Local Government Chronicle
31 May 2012
View all stories from this issue.
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A shared goal to build sustainability
As the fiscal situation across the public sector continues to tighten, one thing is for certain: every penny spent via the public purse must be used to create maximum value for the citizen. -
Avoid Gove's gaps and demand to lead
The LGC View on education reform in the 26 April issue was spot on in contrasting the reactions to the legislative programmes of Michael Gove and Andrew Lansley. -
Business rate pooling under threat
Pooling of business rates income may have been effectively “killed off” due to the tight deadline for submitting applications, senior local government figures have warned. -
Care funding crisis 'approaching point of no return'
A near-doubling in the cost of adult social care by 2030 could leave councils unable to provide anything but social care and waste services, the LGA has warned. -
City deal boosts growth nationally
The last time I wrote in LGC I referred to the bespoke city deal that was being drawn up between the Manchester City Region and central government. -
Confidence survey: finance and services
Fears over future spending cuts and concern for adult social care were among the key findings of LGC’s regular sector survey. -
Free travel too costly after 19% cut
The shortfall in funding for the statutory free concessionary travel scheme has been a major issue for several authorities across the country under successive Governments since the scheme was introduced in 2005; extended in 2008 and funding transferred to a County level in 2011. -
If you're stuck in a rut, you need a plan
Am I alone in thinking that the debate about reform has reached an all time low dominated by headlines about chief executive pay, council staff exhorted to help troubled families to cook and, of course, the Open Services white paper? -
Inside Out - The dangers of pubs
When exposed as a local government worker in the pub, does it always lead to a haranguing? I think so. The only variant is the number of pints before it starts. -
LGC View - local government confidence
It has become a familiar pattern: confidence in government has slipped in each of the confidence surveys LGC has run since the 2010 general election. This sixth set of findings does not buck the trend. -
Local knowledge: a force for change
Our work continues to determine the best way to develop and implement our community-led commissioning aspirations. -
Mediawatch: It’s time to stop dodging the Dilnot decision
If we have learned anything over the past few months it is that the government is reluctant to make any taxation explicit. -
Rethink road funding to target investment and stimulate growth
Councils build, manage and maintain some 96% of all roads in England. The state of roads is high on the list of voter priorities, a fact that has been exacerbated by cutbacks and the legacy of the winter of 2011. -
Shapps' B&B assault prompts backlash
Officers and councillors have hit back at ministers who condemned their use of bed and breakfast accommodation to house homeless families. -
Spotting problems
Social care is clearly the greatest funding pressure facing councils in the short, medium and long term -
The demands of public service leadership
Listening to Sir Bob Kerslake reminding an Association of Directors of Adult Social Services audience recently that 70% of the planned cuts in public spending are still to come led me to reflect on the different demands this is making on local public service leaders. -
The end of an empire
Director, Greater London Group, London School of Economics -
Top thinktank's withering welfare reform verdict
A critical report on the government’s welfare reforms has warned that the decision to localise council tax benefit could fundamentally undermine ministers’ pledge that work should always pay. -
Whitehall relationship at new low in LGC confidence survey
LGC’s regular survey of the mood in local government unearthed greater fears than ever that councils’ views were not being heard.
