The BBC’s Giles Dilnot talks to the leader of Barnet Council, Mike Freer, about a ‘no frills’ model of council services where the council provides every local resident a core set of services but where residents get a discount for not using certain services or pay extra for additional services.
The main problem with the current system is that community services do not touch most of the elderly until they see a GP or are admitted to hospital with a serious illness
Council tax bills in England could rise by an average of 1.6% next year – the lowest increase for more than a decade, according to a survey. The Local Government Chronicle magazine asked councils what they were planning, although budgets have yet to be set.
An overhaul of the £1bn free bus pass scheme for people over 60 will leave some councils out of pocket, local authorities have warned, after the government ruled out increasing the fares subsidy.
In the unlikely event of a film being made about the experience of the public sector over the next four years, we can pretty much assume it will be called There Will Be Cuts
Total Place is a new initiative to examine how cutting out duplication in public service delivery can improve quality and reduce costs. But is this really a ‘magic bullet’ solution?
The lack of control councils have over public money spent in their area has been laid bare by new research produced by a flagship government efficiency programme.
Boris Johnson is looking to set up a housing company to help cut costs when local authorities in the city bring land forward for development. The Mayor says the capitals developers and housing investors are facing numerous difficulties including raising finances to build and falling house prices and land values making many housing schemes no longer viable.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council and its leader, Stephen Greenhalgh, have self-consciously made the case for radicalism within a single local authority. Ever since the Conservatives promised a 3 per cent per year cut in council tax at the time of the 2006 local elections, the council has been in the news.
Councils will be freed to make or revoke byelaws without government permission, communities and local government secretary John Denham has said. Byelaws would instead to be scrutinised locally before taking effect.