Local Government Chronicle
19 July 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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Business rate retention
The presence of districts at both ends of the spectrum illustrates their considerably varying position -
Catalans plan digital transformation
In 2010, the Young Foundation published a social media framework for local government with the hope that it would help councils to adopt a more systematic approach to use of social media. -
DH considers alternative funding formula
Controversial proposals for distributing public health funding that would see a major transfer of resources from poor to rich areas could yet be significantly changed, Department of Health documents suggest. -
Education refunds set to avert legal challenge
The Department for Education has announced it will repay £58m to councils, in a move expected to bring an end to a long-running legal dispute between local authorities and the government. -
Funding gap may be as much as 15%
The DCLG’s latest consultation on the Council Tax Benefit Funding arrangements gave councils an opportunity to do more than simply respond to the single formal question posed. -
Inside Out - Olympics
I love the Olympics and I’m really looking forward to watching them on TV - no tickets. It is great that we are hosting this massive world event, but I do wonder what the lasting benefits will be for us in the sticks. -
Investing resources to redevelop cities
Director, Greater London Group, London School of Economics -
It's engagement but not as we know it
Even if I say it myself, at times, policy making for local councils can be a pretty dull job. -
Lansley dismisses scale of care cost concerns
Health secretary Andrew Lansley has dismissed research by the LGA which warned of a crisis in social care funding within a decade. -
LGC View - Social care reform
The financial pressure being put on councils’ budgets by the future cost of caring for the elderly and infirm threatens to obliterate their ability to provide any other services. -
Mediawatch: The writing is on the wall for local papers…
The battle to ban ‘Town Hall Pravdas’ continues. Eric Pickles has announced plans to put the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity on a statutory footing. -
Ministers publish small print of new funding system
Further details of the new funding model for local government have been published, including an indication of how individual councils could fare in baseline calculations. -
Perhaps the DfE needs a culture change
“I have not come across a case in which I have thought becoming an academy wouldn’t work for a school”, a civil servant recently told LGC. -
Redefining Growth
We all want to see growth returning to our economy and, from a local government perspective, much of what’s going to be needed to restore confidence - a resolution of the eurozone crisis, the government sorting out the deficit, the recovery of our banking sector - are ‘bigticket’ issues out of the control of local authorities. -
Seeking answers to questions about the care system
Hopes that Dilnot Commission had produced an answer to the one of the biggest policy challenges of our generation - how to pay for the success of longevity - have been dashed by the government’s progress report on the funding of care and support. -
Social investment now a major player
I have been taking more of an interest recently in Social Investment (social impact bonds for the uninitiated) and chaired a conference in Bristol for local authorities organised by the social enterprise, Social Finance. That 400 people attended suggests that I am not alone in my interest. -
Still ducking the funding care question?
The government has committed in principle to introducing the cap on care costs and the higher means-testing threshold proposed by the Dilnot Commission – but its funding “progress report” contains a bleak warning. -
Summary of main points from bill and funding progress report
The government has committed to the principle of introducing a cap on the costs of care that an individual should be exposed to in their lifetime, if the funding can be found to pay for it -
The insurance industry will want more
Health secretary, Andrew Lansley, has finally published the social care white paper, draft care and support bill and a progress report. -
Use open sourcing to pool expertise
So far in my columns on partnerships, I’ve reflected on a Council’s role in the prosperity agenda and the size of the client side in a modern council. -
Well intentioned but one fundamental flaw
The long awaited white paper on care and support set out a platform for a reformed social care system, but without tackling the fundamental funding issue it doesn’t go far enough.
