Local Government Chronicle

  Bringing Greater Manchester back together Greater Manchester’s ability to operate beyond the boundaries of a single local authority has been clearly proved. The 10 metropolitan authorities together own and run a particularly successful regional airport and they have come up with a radical proposal for a peak-time congestion charge that is even more ambitious […]

The creation of the UK Statistics Authority aims to put an end to controversy surrounding statistics. By Paul Gosling A new body is bringing a breath of fresh air to the often fusty atmosphere of national statistics. Gone is the discredited ministerial oversight of national statistics. In its place, a new and more independent body has

Councillors urged to get more involved in fund investment decisions By Paul Gosling Local government administration of pension funds is strictly regulated. But does this drive councils’ pension fund committees to concentrate on what the regulations tell them to do, at the expense of the big picture? A recent survey by fund advisors Mercer found

  Making the NHS locally accountable   by Paul Gosling   Councils’ health overview and scrutiny committees were supposed to act as a system of local NHS accountability and improve co-ordination between local NHS bodies and council services. But a series of just published reports casts doubt on whether this working effectively.   A Health

  Council improvement rests on strong financial management   by Paul Gosling   Moving from crisis management to strategic management can be worth a lot – going from being in the highest 2% to the lowest 20% of council tax charges in the case of St Helens MBC.   For years members and senior officers

  Everyone Profits   When Phil Hope – the minister for the third sector – addresses Thursday’s ‘LA Connecting London 2008’ conference on social enterprise and local government, he can expect an optimistic audience. There is a feeling both within local government and inside the social enterprise sector that there is about to be a

  Councils face a new future in Northern Ireland   by Paul Gosling   Local government has played a central role in the modern history of Northern Ireland – but not an honourable one. The failings of local authorities in the 1960s were a major factor in the onset of the Troubles, in which over

Taking stock of funding options  By Paul Gosling   Local government administration of pension funds is strictly regulated. But does this drive councils’ pension fund committees to concentrate on what the regulations tell them to do, at the expense of the big picture?   A recent survey by fund advisors Mercer found that almost half

  Reforming social care   by Paul Gosling   “Doing nothing is not an option.” The warning to local authorities came from the Department of Health in its recent ‘Transforming Social Care’ circular. Radical restructuring of adults’ and children’s services is obligatory.   Just why is easy to see. While local government settlements are bearing

  Northern Ireland’s Giant headache   by Paul Gosling   According to myth, the Giant’s Causeway on Northern Ireland’s Antrim coast was built by Irish titan Finn McCool so that his Scottish rival Benandonner could cross for them to do battle. Given the role of Scots settlers in forming Ulster’s unionism – which still takes

  LSP take centre stage in building community cohesion   by Paul Gosling   Community cohesion is one of those challenges that cuts across the responsibilities of a wide range of public agencies – and beyond into the voluntary and private sectors. It is exactly the type of issue that local strategic partnerships were created