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Member policy briefings- Children’s Services - Regulation of Early Years Providers – Ofsted consultation (date: 24/01/2012)
- Building Engagement, Building Futures : 16-24 year olds in Education, Training and Work (date: 25/01/2012)
- Creating a sporting habit for life – a new youth strategy (date: 23/01/2012)
- Action on ‘coasting’ and ‘satisfactory’ schools (date: 18/01/2012)
- New framework for school inspection (date: 12/01/2012)
- Public Administration Committee report on the Big Society (date: 18/01/2012)
- Guidance on public health transition planning (date: 18/01/2012)
- Local authorities, the coalition government and green policy: 2011 in review (date: 03/01/2012)
Councils need more power to fulfil education role
LGiU Director Jonathan Carr-West has a comment piece in this week’s TES. Jonathan argues that, whatever you think of academy schools, they’re not going away. He argues that there’s a reasonable localist case for academies since true localists should be committed to devolving power to the lowest level possible. In the case of education, that [...]
Tags: academies, local government, TES, Westminster City Council |
Super Thursday and elected mayors
Patrick Wintour reports on the Greg Clark’s plans to hold mayoral and police commissioner elections on the same day – Thursday 15 November, now being called ‘Super Thursday’. The government’s tactics in bringing forward elections to November seem designed to generate some momentum and interest around the country, as well as forcing the hand of those Councillors [...]
Government finance plans signal dedication to localism
This article was first published on the Guardian’s Local Government Network. As I wrote in my predictions for 2012, councils will find themselves at the forefront of the charge towards recovery this year. Communities secretary Eric Pickles has a plan for this charge; by changing the way local business rates are distributed to incentivise local growth. [...]
Tags: economy, finance, Local Finance Bill |
Ten things you need to know about the Health and Social Care Bill
Yesterday saw the release of a critical report from the cross-party Health Select Committee on the Health Minister, Andrew Lansley’s proposals to reorganise the NHS. Stephen Dorrell, the Committee’s Chairman and former Health Secretary, said that “the NHS should focus on achieving efficiencies rather than on management upheaval”. Whatever you think of the Bill, it [...]
Event: How to build a local currency
The Brixton Pound (B£) is designed to support Brixton businesses and encourage local trade and production. It’s a complementary currency, working alongside (not replacing) pounds sterling, for use by independent local shops and traders, with a view to maintaining the diversity of the local high street. The B£ is the UK’s first local currency in [...]
Tags: Brixton, High Streets, local economies, seminars |
Katharine Birbalsingh’s free school
Food for thought in the TES, Observer and Telegraph. First off, a piece on a storm brewing in Wandsworth over Katharine Birbalsingh’s planned secondary free school. There’s a little local difficulty over the fact that the school will open in a Borough that has spare places in its secondary schools but not enough space in [...]
Tags: Free Schools, Katharine Birbalsingh, Toby Young, Wales |
The Localism Act – Over to You *70 EXTRA TICKETS RELEASED*
The LGiU and Bristol City Council are hosting a major one-day policy conference in Bristol, for the south-west and west midlands. The Localism Act – over to you brings together Local Government Minister Andrew Stunell, Cities Advisor Lord Shipley, with a range of local councillors and officers as well as senior officials from the Department for Communities [...]
How we’re changing our member briefings, and why
This blog post is aimed at councillors and officers in LGiU member councils who receive our briefings service. Each year we do a members survey and you consistently say our briefings are excellent, value for money, and help you do your job. In our 2011 survey we asked for your thoughts on improving [...]
Introducing… Changemakers
LGiU had some new neighbours move into the next office over the holidays. We are very excited to work alongside Changemakers as we believe their aims match ours - empowering people to take a lead and strengthening communities. As a way to introduce them to our network, we have asked them to write a guest blog outlining the great work they do, and how you [...]
Tags: Changemakers, communities, young people |
Social Media Week: ‘The Lambeth Social’
As part of Social Media Week, LGiU have teamed up with Lambeth Council to put on ‘The Lambeth Social’. This informal, and free, event is designed to bring together local politicians, residents, bloggers, volunteers and community activists to discuss how social media can foster new collaborations and build more co-operative communities. The event will feature [...]
Tags: co-operatives, communities, digital, hyperlocal, Lambeth, Social Media Week |
C’llr Awards Deadline Tomorrow: Only time to nominate 104 more councillors…
The deadline for nominations for the 2012 C’llr Achievement Awards is fast-approaching, but there is still time to put in an entry. The following 11 different awards will be up for grabs at the 2012 ceremony: Age UK Pride of Place Award – New for 2012 Bruce-Lockhart Member Scholarship (with £10,000 bursary) – New for [...]
Tags: C'llr Achievement Awards, CCLA, Councillors |
Making the reform agenda work: LGiU seminars Spring 2012
The LGiU is running a series of seminars this spring that will focus on some of the key areas of the government’s reform agenda for local authorities.
The Local Finance Bill – an ambitious programme for localism
The debate over local government finance has had a relatively low profile but it could effect radical changes to the political geography of this country. We welcome the ambition behind the plans after decades of consultation and debate which has more often than not led to dither and delay. The Government has listened to concerns [...]
New approaches in an age of massive demographic change
Towards the end of last year, I spent some time travelling around the country meeting council leaders and chief executives to find out about new approaches in an age of massive demographic change. In the next few months, working jointly with Age UK, I will be publishing a review of these conversations. We will be [...]
Tags: Age UK, Big Society, culture, demograpics, health, localism, localism act, public services, social care |
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