dozens' of council workers paid through companies

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News round-up 14/3: Bupa chief fires parting warning

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News round-up 15/3: More Icelandic cash recovered

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News round-up 16/3: Developers jumping the gun on planning

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News round-up 19/3: Privatisations promised in the Budget

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News round-up 2/3: Heseltine slams Whitehall inertia

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News round-up 21/3: Kent fraud trial begins

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News round-up 22/3: Budget special

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News round-up 23/3: Further blow to Dilnot proposals

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News round-up 26/3: Riots panel to tackle advertising

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News round-up 27/3: Carers 'get little help from councils'

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News round-up 28/3: Positive response for planning reforms

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News round-up 29/3: Welfare row brewing

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News round-up 30/3: Byrne in for Birmingham mayoralty

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News round-up 5/3: Pressure for care reform grows

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News round-up 6/3: Child benefits

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News round-up 7/3: Planning reforms to go ahead

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News round-up 8/3: Crime commissioners can work part-time for full pay

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News round-up 9/3: LGA hits out at adoption bureaucracy

Your daily media round up of all the key stories affecting local government
NHS Commissioning Board to appoint all CSS leaders

The NHS Commissioning Board has announced exclusively to LGC’s sister title Health Service Journal that it will appoint all commissioning support service leaders this spring.
Northampton mulls joining LGSS

Shared services operation LGSS is in talks with Northampton BC to take over parts of its service provision.
Not a blizzard, just Pickles’ latest battlefield

My first thought, when I glimpsed it in a CLG departmental press notice, was that there had been a Conservative power grab within the coalition. What looked for all the world like a snow report map suggested that Eric Pickles had snatched the Met Office away from the Lib Dems’ Vince Cable at the Department for Business Innovation & Skills, and, having sorted out local government, was turning to the weather and climate control.
Over 60% of commissioning groups to be led by former PCT staff

Most clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are set to make a manager their accountable officer, and are choosing primary care trust staff to fill key leadership roles in their organisation.
Parsons' chauffeured car goes amid expenses row

Leicestershire CC leader David Parsons has given up a chauffeured car provided by the council after rows over his expenses.
Partner council 'not consulted' in shared chief row

A shared chief executive arrangement is in crisis after one council sent the incumbent on gardening leave without consulting the other.
Pay freeze fails to prevent health overspend on wages

The NHS pay freeze has failed to prevent acute hospitals from running up an estimated £300m year-to-date overspend on wage bills, an investigation by LGC’s sister title Health Service Journal has revealed.
Pension savings 'to be kept by councils'

Senior civil servants have insisted it will be councils, and not the Treasury, that pocket the savings made through reform of the Local Government Pension Scheme.
Pickles warns over 'right to challenge' abuse

Eric Pickles has promised to come down hard on private firms that seek to abuse the new community ‘right to challenge’ to take over public services – threatening fresh legislation if necessary.
PM declares 'national crisis' over dementia care

The prime minister has declared that rising rates of dementia are “a national crisis” and launched a major drive to improve the lives of sufferers and their carers.
Police review complaint against Parsons

Leicestershire Police are reviewing a complaint of alleged financial irregularity made against county council leader David Parsons.
Property company expected to cover costs by raising rents

The new NHS property company is set to take over a core portfolio worth at least £1.7bn, LGC’s sister title Health Service Journal has revealed.
Protests as councils face upfront costs of reform

Northern Ireland’s councils have protested against a plan that would see them bear the upfront costs of local government reform.
Public split over use of private firms in NHS

Opinion in England on the use of private companies to provide NHS services is split down the middle, according to polling data compiled exclusively for our sister title HSJ.
Quarterly spending data to feed into projections

Councils’ quarterly spending data is still being used to inform a key government forecast due tomorrow, despite strong criticism over its robustness.
Riots panel calls for 'forgotten families' programme

The approach of the trouble families programme should be extended to cover 500,000 ‘forgotten families’, the independent panel that explored the causes of last year’s riots has said.
Rochdale chief named

Rochdale MBC has announced who will replace chief executive Roger Ellis when he leaves at the end of this month.
Roe poised to lead Westminster

Westminster City Council Conservatives have chosen Philippa Roe as the new council leader after her predecessor resigned following public uproar over car parking.
Scandal council leader attacks 'mystical' officer group

A council leader has launched an astonishing attack on the competence of senior officers and said that a ‘mystical’ group of them has denied him access to papers.
Scandal probe urges review of monitoring officer roles

A common combination of legal roles in councils needs urgent review, the report of a probe into the Cotswold Water Park Society scandal has said.
Scepticism greets 're-booted' Right to Buy

Experts have warned that councils will struggle to build homes to replace those sold under the right-to-buy as the government moved to revive the scheme.
Scottish councils to oversee national service performance

Scotland’s councils and government have agreed to integrate public services at local level through the country’s 32 community planning partnerships.
Shepherd moves up to chief

Chichester DC has appointed its first female chief executive in its 38-year history. Director of corporate services Diane Shepherd, also interim head of paid services, will take on the role.
Snow and cuts leave roads full of holes

A ‘pothole plague’ has hit England and Wales after a combination of recent severe winters and spending cuts led to unrepaired road damage.
Southwark standards row over regeneration disclosure

Southwark LBC’s opposition leader has accused its administration of wasting £50,000 in a standards case over the disclosure of information she says was already in the public domain.
The mixed marriage between private and public cultures

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do” advised St. Ambrose, the 4th Century Bishop of Milan. As one of the church’s early fathers he knew a thing or two about navigating cultural, ethnic and religious ferment in the Roman Empire. Stephen Hester and Emma Harrison would be wise to take note.
Timetable for commissioning group authorisation revealed

Clinical commissioning groups will have to meet 118 authorisation requirements to be approved to take over from primary care trusts in April next year.
Town hall jobs shed faster than Whitehall

Employment fell almost four times as fast in local authorities than in central government in the year to last September.
Treating older people as individuals is key

The report by the Commission on Dignity in Care for Older People is welcome as it re-affirms the council’s commitment to placing independence at the forefront of care provision. Our priority is to empower older people to recover, recuperate and rehabilitate so they are able to live fulfilling lives within their own communities.
Warning over vulnerable children role

The move towards greater school autonomy will create a number of risks for councils to fulfil their duty to support vulnerable children, a government-commissioned report has warned.
'We listened over sustainability', says planning minister

The government removed the most controversial section of the draft National Planning Policy Framework after widespread protests during consultation, planning minister Greg Clark has said.
Workforce cut by 10% as budgets slashed

More than 200,000 local government jobs were cut in the first 12 months after the chancellor announced massive spending review cuts
Working within neighbourhoods

The launch of the Coalition in 2010 was accompanied by a fanfare about the Big Society, followed not long afterwards its proposals for Localism which promised all kinds of new powers and responsibilities for communities. Now, almost two years later, there is a flurry of activity emanating from these policies.
Youth unemployment strategy panned

Funding streams worth £1.1bn should be diverted to councils to allow them to combat youth unemployment.

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Local Government Chronicle
March 2012 - online articles