Plans to scrap the two-tier system of long-term care for the elderly, which gives no help to thousands of middle-class families, will be outlined this week. Ministers are proposing the creation of a universal system giving all families the same basic entitlement to help, with the same legal protection, right to an assessment of needs and help in navigating the complex fees of care homes.
The quango running the government’s £55bn programme to rebuild schools has been accused of “bullying” local authorities with threats to withdraw their funding in a damning new report released ahead of an official announcement on the scheme this week.
The Conservatives are preparing to unleash a new era of council house-building, in a radical shift that would undo 30 years of right-wing thinking. The shadow housing minister, Grant Shapps, said the Conservatives want to increase council involvement in low-cost housing, overturning one of Margaret Thatcher’s trademark policies.
Moves towards unitary local government in three county areas could be delayed after a judicial review came down in favour of three Suffolk district councils. The review concluded that the BCE should have consulted on further alternatives.
The London Borough of Barnet has dropped proposals for a wholesale outsourcing that would have reduced it to a tiny strategic core. The proposals discussed by the council in December included setting up a joint venture company to commission services as well as a series of service delivery vehicles.
Regional improvement and efficiency partnerships (RIEPs) could be forced to review their plans after being told to focus more on capital expenditure programmes.
Quiet communities have become angered by a Government which won’t even listen, still less give them a say. Local services have been withdrawn, rural communities have been denied a voice, and power has been taken away from local people.
Former local government minister David Miliband, giving the John Smith Memorial Lecture said that the government has not done enough to transfer powers to local government.
Under the Conservative plans, the viability of post offices would be judged against new guidelines including determining whether they offer a social service to the elderly and young families.
The new policy is part of a range of measures they will unveil as part of a strategy to deal with what they say is Labour’s “decade of disrespect” towards the countryside.
Council house building is to restart in earnest for the first time in almost 20 years in England with local authorities set to construct 139,000 homes over the next decade.