A report described an investigation of how evaluation was developing in local government to meet the requirements of the 'modernisation agenda'. It looked at forms of organisation, approaches and methods, and its contribution to policy development and management. It concluded that the model of evaluation embedded within 'best value' could not alone deliver an effective basis for learning and improvement in local government, especially given a background which emphasised the need for citizen-centred services.
Source: Ian Sanderson and Steve Martin, Beyond Performance Management? Evaluation for effective local governance, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | ESRC press release
Date: 2003-Nov
A report provided an overview of the current planning requirements for local public services, with particular focus on local authorities and the National Health Service; described key challenges to improving joint strategic planning and the progress made by a number of local partnerships across England and Wales; suggested ideas for action and a framework for local strategic planning, based on what had worked well in these partnerships; and outlined current approaches to joint strategic planning and commissioning through 21 detailed case studies.
Source: Lucy Hamer, Planning with a Purpose - Local authorities and the NHS: planning together to improve health and well- being across the local strategic partnership, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000), Health Development Agency and NHS Confederation
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Oct
A report detailed local government s statutory responsibility for undertaking research. Based on an analysis of approximately 150 Acts of Parliament, the report provided a comprehensive checklist of legislative requirements for research, ranging across all local government services.
Source: William Solesbury and Lesley Grayson, Statutory Requirements for Research: Review of responsibilities for English and Welsh local government, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Oct
A report described cases where councils were making use of powers under the Local Government Act 2000 to take action that 'promotes or improves the social, economic and environmental well-being of their area'.
Source: Hilary Kitchin (ed.), Doing the Future: Councils respond to new priorities, Local Government Information Unit, available from Central Books (0845 458 9910)
Links: LGIU press release | Times report
Date: 2003-Sep
A report contained contributions by two leading protagonists in the debate about directly-elected mayors in England.
Source: Local Democracy and Directly Elected Mayors, Centre for Local Economic Strategies (0161 236 7036)
Links: CLES press release
Date: 2003-Jul
A study examined the experiences of three new resident-led parish and town councils (all in urban areas). Great diversity was found in approaches to facilitating resident involvement in the local governance of neighbourhoods. The importance of training and guidance was emphasised, along with a need to recognise that the councils were sometimes viewed with suspicion by the principal local authority and other stakeholders.
Source: Mark Bevan, New Parish and Town Councils in Urban Areas, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (01904 629241)
Links: Report (pdf) | JRF Findings 713
Date: 2003-Jul
A White Paper was published on the fire service in England and Wales. It contained proposals, following a resolution of a major industrial dispute, for the modernisation of working practices within the service.
Source: Our Fire and Rescue Service, White Paper Cm 5808, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 30.6.03, columns 21-36, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: White Paper | ODPM press release | Hansard
Date: 2003-Jun
Researchers found a mixed range of experience among the (fewer than 40) local authorities that had at any time out-sourced all, or part, of their housing benefit or council tax benefit administration to external contractors. For some local authorities, outsourcing had worked well from the beginning: in other areas it had not worked and the service had been brought back in-house.
Source: John Harvey, Robin Gray, Geoff Fimister and Ken MacNeill, Local Authority Experience in Outsourcing Housing and Council Tax Benefits, In-House Report 115, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
A report summarised the findings of a project aimed at highlighting some of the work being done by local authorities to enhance participative democracy in their communities.
Source: Designs on Democracy: Case studies on democratic participation, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
A study found that local authorities in England were already using their new power of health scrutiny to tackle key local health issues. Scrutiny reviews on sex education, teenage pregnancy, smoking in public places and drug use were highlighted. (Local authorities were given the power to scrutinise health issues and services under the Health and Social Care Act 2001.)
Source: Lucy Hamer, Local Government Scrutiny of Health: Using the new power to tackle health inequalities, Health Development Agency (0870 121 4194)
Links: Report (pdf) | HDA press release
Date: 2003-May
A report provided an analysis of established and recent joint working across local government, both between authorities and including partnerships with the private sector.
Source: Iain Roxburgh and Natalie Arend, Crossing Boundaries: New ways of working, New Local Government Network (020 7357 0051)
Links: Summary | Press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Apr
The government introduced regulations designed to 'reduce the burden of red tape on local authorities' and introduce a simplified regime of allowances for local councillors. Local authorities would have discretion to introduce local schemes of remuneration, taking into account the views of local independent remuneration panels.
Source: The Local Authorities (Members' Allowances) (England) Regulations 2003, Statutory Instrument 2003/1021, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 7.4.03, columns 5-8WS, TSO
Links: Statutory Instrument | Hansard
Date: 2003-Apr
The government announced that a code of practice will be applied where a local authority transfers employees to a private or voluntary sector partner as part of a contract to provide any local public service. Similar arrangements will apply to other 'Best Value' authorities (such as passenger transport authorities). The code is designed to ensure that transferred workers receive comparable pay and conditions to those applying in the public sector. Employers said that the government had made it even harder to achieve its own objectives on public service reform.
Source: Press release 13.2.03, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (020 7944 3000) | Press release 13.2.03, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: ODPM press release | CBI press release | TUC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Feb
The government said that it would support an appropriate amendment to the Local Government Bill to repeal Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 (which makes it unlawful for local authorities to promote homosexuality).
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 7.1.03, columns 45-140, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Stonewall press release
See also: Journal of Social Policy Volume 30/3, Digest 119, paragraph 11.6
Date: 2003-Jan