Ugly Betty can still be a star
While the press has obsessed about Gordon Brown’s leadership skills and David Cameron seized the moment at prime minister’s questions time to promote the pre-Budget statement as a ‘smash and grab’ on Tory policies, local government could be forgiven for thinking it was off the political radar.
However, despite local government being the Ugly Betty of public services, it was clearly a target in the eyes of the chancellor, Alistair Darling.
Financial pressures on local authorities are well documented. CSR07 provided a headline increase of just 1% overall, coupled with stretch targets of 3% ‘cashable’ efficiency gains. Does this mean councils have been asked to deliver ‘mission impossible’? Adult social care costs could rise by as high as 7%, with an ever-increasing older population and legitimate policy demands to improve the care and dignity offered.
There are also climate change targets, and the Waste Strategy 2007. If one adds into the mix the new report on obesity, then leisure and children’s services could see an unprecedented demand on resources.
So, despite the seeming lack of press interest in all things local government, it sits at the heart of delivering on some of the Government’s key priorities. And these are challenges which can be met by exactly the kind of innovation and continuous improvement councils are rarely given credit for.
With more elderly people in our communities, local authority services can rise to the challenge, using their powers to extend beyond traditional boundaries.
This could mean, for example, offering services to private residents to help them remain in their own homes. The same can be said of school caterers delivering cooking and nutrition skills when the lack of these in modern family life is contributing to obesity issues.
But all this needs a vision beyond ticking the box in crude market terms of financial performance. It requires councils to adopt a public value measure of the services that they provide.
The reality is that financial pressures may be intolerably hard following this settlement. So, what’s it to be... Darling’s, an ever-diminishing role for local authorities, or a progressive expansion into communities to deliver public value? n
However, despite local government being the Ugly Betty of public services, it was clearly a target in the eyes of the chancellor, Alistair Darling.
Financial pressures on local authorities are well documented. CSR07 provided a headline increase of just 1% overall, coupled with stretch targets of 3% ‘cashable’ efficiency gains. Does this mean councils have been asked to deliver ‘mission impossible’? Adult social care costs could rise by as high as 7%, with an ever-increasing older population and legitimate policy demands to improve the care and dignity offered.
There are also climate change targets, and the Waste Strategy 2007. If one adds into the mix the new report on obesity, then leisure and children’s services could see an unprecedented demand on resources.
So, despite the seeming lack of press interest in all things local government, it sits at the heart of delivering on some of the Government’s key priorities. And these are challenges which can be met by exactly the kind of innovation and continuous improvement councils are rarely given credit for.
With more elderly people in our communities, local authority services can rise to the challenge, using their powers to extend beyond traditional boundaries.
This could mean, for example, offering services to private residents to help them remain in their own homes. The same can be said of school caterers delivering cooking and nutrition skills when the lack of these in modern family life is contributing to obesity issues.
But all this needs a vision beyond ticking the box in crude market terms of financial performance. It requires councils to adopt a public value measure of the services that they provide.
The reality is that financial pressures may be intolerably hard following this settlement. So, what’s it to be... Darling’s, an ever-diminishing role for local authorities, or a progressive expansion into communities to deliver public value? n
