Local Government Chronicle
August 2012 - online articles
View all stories from this issue.
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A flimsy argument for reform
It is more than two decades since I completed the legislation that created the National Non-Domestic Rate. So it may be time to review and reform it. -
Academy enthusiasm costs borough dear
A London borough has claimed it could lose up to £7m a year through its enthusiastic support for government education policies. -
Act now or lose out on growth
At long last, the Department for Communities & Local Government have finally published their summary of responses to the consultation on reforming planning application fees. -
An encouraging approach from DWP
Universal Credit is rightly seen as one of the government’s most ambitious and long-term reforms. -
Auditors critical of DCLG statistics
None of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s statistical indicators examined is fit for purpose and cost-effective, the National Audit Office has said. -
Auditors to assess funding changes
Auditors are to assess whether funding cuts and reforms to local government financing have affected the sector’s ability to deliver essential services. -
Banks take over Mouchel
Outsourcing and engineering consultant Mouchel entered and left administration over the bank holiday weekend in a bewildering series of events that has left it owned by its bankers. -
Bexley safeguarding services 'inadequate'
An Ofsted inspection has found Bexley LBC’s children’s safeguarding services “inadequate.” -
Blackburn to continue health joint working
A pioneering partnership between a council and the NHS is set to survive the change to GP commissioning. -
Call for councils to supply recycled materials to the market
Councils should be responsible for supplying markets with recycled material, according to the government’s advisory committee on packaging (ACP). -
Calls for extra public health funding
The Department of Health will face widespread calls to increase the total budget for public health from the £2.2bn pledged by health secretary Andrew Lansley earlier this year. -
Censure upheld in Israel row
A controversial councillor has lost his appeal against being censured for insulting two pro-Palestinian activists in one of the last cases to go before the Local Government Standards Tribunal. -
'Certainty rate' borrowing deal laid out
A cheaper rate for councils hoping to borrow money from the Public Works Loans Board is to be available from November, the government has announced. -
Child abuse risk at walk-in centres
“Significant and worrying gaps” in the way some NHS walk-in centres operate risks child abuse going undetected, a study obtained by LGC’s sister title Health Service Journal has warned. -
Cockell sounds outsourcing warning
LGA chairman Sir Merrick Cockell has spoken out against a blind faith in the virtues of outsourcing council services and criticised the philosophy that councils should become commissioners rather than providers of services. -
Collaboration: Lessons from Le Tour
The Sky Team in the Le Tour De France illustrated both the true power of a group of people working together and also how the results of collaboration are often that much better than working alone. -
Commissioning support bodies to collaborate on services
Details have been released of how bodies set up to support NHS commissioners will collaborate to provide some essential services at scale. -
Conditional approval for ground-breaking health PFI buyout
An NHS foundation trust has been given conditional approval for a “novel and contentious” plan to buy out its private finance initiative contracts with a £120m loan from a local authority. -
Council leader removed from NHS trust
Foundation trust regulator Monitor has moved to install a new chairman of Bolton FT after a major hole was uncovered in the finances of the troubled hospital trust. -
Councils accused of snooping binge
An organisation linked to the Taxpayers’ Alliance has attacked councils for alleged misuse of surveillance powers. -
Councils question troubled families numbers
Several councils have expressed concerns that they may not be able to find enough families that meet the government’s definition of a “troubled family.” -
Court jeopardises council funding
Australian councils face the loss of federal government funding following a court ruling. -
Deal brokered in city pay dispute
Unions in Southampton have called off a strike and legal action as members vote on whether to accept a staggered reversal of a highly controversial pay cut. -
Disabled children slipping through council care
A report by Ofsted suggests that local authority social care units could do more to protect disabled children and young people. -
'Disparities' found in councillors' allowances
The Taxpayers Alliance has not looked closely enough at the reasons for councillors’ allowance levels in its latest denunciation of local government spending, affected councils have said. -
Districts flag demographic pressures
District councils have launched a campaign to counter the perception that they face an easier funding challenge in the medium term than their county and single-tier colleagues. -
Employers back new pension scheme
Local government employers have overwhelmingly backed the proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme. -
Fears over council tax benefit delay
Government officials have suggested the thorny issue of the effects of council tax benefit changes on parish precepts could require a fresh round of consultations. -
Fresh setback for Norfolk incinerator
A controversial Norfolk incinerator project faces a fresh blow after communities secretary Eric Pickles confirmed he would “call in” the project. -
Freud congratulated on localist apporach
Senior figures in local government have welcomed the extent to which councils are to be involved in welfare reform. -
Freud names universal credit pilots
Twelve councils have named been as pilots for the new universal credit benefit, which will come into force in October 2013. -
Health improvements 'socially uneven'
Research from health thinktank the King’s Fund has shown that the significant public health improvements made during the past decade failed to reach people from lower socio-economic groups and with lower levels of education. -
Health scrutiny reform plans 'bizarre'
Government plans to change the way in which councils can challenge local NHS reconfigurations have been criticised as “bizarre” and a hindrance to localism. -
Homes sell-off plan attacked
A Conservative-aligned thinktank has called on councils and housing associations to sell property in expensive areas and reinvest the proceeds in building homes elsewhere. -
Hunt attacks Kensington over digital delay
Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has singled out a flagship Conservative council for criticism over delays to the roll-out of superfast broadband. -
Kathryn Rossiter to leave Solace
Kathryn Rossiter is to step down as managing director of the chief executives’ group Solace after eight years with the organisation. -
Kilpatrick to hold Home Office fort
A former council deputy chief is to become interim permanent secretary at the Home Office. -
Let bloggers into meetings, Pickles urges
Councils must allow bloggers and members of the public to attend all of their meetings, under regulations from the Department for Communities & Local Government. -
Letwin calls for community budget ‘cookbook’
Councils and agencies piloting innovative new ways of delivering public services have been asked to produce a ‘cookbook’ that other areas can learn from. -
LGA call for audit bill clause to be scrapped
Proposed new powers for the National Audit Office to recommend areas for improvement in the local government sector are “simply not appropriate”, the LGA has said. -
LGA to assess transparency costs
Plans to assess the cost to councils of the government’s transparency agenda are not yet underway, although the LGA has pledged they soon will be. -
LGC seeks your views on care resourcing
As demographic changes put increasing pressure on care services, funding reductions loom and health services reform get under way, LGC is asking councils for their views and plans on commissioning, personalisation and demand management - today is your last chance to take our survey -
Local health team budgets dwarf commissioner funds
Several of the NHS Commissioning Board’s local arms will have enormous budgets - dwarfing those of most clinical commissioning groups - estimates by LGC’s sister title Health Service Journal show. -
Localising the Social Fund: who’s in greatest need?
One aspect of the Coalition’s welfare reforms which has yet to hit the public radar is the localisation of the Social Fund’s Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans. It could prove to be controversial. -
Luton settles cash cow row
Luton BC has settled a dispute with the operator of its municipal airport, safeguarding a multi-million pound income stream. -
Lyons fronts local TV bids
Sir Michael Lyons has emerged as chair of a company vying for eight of the new local television franchises. -
Massive savings on offer in adult care
Greater efficiency in conducting adult care assessments and reviews could bring savings of more than £300m across the sector. -
Mayor says council had culture of bypassing rules
A culture of bypassing rules existed at senior level for two years at Leicester City Council, its elected mayor has said. -
Moving public sector supply chain accountability beyond 'green' aspirations
Against the backdrop of a relentless drive for reform, a growing number of local authorities are bringing together their aspirations for greater environmental accountability with the commitment to secure further cost savings. Local authorities in England are already required to measure carbon emissions from their own estate and operations and attention is now turning to the supply chain. A key feature in the emissions equation, this offers an opportunity to assess both an organisation’s wider -
Newcastle chief departs
Newcastle City Council’s chief executive Barry Rowland has agreed to leave the council with almost immediate effect. His departure at the end of the month by mutual agreement comes five months after a corporate peer challenge identified problems with his relationship with new leader Nick Forbes (Lab). -
News round-up 1/8: Child courts set for shake-up
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News round-up 10/8: Pickles seeks to boost development
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News round-up 13/8: LGA flood cash call
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News round-up 14/8: Independents pan police elections
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News round-up 15/8: Labour MP backs pooled budgets
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News round-up 16/8: Government in Dilnot U-turn
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News round-up 17/8: Gove in playing field bother
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News round-up 2/8: Economic news disappoints
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News round-up 20/8: Whitehall calls for Labour links
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News round-up 21/8: Cameron backs housing sell-off
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News round-up 22/8: Deeper cuts will tackle rise in borrowing
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News round-up 23/8: Shapps eyes public land for housing boost
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News round-up 24/8: Right to buy blunder
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News round-up 28/8: Cameron councils in welfare reform rebellion
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News round-up 29/8: Free schools in mobile classrooms
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News round-up 3/8: Broadband schemes suffer delays
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News round-up 30/8: Councillors call for regional investment
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News round-up 31/7: Extent of library closures revealed
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News round-up 31/8: Councils invest in parking teams
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News round-up 6/8: Labour slams Pickles over benefits
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News round-up 7/8: Fresh care scandal possible
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News round-up 8/8: Rise in adoptions
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News round-up 9/8: Councils court sponsorship
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NI set for general competence power
Northern Ireland councils say they have been offered a power of general competence for the first time. -
'No more cash' council warns football club
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has refused to sink any more money into Port Vale football club, which it effectively owns after a financial crisis last spring. -
North Tyneside takes mass outsource route
North Tyneside Council has let two massive outsourcing contracts only days after the LGA’s chair questioned the approach. -
Old health bodies to lose powers early
Primary care trust and strategic health authority leaders are to be stripped of their “management responsibility” for NHS delivery and planning more than six months ahead of the organisations’ abolition, it has been announced. -
Oxfordshire in pooled budget plan
Health and social care commissioners in Oxfordshire have agreed in principle to a pooled budget for services used by older patients as the central part of a programme to cut the county’s high rate of delayed transfers of care. -
Pension reforms get union backing
Union members have overwhelmingly voted to back reforms to the Local Government Pension Scheme. -
Personal letters key to voting change
Using letters personally addressed to potential voters has emerged as one of the key ways of boosting registration levels, government-commissioned research has suggested. -
Pickles' fraud claim slammed by LGA
Central government should tackle its own fraud problems before attacking councils over lax control of council tax benefit, the LGA has said. -
Pickles 'seeking wrong solution' to stalled home building
Government plans to send teams of mediators into councils to renegotiate stalled developments were scaled back at the last moment after some expressed concern at the focus on renegotiating planning gain agreements. -
Pickles sends in planning 'mediators'
Ministers have named 10 councils as pilots for intervention in their planning gain policies. -
Pickles spends at the seaside
Five councils are amongst the winners from the £24m first round of bids to the Coastal Communities Fund. -
Planning delays will stifle growth, ministers told
The government has been accused of putting growth at risk by failing to allow councils to set their own planning fees. -
Planning reform urged for broadband
The government has been urged to speed up the process for street works permissions for firms who need to lay down broadband infrastructure. -
Proposal lifts threat to council tax support plans
Finance chiefs have welcomed a government proposal to solve the problem of how to share out council tax support grant among hundreds of parishes. -
Public health contract 'appeases providers'
Councils have raised concerns that a template contract for commissioning public health services is too focused on “provider reassurance” at the expense of addressing councils’ needs. -
Reprieve from DfE intervention on finance
Councils have been granted a temporary reprieve from a Department for Education plan to intervene over the financial management of schools. -
Riots repeat unlikely, councils say
Just 10% of councils in areas where riots took place last summer think similar disturbances will happen again, according to research by the Local Government Information Unit. -
Shapps launches homeless plan
Housing minister Grant Shapps has called on councils to adopt a 10-point plan to tackle homelessness. -
Shortened safeguarding rules 'detrimental'
Councils have strongly criticised a new stripped-back set of government guidance on safeguarding children, claiming it is “detrimental” and lacking “important contextual contact,” and could blur the boundaries between the roles of different local agencies. -
Shropshire to go chiefless
Shropshire Council is set to become a ‘chiefless’ authority for the next few months “at least” as preparations are made to transfer almost a third of staff into a trading company, the leader has said. -
Sitting councillors told to register interests
Ministers have issued a guide to the new standards regime following confusion over whether sitting councillors would have to register their interests. -
Social care reforms to cost £28m
New duties for councils in the social care white paper will cost an estimated £28m and will have to be funded from £300m set aside by the Department of Health to encourage integration between health and care services, LGC understands. -
South West One losses fall
Controversial council shared services venture South West One has stemmed its losses after tax to £6.8m in 2011, against £22.7m the previous year, but remains in financial straits. -
The importance of structured collaboration
Partnership activity has both benefits and risks, and the track record for the public sector has been mixed, leading to varying degrees of positive outcomes. Where partnerships haven’t been successful, this is often put down to a lack of formal structure and clear and robust risk sharing arrangements. -
Transparency costs 'should be assessed'
The government should make a comprehensive analysis of the costs and benefits of its transparency agenda, MPs have said. -
Treasury scrutiny for health PFI buyout plan
The Treasury is expected to issue advice to health regulator Monitor “shortly” on the first ever attempt by an NHS foundation trust to use local authority borrowing to refinance its private finance initiative contracts. -
Unison and Unite back pension changes
Members of the three largest unions representing local government workers have expressed overwhelming support for reforms to their pensions. -
Walsall 'inadequate' at safeguarding children
Walsall MBC has become the latest council to fall foul of a tough new round of Ofsted checks on safeguarding and looked-after children’s services, being rated ‘inadequate’ by the inspectorate. -
Weekly bin rounds not wanted, finds poll
Fewer than one in ten people support a return to weekly waste collections, according to a new survey carried out by pollsters ICM. -
Winterbourne View: Council failings outlined
A report on the scandal at the Winterbourne View hospital has called for changes to be made to councils’ safeguarding role as a result of the abuses uncovered by a TV documentary. -
Work Programme take-up falls sharply
The number of jobseekers enrolling in the work programme has fallen to its lowest level since the scheme began, according to figures from the Department for Work and Pensions.
