A think-tank report called for radical reform of local council services such as transport, waste, and libraries. Proposals included:
• The increased use of congestion charging, and adoption of road user pricing by central government.
• City-wide cap and trade schemes for business waste using new variable charging technology, with any profit being used to reduce the business rate.
• New green bonds allowing local people and businesses to invest in energy from waste plants and to receive a dividend from their operation.
'Democratizing' access to library books by shifting to e-books, online ordering, and book vending machines in public places.
Source: Daria Kuznetsova and Tom Symons, Transforming Universal Services: Transport, libraries and environmental services beyond 2015, New Local Government Network
Links: Summary | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Oct
A collection of essays by a cross-party collection of local government leaders examined the key challenges that they would face in the future.
Source: Liam Scott-Smith (ed.), The Next Question: The future of local leadership, New Local Government Network
Date: 2011-Sep
The coalition government published a statement seeking to clarify its proposal (in the Localism Bill) for a 'community right to challenge' that would allow voluntary and community bodies and others to form mutual organizations to deliver local authority services.
Source: Community Right to Challenge, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Statement
Date: 2011-Sep
A think-tank report outlined three models for the development of local councils in the light of severe budget cuts. Under one scenario, a lack of funding combined with new rights for citizens over planning and service delivery could by 2020 leave local authorities in the same kind of position as the Californian state government – struggling to provide services in the face of high demands, low income, and increased direct democracy.
Source: Simon Parker, Future Councils: Life after the spending cuts, New Local Government Network
Links: Summary | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Sep
An article examined the relationship between local government and public participation. Despite 40 years of experimentation with public participation initiatives, there had been little impact on local policy processes.
Source: Dave McKenna, 'UK local government and public participation: using conjectures to explain the relationship', Public Administration, Volume 89 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Sep
A report examined the potential impact of a localist reform agenda on the future of local public services.
Source: Carrie Bennett and Pauline Thorington-Jones, 'When Tomorrow Comes': The future of local public services, Policy Commission on the Future of Local Public Services (University of Birmingham)
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jul
A report examined recent policy changes across housing, health, and social care; and investigated how these might provide new opportunities for integrating local services for the benefit of communities and individuals.
Source: Sarah Davis, Localism: Delivering integration across housing, health and care, Chartered Institute of Housing
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jun
A report drew together the key findings from the national evaluation (2007-2010) of local area agreements, local strategic partnerships, and the wider policy framework associated with them.
Source: Long Term Evaluation of Local Area Agreements and Local Strategic Partnerships 2007-2010: Final report, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jun
A report highlighted the growing number of local councils that were bringing services back in-house. It included a range of case studies that showed how insourcing allowed councils to save money and exert more control over the provision of services. Other benefits included greater flexibility and accountability, as well as improved morale and terms and conditions for staff.
Source: Insourcing Update: The value of returning local authority services in-house in an era of budget constraints, Unison
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Jun
Researchers evaluated pilots that were designed to provide front-line services to individuals with complex needs (that were not conventionally met by statutory services). The pilots were found to have been effective in bringing about better outcomes for the individuals, particularly in terms of health.
Source: Jack Cattell and Alex Mackie with Kate Gibson, Tom Hitchins, Will Parry, Lucas Porsch, and Joe Savage, Simple but Effective: Local solutions for adults facing multiple deprivation (Adults Facing Chronic Exclusion Evaluation – Final Report), Department for Communities and Local Government
Date: 2011-Jun
A briefing paper examined the legal background to arrangements for the sharing of local authority services, and the context in which they were being developed.
Source: Chris Sear, Sharing of Local Authority Services, Standard Note SN/PC/05950, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-May
Researchers examined 'smartcard' schemes introduced by local authorities in England. They looked at the types of services included within smartcard schemes; citizen participation in schemes; use of data to improve services; dissemination of information to users and prospective users; communications activities and messages; and how schemes had been evaluated.
Source: Andrew Wood, Kate Downer, and Annalise Toberman, Evidence Review of Smartcard Schemes in Local Authorities, Research Report 738, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2011-May
A think-tank report identified a number of innovative case studies and pilot projects in which local councils had afforded citizens an increased role in reinventing services, resulting in cost reductions for councils of 15-20 per cent.
Source: Nigel Keohane, Changing Behaviours: Opening a new conversation with the citizen, New Local Government Network
Links: Report | NLGN press release
Date: 2011-Apr
A report examined the impact of European Union laws on local councils in England and Wales, focusing on laws in respect of energy efficiency, public procurement, and landfill.
Source: Knowing Me, Knowing EU, Local Government Association
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Apr
A think-tank report said that, even in a 'best case scenario', local authorities that shared 'back office' services would probably make cost savings of less than 2 per cent.
Source: Tom Symons, Olivier Roth, and Joe Sturge, Shared Necessities: The next generation of shared services, New Local Government Network
Links: Summary | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Mar
The interim report was published of an independent review into how local government in Wales might perform better if it were to review and realign the commissioning and delivery of some of its functions. It outlined 10 principles that should underpin and inform the thinking of ministers and local government on the issue of collaboration.
Source: Joe Simpson, Local, Regional, National: What Services Are Best Delivered Where?, Welsh Assembly Government
Links: Report | WLGA press release
Date: 2011-Mar
An article examined 'single outcome agreements' in Scotland – designed to deliver key national and local priorities based on a new relationship between central and local government. A positive link was found between the strength of existing community planning partnerships and partner engagement in the first year of development of the agreements.
Source: Jung Jin Park and Richard Kerley, 'Single outcome agreements and partnership working in Scottish local government – year one', Local Government Studies, Volume 37 Number 1
Links: Article
Date: 2011-Mar
The Supreme Court ruled that local authorities and other public authorities could lawfully work together to arrange the efficient and economical provision of services (in the case in question, insurance cover).
Source: Brent London Borough Council and Others v Risk Management Partners Ltd, UKSC 7 (2011), United Kingdom Supreme Court
Links: Judgement
Date: 2011-Feb
An article examined how the concept of well-being was used in local policy-making.
Source: Sarah Atkinson and Kerry Joyce, 'The place and practices of well-being in local governance', Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Volume 29 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Feb
The government began consultations on the 'community right to challenge' and 'community right to buy' (both proposed in the Localism Bill). Under the community right to buy, local groups would have a legal right to nominate any vital community asset – including local shops, pubs, libraries and leisure centres – to be assessed for recording on a 'most wanted' list by the local council: if the owner wanted to sell it, the local community would be given time to prepare an offer before it went on the open market. The community right to challenge would give community or voluntary sector groups, as well as parish councils and council employees, new powers to challenge and take over a local service.
Source: Proposals to Introduce a Community Right to Buy: Assets of Community Value – Consultation paper, Department for Communities and Local Government | Proposals to Introduce a Community Right to Challenge: Consultation paper, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document (1) | Consultation document (2) | DCLG press release
Date: 2011-Feb
A think-tank report called for local councils to be given new powers to charge for local services (such as parking, planning, and licensing), and to vary charges based on usage and on users' ability to pay.
Source: Nick Hope, Communities in Charge: Decentralisation and differentiation of charges and fees, New Local Government Network
Links: Report | NLGN press release
Date: 2011-Jan
A report (based on interviews with the chief executives of 15 local authorities) said that there was no consensus across the public sector on how localism, decentralization, and the 'Big Society' would work in a systemic fashion across local government. The danger was that if people did not understand these policies they would either ignore them or interpret them in a way that suited them.
Source: A Little Local Difficulty: The challenges of making localism work, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Links: Report | Deloitte and Touche press release | Public Finance report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Jan
An article examined the new coalition government's vision for health and social care. Despite risks of increased fragmentation, there were new opportunities for integration in both commissioning and provider functions. Local authorities should move quickly to influence and lead the new partnerships.
Source: Ray Jones, 'A "liberated" NHS: intentions, impact and implications for local government', Journal of Integrated Care, Volume 18 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jan
A briefing paper examined local area agreements, and the ending of them by the new coalition government.
Source: Mark Sandford and Keith Parry, Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and Multi-Area Agreements (MAAs), Standard Note SN/PC/3168, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Notes: Local area agreements (LAAs) were designed to formalize partnership working between local government and other public sector delivery partners.
Date: 2011-Jan