London boroughs should be permitted to enter into combined authority arrangements, the Society of London Treasurers has argued in a report ‘Capitalising on the Boroughs’. The report argues that new forms of governance will be required in London to implement the type of greater fiscal devolution that is being widely proposed following the Scottish referendum. …
“This is the toughest budget we’ve ever faced,” says Kent County Council’s cabinet member for finance, John Simmonds. Kent is one of several local authorities opening consultations on its budget for 2015/16, as they struggle to balance the books. Kent expects it will have to find a further £206m over the next three years, on …
Comments by communities minister Kris Hopkins describing patriarchy in Asian communities as a “root cause” in some child abuse cases have been strongly disputed by a range of experts in community cohesion and child care. The minister called for more respect for women and girls within Asian society. There was particular criticism of his reference to the …
Iceland may not have changed everything as far as local government investment policies are concerned. But the collapse of the country’s three banks certainly had a big effect on councils, their finance directors and elected members, who have no intention of being caught-out the same way again. CIPFA responded to the Iceland-related crisis …
Local authorities will not make sufficient progress in achieving cost savings through shared services unless they are forced to do it, a report from business advisory firm Deloitte argues.. “Having worked around shared services for several years, I am convinced making it compulsory is the only way you’ll get real value out of these …
When push comes to shove: Local Government Chronicle Read More »
Local authorities should by now be well advanced in their progress towards the adoption from April next year of IFRS – International Financial Reporting Standards. The adoption of IFRS has serious implications for local government accounting. It has been widely reported that the assets and liabilities of some PFI contracts that were previously …
Councils must make progress on IFRS: Local Government Chronicle Read More »
Substantial reform of the Local Government Pension Scheme is increasingly looking inevitable. What is more, that reform is not dependent on a different government. Even existing ministers seem determined to instigate major, perhaps even fundamental, change. In June this year, DCLG began an “informal consultation exercise” in which it invited a limited number of …
Reform of LGPS inevitable: Local Government Chronicle Read More »
Local government in the United States is in a dire mess. Nowhere is this more true than in the state of California, where counties, cities and the state itself are in absolute crisis. If the ‘golden state’ were a nation its economy would be one of the ten largest in the world. Yet, today, …
California dreaming (of solvency): Local Government Chronicle Read More »
Local government pension funds have lost in excess of £14bn — up to 30% of their value — as a result of the global financial crisis, an exclusive analysis conducted by LGC reveals. Responses to freedom of information (FoI) requests submitted by The Independent — and made available to LGC — also show that local …
It is increasingly likely – almost inevitable, it seems – that the Conservatives will form the next government. Equally probable, to judge by recent remarks, is that the incoming administration will try to ‘fix’ public sector pensions. There is growing disquiet amongst the political classes and the media about public sector pensions. They …
The Conservative Party’s green paper is big on empowerment for local government. It is also – but less noticably – big on joint working by councils and the amalgamation of back office functions. Perhaps it was fear that the message of ‘freeing local government from central control’ would be overshadowed that meant the …
LIFT is proving one of the great success stories of investment in public infrastructure. Not only is it delivering substantial improvements in the quality of facilities and services in primary care, but it is also facilitating better joint working between the health and local government sectors. There are now 48 Local Improvement Finance …
Giving healthcare a LIFT: Health Service Journal/Local Government Chronicle Read More »