An encouraging example from the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk on coping with spending cuts. King’s Lynn Arts Centre had been under threat of closure, "but a group of supporters stepped in to take over the running of the venue to keep it open." Other developments include: Council tax bills in the borough […]
Staff at Edinburgh City Council have been spending £14,000 a year phoning directory enquiries – for numbers available in the internet. They have also been spending £185 a month on calls to the speaking clock. The council is run by a Lib Dem/SNP coalition. The Scottish Sun reports the story under the headline Clock Horror.
Cllr Tim Crowley, the Conservative Finance Spokesman on Sutton Council says Liberal Democrats are ignoring the need for deficit reduction. The London Borough Of Sutton is a flagship Lib Dem council. It is in fact the longest held Lib Dem council in the UK having taken power before the Lib Dems were even conceived. It […]
Interesting piece (£) in the Local Government Chronicle on options being looked at by the Government for increasing the ratio of money that Town Halls raise locally. There is a strong case that localism can only go so far when most of the money comes from central government. The author of the article, Allister Hayman, likes […]
Labour-run Manchester City Council with a headcount of 23,340, and 17,715 full-time employees has announced job losses of 2,000, citing the savings they are required to find in 2011-2012 . However those savings required reflect the generous funding levels for Manchester: Highest annual funding per head in the area. Residents of Manchester City Council will continue […]
In stark contrast to neighbouring Labour run Manchester City Council, Trafford Conservatives have today released details of their draft budget for 2011/12, based on the priorities outlined in their recent citizens' debate, the largest consultation in Trafford's history. Despite receiving a bigger cut in formula grant from Government than Manchester (13.3% compared to 10.9%), over […]
The BBC has a story about the amount spent by London councils on refurbishing their offices over the last two years. Local Government Minister Bob Neill said : "Whilst I recognise the need for councils to maintain their offices to a reasonable standard local authorities must exercise prudence. "The age of vanity makeovers and excess in […]
Labour-run Sunderland Council is choosing to target the vulnerable and cut front line services in applying its spending cuts. The fees they pay for Care Homes are already below par. But they are cutting them further. Lesley Langton, a qualified nurse and manager of Highcliffe Care Centre in Witherwack, asks: “We will have to make […]
The Daily Mail reports asurvey by the Taxpayers Alliance into the cost for councils of getting new logos. Freedom of Information Act requests were sent to 358 councils. Of the 300 responses there were 70 that had spent money on new logos, slogans or vision statements in the past three years. The total cost of £1.66 million. […]
"Councils pile on tax by stealth," says (£) the headline on the front page of The Sunday Times this morning. But is reducing a subsidy really a "stealth tax"? One of the examples the Sunday Times mentions is the rent "doubling or tripling for allotments holders." But sometimes this is from a very low base, […]
Julia Ross, a former Director of Social Services who now runs the Pi Benchmark division on Care and Health, reports on a success story…from Haringey Good local news from Haringey. Michael Wood who is head of corporate procurement there, explained how the Council had managed to use a new data analysis system to identify £250,000 […]
Liam Scott-Smith, Government Relations Manager at New Local Government Network and an Executive Member of Bright Blue, says Labour hypocrisy is stopping a serious debate Cuts to public spending will always hit the poorest hardest… so what’s your alternative then? Apparently the opposition cuts are nicer and not as nasty. They would cut in such […]
In a recent House of Lords debate on Local Government funding, the Labour peer Baroness Thornton said: I read on the ConservativeHome website a contribution from a member of the Conservatives' flagship authority, Hammersmith and Fulham Council, urging 100 cuts in council services and demanding that there be cuts in care to looked-after children, that […]
The formula for how much money councils get from central government is pretty impenetrable. A big chunk is passed directly to schools and so it is probably helpful to leave this item to one side. Then essentially the richer an area is the less they get – both because their "needs" are lower and also […]
So is that what all the fuss was about? Councils face a cut in their "spending power" next year of 4.4%. The grant will be cut by an average of 9.9% in 2011/12. There had been lots of alarmist talk of 20%. "Apocalypse Now," screamed The Times this morning. The directly elected Mayor of Hackney, […]