An article examined budget cuts by English local authorities. Cost-cutting and efficiency measures dominated, as in previous periods of austerity: but creative approaches to service redesign were also emerging.
Source: Vivien Lowndes and Kerry McCaughie, 'Weathering the perfect storm? Austerity and institutional resilience in local government', Policy & Politics, Volume 41 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
A study examined the impact of local government spending cuts in three boroughs in London, England, since the Comprehensive Spending Review of 2010. The interim report said that there had been a 33 per cent reduction in service funding from central government between 2009-10 and 2013-14, which councils had tried to absorb while minimizing impact on services for those in most need. It said that most savings were achieved through efficiency measures that now presented limited further savings opportunities. Councils had also reduced their involvement in discretionary service provision, much of which had been delivered through voluntary sector organizations. The report noted that the localism agenda would be undermined by the need to cut local authority provision back to a statutory minimum, and that intense targeting could mean that lower levels of need went unmet. A final report, due in mid-2014, would consider the implications of the responses for the lives of local residents.
Source: Amanda Fitzgerald, Ruth Lupton, Ronan Smyth, and Polly Vizard, Hard Times, New Directions? The impact of the local government spending cuts in London – interim report, Working paper SPCCWP07, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Date: 2013-Dec
A report examined early case study examples of localized policy interventions relating to business and skills support. It explored the rationale for services, how policies were designed and implemented, what enabled successful outcomes, the barriers faced, and lessons learnt.
Source: ICF GHK, Research on Understanding Localised Policy Interventions in Business Support and Skills, Research Report 156, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
A government report set out how the Department for Work and Pensions would work with local government associations and authorities over the following year on the implementation of universal credit.
Source: Universal Credit Local Support Services: Update and trialling plan, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
An audit report said that both the Troubled Families programme and the Families with Multiple Problems programme were beginning to demonstrate some benefits, but elements of both were underperforming. The report said that there had been poor co-ordination between the departments when designing and implementing their programmes; that the programmes were poorly integrated; and that the lack of initial data and failure to pilot had presented risks. It noted varied performance between local authority areas. It called for cross-departmental work to: better understand how the payment-by-results arrangements worked; establish the reasons for, and resolve, the variance in performance; monitor the impact of both programmes; and build an evidence base to demonstrate what works.
Source: Programmes to Help Families Facing Multiple Challenges, National Audit Office
Links: Report | Summary | NAO press release | 4Children press release | BBC report | Union News report
Date: 2013-Dec
The government began consultation on proposals to establish a combined authority for the area of Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear to promote local economic growth. The consultation would close on 2 January 2014.
Source: Proposal to Establish a Combined Authority for the Area of Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document
Date: 2013-Nov
A report called for leadership and governance to be strengthened in schools, with further devolution of control to head teachers.
Source: Leading the Way: Improving school governance and leadership, Confederation of British Industry
Links: Report | CBI press release
Date: 2013-Nov
The government began consultation on proposals to establish a combined authority for West Yorkshire to promote local economic growth. The consultation would close on 2 January 2014.
Source: Proposal to Establish a Combined Authority for the Area of West Yorkshire, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document
Date: 2013-Nov
A report examined local authorities' approaches to, and progress in, the digital delivery of services.
Source: UKAuthority, Local Digital Today, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Oct
A report highlighted the increase in complaints received by the Local Government Ombudsman regarding homelessness services, in particular in relation to families and young people.
Source: No Place Like Home: Councils use of unsuitable bed & breakfast accommodation for homeless families and young people, Local Government Ombudsman
Links: Report | LGO press release | Inside Housing report | LGA press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A think-tank report examined local government responses to changes in grant funding and how they were placed to respond to demography-led changes in demand at a time of reducing budgets. The report noted that councils had already moved towards greater innovation and increased collaborative and partnership working. The report called for further collaboration to take forward change, and identified needs including improved commissioning skills, the removal of technical barriers, and support from HM Treasury.
Source: Changing Places: How innovation and transformation is taking place in local government, Localis/Civica
Links: Report | Civica press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report by a committee of MPs said that legislation had enhanced the powers of the London Mayor, and had introduced some anomalies and uncertainty into the powers and operation of the London Assembly. It outlined issues around scrutiny, membership of executive bodies and appointments, and called for changes to aid better clarity and accountability.
Source: Post-legislative scrutiny of the Greater London Authority Act 2007 and the London Assembly, Fourth Report (Session 2013-14), HC 213, House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Committee press release
Date: 2013-Oct
An article examined what kind of self-steering was needed by local public service partnerships, and whether steering by government helped or hindered them. It concluded that external 'soft steering' by government can be instrumental in establishing and mobilizing partnerships, while the type of self-steering deployed depended on the context of their operations and the attempted collaborative activities.
Source: Steve Martin and Valeria Guarneros-Meza, 'Governing local partnerships: does external steering help local agencies address wicked problems?', Policy & Politics, Volume 41 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Oct
Local authorities in England said that they faced constraints on their ability to reform and improve local public services, despite being given a general power of competence – the ability to do 'anything that individuals generally might do' – in 2012. Further freedoms were required for the reform to be effective.
Source: The General Power of Competence: Empowering councils to make a difference, Local Government Association
Links: Report | Annex | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jul
A report by an all-party group of MPs and peers said that the capacity of faith groups to engage in local authority structures should be enhanced.
Source: Faith in the Community: Strengthening ties between faith groups and local authorities, Christians in Parliament
Links: Report | BHA press release | NSS press release
Date: 2013-Jun
A collection of essays examined how a localized, yet connected, approach to public service innovation could help to meet complex social and political challenges. It called for local tax-raising powers; diverse provider markets driven by public entrepreneurialism; new models of participatory governance; different approaches to risk; and the integration of informal networks into service provision.
Source: Patrick Diamond, Anthony Zacharzewski, Sophia Parker, and Richard Reeves, Connected Localism: A blueprint for better public services and more powerful communities, Local Government Information Unit
Links: Report | LGIU blog post
Date: 2013-Jun
An article examined place-based leadership and public service innovation. Place-based leadership could influence whether political spaces were used to promote creative problem solving or whether they became arenas for dispute and friction between sectional perspectives. It suggested that an imaginative approach to place-based leadership – one that accepted intelligent risk taking – offered potential for improving the local quality of life as well as strengthening local democracy.
Source: Robin Hambleton and Joanna Howard, 'Place-based leadership and public service innovation', Local Government Studies, Volume 39 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
A new book examined community practice, under which service providers and local residents collaborated to meet local needs and improve service effectiveness. It explored its potential for reforming community development, building new kinds of neighbourhood partnership, measuring outcomes objectively, and combining the best innovations of the previous three decades into a new synthesis.
Source: Gabriel Chanan and Colin Miller, Rethinking Community Practice: Developing transformative neighbourhoods, Policy Press
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Feb
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on delivering local services via mutual and co-operative approaches.
Source: Government Response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee's Report: Mutual and Co-Operative Approaches to Delivering Local Services, Cm 8547, Department for Communities and Local Government, TSO
Links: Response
Notes: MPs report (December 2012)
Date: 2013-Feb
A report described five models of how principal councils in England were devolving services to a more local level.
Source: Modelling Devolution: Working together to deliver local services, Local Government Association/National Association of Local Councils
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jan
A think-tank report said that local authorities should make greater use of faith groups to deliver public services. A 'faith-service ethos' among volunteers and staff could mean greater cost efficiencies – religious beliefs motivated volunteers and staff to work long hours for little pay and to persevere over the challenges encountered when working with vulnerable people in their community. Faith-based providers were highly effective in areas where a 'spiritual' or 'holistic approach' was beneficial, such as drug rehabilitation programmes. Greater service provision from faith groups would foster stronger links between residents and local community organizations, and aid cohesion though greater co-operation between providers of different faiths.
Source: Jonathan Birdwell, Faithful Providers, Demos
Links: Report | Summary | Demos press release | Theos press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jan