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Member policy briefings- Reform of 14-16 Performance Tables from 2014 (date: 13/02/2012)
- A good education for all: Ofsted consultation on amended inspection arrangements (date: 15/02/2012)
- Delivering the free entitlement to education for three- and four-year-olds: NAO report (date: 10/02/2012)
- Education and training – Raising the Participation Age – consultation on policies that will form regulations (date: 07/0...
- Building Engagement, Building Futures : 16-24 year olds in Education, Training and Work (date: 25/01/2012)
- High Speed 2 rail infrastructure project (date: 13/02/2012)
- Health Select Committee report on Social Care (date: 20/02/2012)
- Public car parking and local government: key trends and developments for 2012 (date: 16/01/2012)
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Tag Archives: recession
Government announces £6.2bn cuts, looks to local government for 20%
Chancellor George Osborne and Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws have today announced measures to make £6.2 billion of savings in 2010-11. The package includes £1.165 bn of savings to be made in Local Government by reducing grants to Local Authorities. This means that local government will have to contribute 20% of the cuts. [...]
2010: localism and governing ‘with the people’
The body politic faces two overarching and intertwined challenges in 2010 and beyond. The first is to begin to restore the public’s trust in the people they elect. The memory of the parliamentary expenses scandal will linger long in the public consciousness. Councillors can rebuild the political system by establishing strong local foundations, through honest [...]
Tags: Councillors, democracy, localism, predictions, public services, recession |
Public sector spending
The recession is doggedly continuing and the character of the upturn, in speed and extent, is very uncertain. Modelling the future, given the variables, is difficult, but latest analysis from CIPFA of public sector finances predicts a contraction of expenditure of between 7.5% and 15% in the next spending round from 2011 to 2014. Factor [...]
Tags: councils, democracy, efficiencies, localism, predictions, public services, recession |
Barnet or bust?
Much has been said and written about Barnet councils emerging new approach, officially the ‘ Future Shape’ project, better known as ‘Easy Council’. I have talked to the Chief Executive, Nick Walkley, and the lead Director, Max Wide, about it and I agree with much of their analysis of both the scale of change needed [...]
Tags: councils, efficiencies, Innovation, localism, public services, recession |
Taking the Lib Dem local government pulse
A Chatham House event with councillors from 13 Liberal Democrat councils. The question we put: with a 30% contraction in local government spending over the next five years (likely according to latest figures from PWC, and Vince Cable’s analysis) what are you going to stop doing (the savage C word) what are you going to [...]
Tags: council housing, Councillors, cuts, democracy, housing, Lib Dems, public services, recession |
Do Regions Matter?
Our regions conference yesterday went with a fizz. I started the event by proposing ‘five principles for a new debate’: Regional arrangements should be voluntary and locally self defined – not dictated by the EU or by Whitehall Democracy and accountability of regions should be vested in local government, accountable to the people through locally elected [...]
Tags: Bob Neil, conservatives, localism, recession, regions, Rosie Winterton |
Cigarettes and alcohol? What about efficiencies and MAAs?
Humans are adept at hiding from inconvenient truths, but I sense a change in the national mood. Sustained economic growth has meant that post-budget gloom in recent times has been caused mostly by excise duty on cigarettes and alcohol. Today the headlines are about tax rises, unemployment, and the Chancellor’s two-pronged gamble on future – [...]
Tags: budget, chancellor, efficiencies, housing, maas, recession, regions |
Council housing progress
Following much lobbying, including by the LGiU, expect to see an announcement in the budget tomorrow of a new fund to support council house building. It will be one part of a package of around £1bn to stimulate the housing market, which will also include extending the stamp duty holiday and the mortgage rescue scheme, [...]
Tags: council housing, housing, recession, Treasury, Westminster Council |
Rent rise u-turn
The government have announced a u-turn on rent rises today after campaigning by many local authorities, local government and housing organisations, supported by the LGiU. Margaret Beckett has today announced that the average guideline rent increase for 2009/10 will be halved from 6.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent for local authority tenants. The Government [...]
Council job cuts
Separate surveys by the Times and LGA, also reported in the BBC suggests councils are cutting jobs and planning to cut more. Is this a good news story or a bad one? On the one hand, jobs being lost is always bad news. On the other hand, it suggests councils are in tune with local communities and responding [...]
Rent rises
Our too centralised system of government means that just when councils really need the flexibility to take action to help people in their commuities, they are hamstrung by government guidelines, laws and financial arrangements. The current controversy over rent rises illustrates the problem. The Government’s rent guidelines will lead to rent rises of around £6 a week for most council tenants, way above [...]
Tags: council housing, councils, housing, recession |
David Cameron on localism
David Cameron looked ahead to the publication of the Conservative local government green paper tomorrow (Tuesday) when he appeared on the Politics Show. He stresses the importance of local economies and we should expect this to be emphasised in the media launch tomorrow. The extract is below; watch it here. JON SOPEL: And I know on Tuesday, you’re [...]
Tags: conservatives, David Cameron, localism, recession |
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