Local authorities should seriously consider moving beyond their current role as service providers towards becoming commissioning and procurement hubs, a study by accountants KPMG and thinktank Localis has claimed.
Councillor Liam Maxwell, the Lead Member for Policy and Performance, on the next stage of the transparency agenda at Windsor and Maidenhead Council.
This publication from the think tank Localis suggests that councils should set self-imposed targets to reduce expenditure by around 20 per cent by 2011. They are urged to reassess their priorities against cost and innovate if they are to achieve much needed expenditure reductions.
Plans to strip England’s regional development agencies of powers have prompted a backlash from business groups, which warn that a gap in regional development must not be allowed to develop.
Localis and KPMG have last week produced a new report, called The Bottom Line: A vision for local government. James Morris, Chief Executive of Localis, discusses the report as he urges for a stronger local government
Westminster City Council has called for a set of reforms to give councils powers over everything from police budgets to streetworks. Leader Colin Barrow (Con) said the council faced more than 600 new regulations and 11 pieces of primary legislation every year.
Demand to build council homes is far exceeding government expectations, putting pressure on the Treasury to release extra cash as part of the spending review next month
Elected politicians with a remit for community safety must be able to remove police chiefs who are not focusing on and delivering the outcomes they desire, writes James Morris for Local Government Lawyer
Residents should have the right to take over post offices, libraries, swimming pools or pubs threatened with closure, Conservatives said yesterday. Voluntary groups should have the right to buy when valued businesses and facilities are lost, they added.
Households in Britain are paying £4.5billion extra in tax so that local authorities can produce paperwork to prove they are hitting centrally-imposed targets, research shows