Lga first 606 dec16 web

No.606 December 2016 www.local.gov.uk

the magazine for local government

Interview:

“Early intervention programmes are effective when they are matched to local need” Carey Oppenheim, Chief Executive, Early Intervention Foundation

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The Autumn Statement The main announcements

Brexit UK LGAs call for EU devolution to town halls

Comment City regions need ‘doughnut’ mayors

LGA/ADPH Annual Public Health Conference and Exhibition Extending influence to promote health and wellbeing London, 9 March 2017 Keynote speakers: Nicola Blackwood MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health and Innovation Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director, Institute of Health Equity, UCL Lord Victor Adebowale, Chief Executive, Turning Point Dr Justin Varney, National Lead for Adult Health and Wellbeing, Public Health England Local authorities continue to make progress on improving health and wellbeing and tackling health inequalities since public health was transferred from the NHS in April 2013. Join us at our most popular health conference of the year where we explore and build on the challenging, innovative work undertaken by councils and public health teams with their partners and local communities.

To book your place visit www.local.gov.uk/events

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2020 Vision: LGA Annual Finance Conference 2017 5 January 2017, London Business rates retention reform, to be implemented by 2020, will mark a fundamental change in the way local government is financed. Following an initial consultation, which closed in September and, with another expected shortly, the proposals for reform are gathering pace.

Join us for the LGA’s Annual Local Government Finance Conference on 5 January 2017 to look at the key issues and hear from leading figures involved in policy development.

We’ll also consider the implications of both the provisional 2017/18 finance settlement and the 2017 business rates revaluation for councils.

To book your place visit: www.local.gov.uk/events 19.3 Finance conference First ad_02.indd 1

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www.local.gov.uk

Autumn issues

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he Autumn Statement is out, and this edition of first includes an initial look at the key announcements affecting councils. Expect more funding updates in future editions of the magazine.

Meanwhile, the Government has confirmed it will not go ahead with its compulsory Pay to Stay scheme for better-off tenants living in council housing (see p4).

And there have been significant developments on Brexit, with the four UK nations calling for further devolution to local communities across the UK after we leave the EU (see p13).

The LGA’s Independent Group and the County Councils Network recently held their annual conferences, and you can find out more about the issues discussed by their members on p14 and p21 respectively.

Our interview this month is with Carey Oppenheim, Chief Executive of the Early Intervention Foundation, who highlights the critical role councillors play in shifting council culture from late to early intervention.

Finally, thank you to everyone who took part in the LGA’s annual tweetathon, #OurDay, and made it the most successful so far. Your messages about the work councils do, day in, day out, to support residents and provide local services reached more than 20 million people.

For more information, see p15 and visit www.local.gov.uk/our-day.

Lord Porter is Chairman of the LGA

contents news

4 Pay to Stay

5 Autumn Statement

Commercial councils Christmas Carnival

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Editor Karen Thornton Design & print TU ink www.tuink.co.uk Advertising James Pembroke Publishing Write to first: Local Government Association Layden House, 76-86 Turnmill Street London EC1M 5LG Email first@local.gov.uk Tel editorial 020 7664 3294 Tel advertising 020 3859 7100 Photography Photofusion, Dreamstime and Ingimage unless otherwise stated Interview and cover Chris Sharp Circulation 18,300 (November 2016) first is published online at www.local.gov.uk/first at least two days before the magazine. To unsubscribe email first@oscar-research.co.uk The inclusion of an advert or insert in first does not imply endorsement by the LGA of any product or service. Contributors’ views are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the LGA.

12 features

8 Autumn Statement 10 Social care survey 11 Shared services 12 Homelessness 13 Four nations on Brexit

14 LGA Independent Group conference 15 #OurDay success December 2016

Fire review PrEP court ruling 6 Bus services Flooding

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interview

16 Carey Oppenheim, Chief Executive of the Early Intervention Foundation

“Councillors play a critical role in shifting the culture from late to early intervention”

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comment

21 County governance 22 LGA chairman and group leaders 24 City mayors

Rural economy 25 Caring for the carers 26 Cultural commissioning Disability employment gap 27 SEN transport

Five councils contract

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regulars

7 Letters and sound bites 29 E-learning for councillors 30 Parliament – the Bus Services Bill 31 Local by-elections

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news

‘Risks’ warning on commercial activities

Pay to Stay ‘will be voluntary’ The Government has confirmed that its Pay to Stay scheme – which aimed to make better-off council tenants pay higher rents closer to market rates – will be voluntary.

The LGA has been urging ministers to rethink the scheme, amid concerns about the administrative complexities and costs involved in identifying wealthier tenants and collecting the additional rent, as well as the anxiety likely to be caused to affected families.

LGA-commissioned research also suggested that the scheme was likely to generate only £75 million a year, before administrative costs, compared with government forecast returns of £365 million in 2017/18.

Lord Porter, LGA Chairman, said: “We are pleased that Housing Minister Gavin Barwell and Chancellor Philip Hammond have listened to and accepted our call for Pay to Stay to be voluntary for councils, which will be a huge relief to households across the country.

“We have been working hard with the Government to make sure it was aware of the difficult, lengthy and costly process in seeking to implement the policy – which was likely to cause anxiety for families and be hugely unpopular with tenants.

“Making Pay to Stay mandatory would have affected thousands of social housing tenants across the country, with the average affected households seeing their rents rise

by £1,065 a year. Councils would have needed to invest millions in new IT systems, hire new staff and write to over a million social housing tenants to try to understand household income and approve individual tenant bills “Pay to Stay risked becoming an expensive distraction from our effort to build homes.

A renaissance of council housebuilding is needed now more than ever if we are to stand any chance of solving our housing crisis.”

The scheme will now be voluntary for councils, as it is for housing associations.

But the Government has confirmed it will be ending the right of tenants to stay in their council house for life, with the introduction of compulsory fixed-term tenancies.

Christmas is coming…

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housands of families turned out to enjoy the biggest ever Llanelli Christmas Carnival, complete with parade and fireworks (pictured). Cllr Emlyn Dole, Leader of Carmarthenshire County Council, said: “We are proud to play our part in organising the carnival, and encouraging traders to open late and take advantage of the huge footfall that comes through. I’m very grateful to everyone who made such a special effort.”

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Ps have warned that the Government is ‘complacent’ about risks to council finances and council tax payers arising from local government increasing its commercial activities.

The LGA has responded that funding pressures are driving councils to find new ways of generating revenue to protect valued local services, and that their spending is democratically accountable and open to public scrutiny.

A recent report from the Commons’ Public Accounts Committee says councils are increasingly generating revenue income from capital investment in properties and businesses, such as developing houses and commercial units for rent or sale.

But it raises concerns about whether councils have the necessary skills and experience, and warns council taxpayers could end up footing the bill if commercial decisions go wrong.

However, Cllr Claire Kober, Chair of the LGA’s Resources Board, said: “All commercial activity involves risk and potential losses as well as the potential to make profits.

“Local authorities have to adhere to strict rules and assessments before making a decision to ensure it is affordable and provides value for money. The LGA is supporting councils to develop understanding of these risks and opportunities.

“More self-sufficiency for local government cannot be accompanied by central government reviews and monitoring. Councils are open, transparent and democratically accountable and their spending is already subject to public scrutiny.”

She added: “Councils experienced a 40 per cent reduction in core central government funding over the last Parliament and funding pressures will continue over the next few years. This means difficult decisions continue to have to be made about which services are scaled back or stopped altogether to plug funding gaps.

“Against this continued backdrop of financial austerity, councils are having to continuously look for new ways to generate revenue. Across the country, council officers and members are developing the skills and expertise to take a more commercial approach to investment decisions.” www.local.gov.uk

Care funding not tackled in Autumn Statement The failure of the Government’s Autumn Statement to tackle the adult social care funding crisis is “unacceptable”, the LGA has warned.

It estimates the gap in funding for care for the elderly and disabled will be at least £2.6 billion by the end of the decade, of which £1.3 billion is needed immediately to shore up the system.

Extra council tax-raising powers will not bring in enough money to alleviate the pressures and councils will not receive the vast majority of new funding in the Better Care Fund until the end of the decade.

Lord Porter, LGA Chairman, said: “Councils, the NHS, charities and care providers have been clear about the desperate need for the Chancellor to take action to tackle the funding crisis in social care. It is unacceptable that this has not been addressed in the Autumn Statement.

“The Government must take urgent action to properly fund social care if councils are to stand any chance of protecting the services which care for the elderly and vulnerable. Services supporting our elderly and vulnerable are at breaking point now.”

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, added: “This means social care remains in crisis, councils and the NHS continue to be pushed to the financial brink and face the prospect of more care providers leaving the publiclyfunded market or ceasing trading.

“Tragically, the human cost of this will be elderly and vulnerable people continuing to face an ever uncertain future where they might no longer receive the dignified care and support they deserve, such as help getting dressed or getting out and about, which is crucial to their independence and wellbeing.

“This is not only worse for our parents and grandparents but will also heap further pressure on the NHS. There cannot be a sustainable NHS without a sustainable adult social care system.”

For more on the Autumn Statement, please see p8-9 and p22-23. For more on adult social care, please see p10 and p25

Children take over

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ore than 400 school children were given an insight into how East Hampshire District Council delivers more than 100 services a day to 115,000 people, as part of National Takeover Day. Cllr Bill Mouland (pictured left), who met children from Liphook Junior School with fellow ward member Cllr Angela Glass (right), said: “They were a credit to their school, took a keen interest in their community and gave us a good grilling on improvements that could be made. They then held a very well organised and controlled debate about school uniform in which just about everyone took part.”

news in brief Fire review

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he LGA is confident of making quick progress on recommendations in the independent Thomas review of conditions of service for fire and rescue staff in England.

Meetings are planned with the Chief Fire Officers Association, and work is underway to increase the service’s diversity and support best practice on some of the cultural issues raised in the report. Cllr Jeremy Hilton, Chair of the LGA’s Fire Services Management Committee, said: “Much is already underway to address the issues identified in the report and local government shares the minister’s determination to drive forward fire reform.”

PrEP court ruling

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he Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision that NHS England has the power to commission the HIV prevention treatment PrEP. Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “We hope this decision will provide muchneeded clarity around the roles of councils and the NHS on prevention services. It also demonstrates that both parties have the joint responsibility of ensuring we can deliver an integrated sexual health system. It is time for NHS England to stop delaying and finally determine whether to commission this treatment.” Last month, more than 80 councils came together to pay for a home sampling service aimed at identifying undiagnosed individuals with HIV.

Broadband speeds

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he way broadband providers can advertise speeds is to be reviewed after the LGA called for “greater honesty and openness”.

The Advertising Standards Authority found that most customers did not understand firms’ broadband speed claims. It has asked the Committee of Advertising Practice to devise marketing rules to ensure firms give more accurate information to users. Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “Switching from ‘up to’ to average advertised speeds would reflect the reality of broadband service available to people across the country.

Upload speed should also be a key measure of performance, alongside download speed, and clearly advertised to consumers.”

December 2016

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Funding pressures hit bus services

‘Devolve flood defence funding to councils’

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ouncils continue to assist residents with clearing up, after Storm Angus and its aftermath caused flash flooding across large parts of the country late last month.

High winds and heavy rain caused havoc, with the main rail line to the South West washed away in several places; a ferry carrying nearly 150 people stranded at sea for 26 hours before docking at Fishguard, Pembrokeshire; cars stuck in snow on the Cumbria-Northumberland border; thousands of homes affected by power cuts in Tameside; and cars abandoned in floods in Rotherham.

Ahead of winter, councils have been encouraging residents and businesses to check if they are at risk of flooding, sign up to free flood warnings, and get prepared.

Council teams have been on hand to unblock gullies and culverts and help fire and rescue services clear flooded roads, and have been issuing advice and holding awareness campaigns about how to deal with flash floods.

The LGA is calling for new flood defence funding to be devolved to local areas, with councils working with communities and businesses to ensure money is directed towards projects that best reflect local needs.

It has also called for developers to introduce a raft of new measures to ensure new homes and businesses are better protected against floods. It wants the Government to bring in mandatory anti-flood requirements for new homes in building regulations. These include raised electrical sockets, fuse boxes, controls and wiring above floor level, ventilation brick covers, sealed floors, and raised damp-proof courses.

Cllr Martin Tett, LGA Environment Spokesman, said: “Flash floods can bring devastation to communities within a matter of minutes, causing enormous disruption to families and businesses. Councils up and down the country have been doing everything they can to prepare for heavy rainfall by launching awareness campaigns to highlight the dangers.”

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Councils have been forced to reduce bus services by more than 12 per cent in the last year alone – leaving thousands of people isolated, many of them in rural communities.

In the financial year up to March 2016, overall mileage for all council-supported bus services in rural areas and cities across England (excluding London) dropped from 165 to 144 million miles (12.3 per cent).

The picture over the past decade is equally bleak, recent government figures show. Council-supported bus services in rural areas have reduced by 40 per cent (from 178 to 107 million bus miles), and in urban areas by just over a quarter (from 50 to 37 million bus miles).

Even London is now beginning to see a decrease in mileage alongside the wellestablished downward trend across England.

Councils saw a 40 per cent reduction in their core funding in the previous Parliament to 2015, and are continuing to experience funding pressures. As these pressures start to impact, the cuts to bus services have begun to accelerate.

Local authorities are being forced to divert money from discretionary subsidised bus services – such as free peak travel, community transport services and reduced fares – to plug the funding gap in the concessionary fares scheme, which councils

have a statutory duty to provide. The scheme gives pensioners and disabled people in England free off-peak travel on all local bus services anywhere in England, but is subsidised by councils.

The LGA continues to call on the Government to fully fund the concessionary fares scheme, and also wants the £250 million Bus Service Operators Grant to be devolved to councils to help target support to vital services.

Cllr Martin Tett, LGA Transport Spokesman said: “Years of underfunding of the concessionary fares scheme has forced councils to spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to subsidise it. This is now impossible with councils having to make savings while struggling to protect vital services like adult social care, protecting children, filling potholes and collecting bins.

“Local authorities are working with residents to try and find innovative solutions such as organising car-sharing schemes, dial-a-ride or community transport initiatives but routes and services can no longer be protected.

“Unless the Government commits to fully funding concessionary fares, elderly and disabled people will be left stranded with a free bus pass in one hand but no local buses to travel on in the other.”

• See p30, the Bus Services Bill

New road honours local hero

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atford Borough Council has named a new road to Watford General Hospital after local hero Captain Thomas Sawyer, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2009, aged 26.

The signs for the road – which is significantly speeding up journeys to the hospital – were designed with his family and unveiled by his parents Martyn and Sue, wife Katy and sister Wendy (pictured left to right). Baroness Dorothy Thornhill, Mayor of Watford, said: “Thomas Sawyer Way is near to where Tom grew up and the football club he loved, and will make such a difference to people’s lives.”

www.local.gov.uk

letters Small business help

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n Saturday 3 December, North East Lincolnshire Council is encouraging residents to support the fourth Small Business Saturday (www.smallbusinesssaturdayuk. com) by offering free parking at most of its car parks. Nationally, more than 99 per cent of UK businesses are small (less than 50 employees), delivering jobs, growth and prosperity and employing more than 24.3 million people.

In North East Lincolnshire, micro and small businesses account for 96 per cent of businesses.

Our small businesses are an incredibly vital part of our economy, whether providing the supply chain elements for the national and multinational food, energy and chemical businesses that have chosen to base themselves here, or our fantastic independent shops and retail outlets across the borough. We’re proud to support our small businesses and it’s great that we’re able to highlight the work they do.

Cllr Peter Wheatley (Lab), Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, North East Lincolnshire Council

Private rented housing

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ottingham City Council has handled more than 4,500 complaints and requests for help over the last four years about housing conditions in Nottingham’s private rented sector – 933 just this year so far. Complaints include everything

sound bites Cllr Peter Winkler (Con, Rochdale) “What a night? Good to see @RochdaleCouncil reacting so quickly to help residents affected by last night’s weather.” www.twitter.com/CllrPeteWinkler from dangerous electrical wiring, cockroach infestations, smoke alarms not working and lack of windows, ventilation or safe escape.

Improving the quality and safety of privately rented accommodation in the city is a priority for the council and over the last few years three major new initiatives have been launched – a Rogue Landlord campaign, the Nottingham Standard landlord accreditation mark and a new additional licensing scheme for rented houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). In the last four years, 1,866 properties have been improved, thanks to interventions from our Safer Housing Team.

Nottingham Community Protection, a partnership between the council and Nottinghamshire Police, has served 999 statutory notices on landlords over the last four years.

Teams at the council have also helped tenants to get back hundreds of pounds in rent payments after a landlord is successfully prosecuted.

The council is absolutely committed to raising the standard of privately rented accommodation and tackling any landlords who let housing in poor conditions. We have seen some shocking cases where we have had to take action against landlords prepared to allow tenants to live in properties that are frankly squalid and unsafe.

We recognise that there are many good landlords in the city and we are proud to continue working with them.

Cllr Jane Urquhart (Lab), Portfolio Holder for Planning and Housing, Nottingham City Council

What do you think? Please submit letters for publication by emailing first@local.gov.uk.

Letters may be edited and published online

December 2016

Cllr Tim Pollard (Con, Croydon) “Sombre occasion at @croydonminster as we commemorated both those fallen in combat and victims of #croydontram #RemembranceSunday.” www.twitter.com/CllrTimPollard Cllr Warren Morgan (Lab, Brighton & Hove) “Our plans for 1000 affordable homes – available at 60% of market rates and protected from right to buy – have moved a step forward.” www.twitter.com/warrenmorgan Cllr Rodney Bates (Lab, Surrey Heath) “11pm but Cllr role is all hours & have just finished reading applications for #SurreyHeath Appointments Committee on Friday #OurDay.” www.twitter.com/RodneyBates1 Cllr Tumi Hawkins (Lib Dem, South Cambridgeshire) “Lots of reading in preparation for @SouthCambs Full Council meeting on Thursday to discuss proposed Devolution deal #OurDay @LGALocalism.” www.twitter.com/CouncillorTumi

Do you have a blog or a Twitter account we should be following?

Let us know. Email first@local.gov.uk

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autumn statement

features The Autumn Statement The Government’s annual economic update was notable for not mentioning some key issues likely to have the biggest impact on local government

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he Chancellor’s silence on adult social care, the Education Services Grant and EU funding was highlighted by the LGA in our response to the Autumn Statement.

Councils, the NHS, charities and care providers have been clear about the need for the Government to take action to tackle the funding crisis in adult social care.

Urgent action is needed to properly fund social care if councils are to stand any chance of protecting the services which care for the elderly and vulnerable. Extra council tax-raising powers will not bring in enough money to alleviate the pressure on social care and councils will not receive the vast majority of new funding in the Better Care Fund until the end of the decade.

The LGA is also disappointed that the Government is pressing ahead with its planned £600 million cut to the Education Services Grant, despite deciding not to go ahead with the Education for All Bill (see p30) which would have removed councils’ school improvement duties. Councils will now have duties with no funding to pay for them.

Following the result of the referendum to leave the EU, the LGA called for a guarantee around the future of all of the £5.3 billion in EU regeneration funding promised to local areas by 2020 to create jobs, build infrastructure and boost local growth across the country.

We are now seeking to clarify with the Government what measures it will be taking to ensure the maximum numbers of funding bids are agreed and signed with minimal

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Housing •

• bureaucracy, by the time we exit the EU. Government must consider the needs of our local communities as post-exit financial decisions are made.

Meanwhile, government department spending control totals remain unchanged, and further information on spending priorities is expected in separate departmental announcements. It is clear that additional funding is needed to address the aforementioned funding pressures and the LGA wants publication of the local government finance settlement as soon as possible.

Elsewhere in the Autumn Statement, it is good news that ministers have accepted our call for measures to boost affordable house building, which must be supported by adequate infrastructure, and which would help councils make a start on tackling some of the nation’s roads repair backlog and improving broadband.

Another positive development was the pre-Autumn Statement announcement that the planned Pay to Stay policy is to become voluntary. But we now need urgent clarification regarding the Government’s intention regarding receipts from sales of high value council homes.

The next few years will be extremely challenging for councils: we estimate they face an overall £5.8 billion funding gap by 2020. Many councils are faced with difficult decisions about which services are scaled back or stopped altogether. The Government must allow local government to use the extra business rates income it will keep by 2020 to plug this growing funding gap.

£2.3 billion housing infrastructure fund to help provide 100,000 new homes in high-demand areas. £1.4 billion to deliver 40,000 extra affordable homes.

Lord Porter, LGA Chairman, said: “Only an increase in all types of housing – including those for affordable or social rent – will increase affordability and make it easier for working families to save for a deposit to buy their first home.”

Industrial strategy •

£23 billion fund for innovation and infrastructure over the next five years.

Cllr Martin Tett, LGA Economy Spokesman, said: “Government needs to recognise that councils know their local economies and are best placed to tackle national challenges, whether it is securing the infrastructure essential to economic growth or equipping people with the skills they need to succeed.”

www.local.gov.uk

Broadband • •

A £400 million investment in boosting broadband speeds. £740 million to develop ultra-fast 5G mobile networks, which will be provided to some local authorities.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “While the announcement of new investment for digital infrastructure is good news, government must not lose sight of the needs of rural communities already struggling to receive a basic broadband service.”

Devolution •

Local infrastructure •

Consultations on lending local authorities up to £1 billion at a new local infrastructure rate.

An LGA spokesman said: “Since November 2013, the Government has offered lending to infrastructure projects nominated by local enterprise partnerships. An extension of this to local authorities for local infrastructure more generally is needed.”

Local growth •

Transport •

£1.1 billion, to be spent on improving Britain’s local roads and public transport.

Cllr Martin Tett, LGA Transport Spokesman said: “We hope the Government directs this money towards local roads to help local people. However, the backlog of repairs on existing roads currently stands at £12 billion and it would take 14 years to fix the backlog of potholes.”

December 2016

£1.8 billion to local enterprise partnerships across England through a third round of growth deals.

An LGA spokesman said: “Outside of devolved areas there is very limited or no local influence in well over half of these funding streams. This makes it difficult to join up interventions and achieve economic and social regeneration.”

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Government remains committed to devolving powers to support local areas.

It will continue to work towards a second devolution deal with West Midlands and will begin talks on future transport funding with Greater Manchester.

An LGA spokesman said: “We are pleased the Government remains committed to devolution but are disappointed not to see further devolution deal announcements.”

Employment support and adult skills •

Budgets for the Work and Health Programme (WHP) will be transferred to London and Greater Manchester.

An LGA spokesman said: “This is a positive development. We are disappointed, though, that the Government has not sought to extend devolution of the WHP to all areas across England.”

This is an edited version of the LGA’s on-the-day briefing on the Autumn Statement.

To read the full version, please visit www.local.gov.uk/briefings-and-responses

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Public support for more care funding Cllr Izzi Seccombe is Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board

Ahead of the Autumn Statement, the LGA published new polling supporting its call for sustainable funding for social care

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t last month’s National Children and Adult Services (NCAS) Conference in Manchester, the LGA unveiled the results of new polling showing that nearly two-thirds of people believe a greater share of the total health budget should be spent on adult social care.

Just 11 per cent of the £129 billion health and care budget is spent by councils on adult social care, with the remainder on health services.

In our poll of 1,785 people, carried out

by Populus Data Solutions, 62 per cent of respondents think adult social care services should receive a much higher proportion of health and care funding.

Sixty per cent of those polled also thought adult social care already received a higher proportion of the total budget than the current 11 per cent.

The polling results form part of a new LGA publication, ‘Adult social care: 2016 state of the nation report’, also launched at NCAS. This is a collection of essays from senior sector leaders and experts which sets out the scale of underfunding in adult social care, and the consequences this is having on people, providers, care workers and the NHS. What our polling clearly shows is that the public does not appreciate the sheer scale of adult social care.

For instance, just 16 per cent of respondents correctly identified that adult social care accounts for around 35 per cent of an average council’s budget. More than half thought the proportion was just 15 per cent.

This shows that while adult social care

“We need to raise awareness among the public of what social care is, why it matters and why it must be valued” 10 | first feature

desperately needs more funding, there is a need to raise awareness among the public of what social care is, why it matters and why it must be valued.

Therefore, while it is right – and essential – that the sector continues to press the Government for funding, there is a longerterm game to be played to make adult social care a public priority.

Several contributors to our state of the nation report identified a similar need and it is clear that we must all unite to do this.

It is vital that in doing so, we ask the fundamental questions around the care we provide for older and disabled people, and the roles and responsibilities of the state, family, and individual.

What really came across at conference was how, ahead of the Autumn Statement, the sector was united on the need for a more sustainable funding settlement for social care in a way it hadn’t been previously. This was especially clear at a session on ‘A social movement on social care’, with a general

consensus around the need to get the public to better understand what adult social care is.

One speaker said that there was a problem with language, as for most people, social care “didn’t mean much”, in contrast to hospitals and schools, for example.

There was a real sense of needing to be bigger and bolder in what we say, and how we say it, with another speaker saying that a good social movement should be “anarchic and disruptive”.

Everyone was in agreement that we need a social movement to really engage and educate the public on what social care is and why it matters in its own right. They can be the driving force in making social care the national priority it needs to be.

You can download a copy of ‘Adult social care: 2016 state of the nation report’ from www.local.gov.uk/publications

www.local.gov.uk

‘Communicate, communicate, communicate’ is the top tip for councillors on how to make shared services work across local authority boundaries

Shared services, shared challenges

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reating resilience, sustainability and an emphasis on efficiency and improvement in councils, especially those in a shared services environment, creates challenges and opportunities for members as well as officers.

In the South West, eight leaders – all from councils that share chief executives, services and staff – meet regularly to discuss progress and share knowledge and learning.

Top of their list of the main challenges facing councillors as their councils look to ‘share more’ is the need to ‘communicate, communicate and communicate’ with all elected members during periods of change.

Cllr Philip Sanders, Leader of West Devon Borough Council, which has had a shared arrangement with South Hams District Council since 2007, says: “You must never take your membership for granted and keeping members briefed and on board must always be attended to, irrespective of where you are in that change programme.”

This entails regular briefings with all

members, getting them to buy into and design the future of West Devon and South Hams and the next stage of their transformation: a commissioning core, digital by default, an operating model which other councils can buy into, and a strong focus on community and neighbourhood working.

South Hams Leader Cllr John Tucker emphasises the latter point, noting: “As we change our practices, the importance of councillors working with their communities has never been as great and we must keep them alongside us and up to speed.”

Cllr Ian Bruce, Former Leader of Weymouth & Portland, which shares a three-way arrangement with North Dorset and West Dorset District Councils, stresses how important it was to have a collective determination to promote efficiencies in governance arrangements.

“We have an effective scheme of delegation and ward members play an active role in their communities,” he says.

“This allows our committee structure, and especially our management committee,

“We have much in common and we work together on a shared agenda for change” December 2016

to concentrate on the big issues facing us such as our growth plans for Western Dorset.”

Cllr John Williams, Leader of Taunton Deane Borough Council, which works with West Somerset, adds: “We always look at what each partner does best in terms of policies and practices and absorbing that across the partnership. We find this builds trust and confidence across both sets of members.”

As a result, the two councils have rationalised their policy framework and both officers and members have a clear and consistent understanding of what is expected – significantly reducing duplication.

Community leadership There is also an ever increasing emphasis on the community leadership role for elected members. Former North Dorset Leader Cllr Deborah Croney says: “They are the glue which keeps our locality working on track.

Our members lead that work on our behalf and that increases our capacity and embeds them still further into their communities.”

In terms of efficiencies and improved community engagement, she adds: “It is a good message for staff and for our communities to see councillors really stepping up to the plate.”

Cllr Ray Nottage, Leader of Christchurch Borough Council, which is in a partnership with East Dorset District Council, notes how scaling up across councils and thinking more sub-regionally across existing council boundaries is changing the role of members.

“This is not just about influencing within your ward, or across Christchurch but the East of Dorset and beyond,” he says.

And West Somerset Leader Cllr Anthony Trollope-Bellew, emphasises how, across its partnership with Taunton Deane, councillors have an increasing role to play in ensuring the coherence of policy across council areas. “Some things will need to be different because of the unique nature of our communities but we have much in common, and we work together on a shared agenda for change and transformation across both councils,” he says.

See www.local.gov.uk/sharedservices-map for the LGA’s map of councils that are sharing services.

See also p27

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Helping the homeless

A wider housing strategy is needed to deliver on the Homelessness Reduction Bill’s aims

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ver since the draft Homelessness Reduction Bill was published in Parliament in October, the LGA has worked hard to influence proposals within it and highlight concerns that without a wider housing strategy the Bill would not achieve its aim of reducing homelessness.

The Private Member’s Bill – being led

by Conservative backbencher Bob Blackman MP – proposes to extend the duties on local authorities to prevent and relieve homelessness.

Councils want to end homelessness and are already doing everything they can within existing resources to prevent and tackle it. However, the LGA has warned there is no silver bullet, and councils alone cannot tackle rising homelessness.

The causes of homelessness are many and varied, ranging from financial to social, and councils were concerned the original draft Bill was undeliverable and would not achieve its outcomes.

LGA engagement with government officials and Bob Blackman ahead of the final Bill being published has led to a series of positive changes. This has helped shape it into a more realistic piece of legislation that is more workable for councils to meet the needs of vulnerable people.

These included the removal of the 56-day accommodation duty for those with nowhere to stay, as there is an insufficient supply of

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suitable accommodation to discharge this proposed duty.

The requirement to recognise an expired section 21 notice (issued by landlords to evict tenants) as proof of homelessness was replaced with a more flexible requirement in line with existing statutory guidance.

The LGA has been clear from the outset that all new duties proposed in the Bill will

It is clear that legislative change alone will not resolve homelessness.

Homelessness is spreading across all areas of the country. The number of households local authorities have been forced to place in temporary accommodation has risen by 48 per cent since 2010, while rough sleeping has doubled.

This crisis is spreading nationwide.

Since 2010, the use of temporary

“Councils need powers and funding to address the widening gap between income and rents, and to resume their historic role as a major builder of new affordable homes” also need to be fully funded. As a result of this lobbying, the Government committed to fully funding the new duties under the New Burdens Doctrine when the Bill received its Second Reading in late October.

The sector continues to press the case for sufficient funding from the Government to successfully deliver responsibilities.

It wants the Government to commit to undertaking a comprehensive review of the Bill’s impact after a year of implementation to ensure that it is achieving its objectives and that councils are being properly funded.

accommodation has gone up 44 per cent in London and 58 per cent across the rest of England.

Councils also need powers and funding to address the widening gap between incomes and rents, resume their historic role as a major builder of new affordable homes and join up all local services – such as health, justice and skills.

This is the only way to deliver on the national ambition to address the causes of homelessness and prevent it happening in the first place. www.local.gov.uk

A new constitutional settlement?

Brexit should mean more decisions are taken closer to where people live, according to the UK’s local government leaders

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eaders of local government in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have united to call for further devolution to local communities across the UK after Brexit.

The local government associations of the four countries of the UK met in Edinburgh last month and agreed three key principles to underpin any new constitutional settlement. The first is to establish a principle of subsidiarity, which would ensure that power is transferred to the level of government closest to the people.

Second, it was agreed that the legal position of local government needs to be secured and enhanced. This would mean a defined set of powers and responsibilities which set out what local government should support at the local level so that public services can be designed around local need.

Finally, local government needs greater fiscal autonomy. The current centralised system of public finance is inefficient and stifles economic growth. Greater responsibility for funding with less legislative constraints at a local level would improve public services and ensure that local residents and business see how their money is used, freeing up local authorities to plan for the future.

In calling for constitutional talks with government, the four associations agreed that any repatriated powers from Brussels must also move beyond Westminster, Holyrood, Stormont and Cardiff Bay and down to local communities via local government.

“Councils have a deep understanding of the frustrations, aspirations and possibilities within our communities,” said LGA Chairman Lord Porter; Cllr Phil Bale, Spokesperson for European Affairs for the Welsh LGA; Cllr David O’Neill, President of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; and Alderman Arnold Hatch, Vice-President of the Northern Ireland LGA, in a joint statement.

“With our country increasingly defined in ‘local’ rather than ‘national’ terms, a new settlement which ignores the reawakening December 2016

of local identity in the UK in favour of a postBrexit national identity will be unsustainable.

“Local government across the UK wants to ensure any new constitutional settlement is guided by the principle that decisions should be taken at the level closest to the citizen.

“Taking decisions closer to where people live stands to bring significant economic and social benefits and is the most effective way to create jobs, build homes and strengthen communities. This will strengthen local democracy, empower communities and be a force for good.”

Help shape Brexit The consequences of exiting the EU and access to the single market are likely to impact on places across the country differently. Working with the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Exiting the European Union and the Cabinet Office, we have identified some key areas where it would be helpful to feed further analysis from local authorities about the placebased impact of exiting the EU into government discussions.

We are keen to gather analysis that quantifies the impact of exiting the EU either on local economies or local government services. Analysis based on more anecdotal evidence, such as discussions with businesses and other local partners, would also be useful.

You can find more details and a list of questions we are posing to councils at www.local.gov.uk/brexit. To get in touch with the LGA’s EU Exit team, please email brexit@local.gov.uk

DUNCAN NICOL ROBERTSON

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Looking forward to the year ahead Housing, health and care services, Brexit and funding were among the issues discussed by members of the LGA’s Independent Group at its recent annual conference

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embers from across England and Wales discussed and sought solutions to the critical issues facing local government at the LGA Independent Group’s annual conference.

The agenda was packed as our members were well-informed and contributed to our work on current developing issues including housing and planning, Brexit, health and social care, business rates, education and the resettlement of children from Calais.

LGA Chairman Lord Porter and Chief Executive Mark Lloyd outlined the work of the LGA and the significant challenges ahead. The certainty of our four-year budget settlements is useful, but for some councils it means a recognition that they cannot make ends meet in the future. Some councils have found themselves unable to sign acceptance.

As part of bringing NHS health and council-commissioned care together and within a future budget, sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) have been drawn up. However, in many areas, these have not yet been shared with local government and where they are shared only late in the day, councils have been unable to sign them off, making next year’s budget very difficult to agree.

Chancellor Philip Hammond and Communities Secretary Sajid Javid have announced their drive to increase home ownership and house building. Housing and planning are very important to our members, who created a lively, wide-ranging

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debate with experts from Homeless Link, the National Housing Federation and the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Proposals included scrapping ‘right to buy’, or at least the government charge on it; allowing councils to charge tax on development land to reduce land banking; and allowing only sustainable housing with matching services and facilities.

We had equally dynamic round-table discussions on the next steps following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, and what that means in terms of the constitution, regional funding and procurement. This feeds directly into our work at the LGA, where we have called on the Government to pass some of the finance and powers from the EU to local government.

Manned displays at lunch included the work of the Independent Group, the LGA’s Be a Councillor programme (see www.beacouncillor.co.uk) and Local Partnerships (www.localpartnerships.org.uk).

The Centre for Mental Health also asked

“The certainty of fouryear settlements is useful, but for some councils it means a recognition that they cannot make ends meet in the future”

councillors to be mental health champions in each council.

The afternoon workshops were ably led by our board members and members of the LGA’s policy team, enabling members to contribute to the current work of the LGA’s boards.

Every year, a small cohort of students from De Montfort University attend our conference. This year they were put through their paces by two of the LGA’s graduate officers who ran a simulation exercise on how best to respond to a local housing crisis, including the use of modular housing.

We ended what was a busy, useful and inspiring day with a question time, chaired

by Professor Colin Copus, Director of the Local Governance Research Unit at De Montfort University. Members quizzed several of the Independent Group’s lead members on their work and shared ideas for future opportunities for our group, as we go from strength to strength.

As the conference came to an end for another year, the determination, commitment, expertise and passion of our councillors, who do such a tremendous job for their residents shone through.

As many of us prepare for elections in 2017, let’s focus on getting the very best for local government – it deserves no less.

The LGA Independent Group is the only one to be consistently increasing and that is a great commendation of our good work.

We look forward to welcoming elected members back next year to our national group conference on 24 November 2017, and hope to see you at one of our monthly or regional events in the meantime.

For more information about the LGA’s Independent Group, please visit www.lgaindependent.local.gov.uk

www.local.gov.uk

#OurDay UPDATE The LGA’s fifth annual tweetathon was the most successful so far, with almost 37,000 tweets showcasing the work of councils in providing a myriad of vital services to local residents

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housands of people joined in #OurDay on 15 November, to showcase the great work that is happening every day in communities stretching right across the country.

This year, #OurDay was bigger than ever before, with more than 9,000 people taking to social media to raise awareness of the services provided by local government and reaching over 20 million people.

The tweeting started just after midnight with councils showing road repairs and CCTV teams monitoring local streets. At 7am the day gained pace with a Thunderclap supported by 375 people and organisations.

With a reach of more than 2.6 million people, #OurDay started to trend on Twitter, staying the top tweeting subject

until later that evening.

Throughout the day, activity continued to soar with almost 37,000 tweets sent from councillors, officers and volunteers about services to the community ranging from refuse teams and home carers to dog wardens and library staff. More than double the number of tweets were sent compared to last year, with each playing a vital part in raising awareness of the services provided by local government.

This year was also the first time we created an #OurDay Twibbon allowing councils, organisations and individuals to easily show their backing for the day by adding a specially designed #OurDay graphic to their own Twitter pages.

Cllr William Nunn, Chairman of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board, said: “It is fantastic that so many people got involved in this year’s #OurDay to make it the biggest yet. I am immensely proud of the work I see going on in councils every day, delivering hundreds of services even in the face of challenging times.

“It is absolutely right that people working in public services up and down the country should take the time to reflect on the essential work we do and remind the public that councils are much more than just collecting your bins or sweeping your streets.

“I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who took part this year. There are too many tweets to share them all but we wanted to share a selection of just a few that caught our eye (see images on this page).”

You can read the best tweets from the day on our Storify at www.local.gov.uk/our-day

December 2016

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interview Early intervention Understanding local needs is key to intervening early to reduce demand for ‘crisis’ services such as children’s social care, says Carey Oppenheim, Chief Executive of the Early Intervention Foundation

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ocal government is bearing the largest share of the almost £17 billion a year cost of frontline ‘crisis’ services for children and their families in England and Wales.

So says the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF), a charity and one of the Government’s What Works Centres. It evaluates the evidence for, and provides advice on, early intervention programmes aimed at improving the life chances of children and young people.

It recently published its second annual report on the costs of ‘late’ intervention, which found that around £6.4 billion of the £16.6 billion bill in England and Wales falls to local authorities, followed by the NHS (£3.7 billion) and the Department for Work and Pensions (£2.7 billion).

The bill is based on the costs of, among other things, children’s social care, school absence and exclusions, domestic violence, the youth justice system, youth unemployment and child admissions to hospital. The average per person cost of late intervention by council area is £298, but ranges from £164 to £531, with higher levels of late intervention spending more likely to be found in areas with higher levels of deprivations.

“This is only the fiscal cost. The report is not talking about the wider social and

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economic costs and the long-term costs, which may last through a child’s life into their adulthood and then into a future generation,” says EIF Chief Executive Carey Oppenheim.

“We can’t get rid of all those costs – good foster care homes are absolutely the right place to be for some children – but with better and effective early intervention we really should be able to make a dent in that cost and use some of that money to invest upstream in some of the things we know can make a difference for children and families.

“The report makes it very clear that we need to work together, both right at the centre of Whitehall down to local authorities, www.local.gov.uk

CHRIS SHARP/LGA

“Councillors and leaders in local authorities play a critical role in shifting the culture from late to early intervention”

local health services, schools and so on, if we’re going to crack the problems. There would be benefits for each of those agencies – including for councils, if they can catch people early enough to reduce some of the pressures on children’s social care.”

Ms Oppenheim believes councillors have a critical role to play in shifting the culture from late to early intervention within their councils. She cites strong local leadership in Leeds, for example, where the council’s aim is to make the city the best place for children and young people to live in – “it sends a really clear message through the system”.

Leeds and other areas are also working December 2016

on workforce reform – getting people working in different services to work much more jointly, with shared priorities. “Those changes are not changes that can be made instantaneously, but they seem to be very important in terms of driving the system to work differently,” says Ms Oppenheim.

She hopes that the EIF’s work will help councillors and other local leaders “make the business case for why we need to do things differently, why firefighting in the end is not the solution”, while acknowledging the very difficult financial situation facing local government.

“Local councillors are really in a tough

position, because you’ve got increasing need, decreasing budget, big pressures from Ofsted, and no escaping statutory responsibilities,” she says.

“But I think what’s interesting is that many local areas are trying to do things differently, despite all of that. Of course you want to be in a situation where you have more money. But with less money, you can make better decisions. What we’ve found is there are effective programmes and approaches at every level of expenditure.

Even a smaller amount of money can be used more effectively, and that’s a really important message.”

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“Early intervention programmes are effective when they are matched to local need” Political buy-in on early intervention is also crucial, she says, citing the origins of the EIF itself. Barely three years old, its roots date back to 2008, when the then former Conservative Leader Iain Duncan Smith MP and Labour’s Graham Allen MP co-wrote ‘Early Intervention: good parents, great kids, better citizens’. Mr Allen went on to chair a 2010 independent commission into early intervention which reported to IDS, by then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, from which the EIF emerged.

For Ms Oppenheim, that “partnership between two politicians who were on completely different sides of the political divide” was one of the things she found particularly striking when she joined the organisation.

“Both felt really strongly about this issue, and they had been talking about it a long time before the reports were done and the organisation was set up. I think that political buy-in is incredibly important, and sustaining that no matter what the political complexion of your local authority is really important,” she says.

Councillors also need to play a leading role in “careful commissioning” of early intervention, says Ms Oppenheim. The EIF has, for example, rated 75 intervention programmes aimed at improving parentchild interactions in the early years, rating them based on the strength of the evidence that they have improved outcomes.

But while evidence is important – “it gives you a guide as to whether something has worked in the past, and whether it’s worked in many areas or not” – it is only one part of the commissioning process.

“Other issues that are very important are, of course, the cost, but also your implementation,” says Ms Oppenheim.

“Have you got the right workforce to deliver that particular intervention or not?

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“The commissioning decision is also about understanding your local need. We wouldn’t say there’s a silver bullet: you can’t say ‘this programme is going to work in every area’.

It is what works, for whom, when and where.

And that’s where the local factors come in: programmes are effective when they are matched to local need.”

Financial pressures Recent reports from the EIF have focused on the quality of parent-child relationships, particularly in the very early years. Ms Oppenheim cites interesting early years work going on in several council areas. In Essex, GPs are prescribing relationship advice, while in Croydon, debt advisors are referring some clients to relationship support services. In Luton, an unsuccessful Big Lottery Fund bid nonetheless helped bring key partners together from across the public and private sectors, and has helped embed a different way of working, with a focus on relationship support to parents during pregnancy and after birth.

But Ms Oppenheim also acknowledges that financial pressures are forcing some councils to pull out of early intervention projects, and highlights closures of children’s centres.

“Most areas are rethinking how they provide their children’s centres, with hubs and family hubs. I’m not saying that nothing should change. But holding onto that investment in early intervention feels to me very important,” she says.

The EIF isn’t just about early years interventions, though. Other projects are looking at social and emotional skills for primary and secondary school pupils, and preventing gangs and youth violence.

“Transitions are very important, so birth, transitioning into early years, into primary and secondary school, are really important points at which things change and shift.

They are opportunities to make a difference,” says Ms Oppenheim.

“Academic skills are very important, we know they make a difference to the jobs you can get, to qualifications and so on.

But social and emotional skills are also very important, not just to your mental health and wellbeing but also to your ability to get jobs.

In the labour market that we are now in, the so-called soft skills – resilience, withstanding set-backs, making decisions – are really critical in terms of being able to get jobs, hold jobs down, work with other people. And yet there’s traditionally been less emphasis on those within the school system.”

She is looking forward to a new project on gangs and youth violence, due to start in the spring with the London boroughs of Wandsworth and Lambeth. Evidence suggests that you can spot signals of risk as early as seven years old, she says, but councils will need to work with other universal services to identify vulnerable youngsters.

Ms Oppenheim concludes: “The councils that are trying to think about whole-system change are really working closely with universal services. That’s key when there is less money to commission on specific interventions: working closely with schools, health services, GPs, police, to spot risks early and respond more effectively, is really critical.

“Ultimately what we are trying to do is empower parents and children and provide the right support for those parents and children to be able to have the best chance in life.”

For more information about the Early Intervention Foundation and to access its research and evidence on specific programmes, please visit www.eif.org.uk.

If you want to share your council’s work on early intervention, please email info@eif.org.uk. For more information about the Government’s What Works programme, please visit www.gov.uk/guidance/what-works-network

www.local.gov.uk

CHRIS SHARP/LGA

“Councillors are in a tough position.

You’ve got increasing need, decreasing budget, big pressures from Ofsted, and no escaping statutory responsibilities.

But many local areas are trying to do things differently, despite all of that”

December 2016

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THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT EVENT OF THE YEAR

comment Building on county governance Cllr Philip Atkins is Vice-Chairman of the County Councils Network and Leader of Staffordshire County Council

The past year in local government has seen increasing debate on devolution, business rate retention, education, and structural reform, not least Brexit and a new government. So it’s fair to say there was always going to be plenty to discuss at the County Councils Network’s (CCN) annual conference last month.

Opening the conference, CCN Chairman Cllr Paul Carter emphasised the crucial nature of county governance, and the importance of empowered counties in dealing with the sizeable challenges ahead.

Building on CCN’s Your County Matters campaign, he emphasised the importance of county authorities and our role in delivering the everyday and life-critical services residents rely on, alongside enabling growth and driving whole-place public service reform – all at incredible value for money.

Of course, recent independent research for CCN on potential structural reform was one topic of debate. Following the comments on reform by the Secretary of State during our conference, we hope this research will be an important contribution to the debate on any future local government reform. A clear conclusion from the report is the need to retain and build on county governance and their strategic size and scale – whether retained and reformed two-tier or single tier status.

Indeed, a key theme of this year’s conference was the importance of size and scale of strategic county authorities in not only delivering quality services now, but as the best platform for delivering growth, devolution, and wide-ranging December 2016

public service reform, which can help the Government tackle the big issues ahead.

Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, recognised this, when he praised counties’ “world-class services” in his speech to delegates.

We will look to work with government on a more flexible approach to ambitious devolution deals, to unblock the log-jam currently caused by the requirement for a directly-elected mayor in any settlement.

Aside from county governance and devolution, it is clear that whilst there are challenges ahead there are also some real opportunities.

“The sustainability of full business rate retention is dependent on fairer baseline funding for councils” We had an interesting presentation from Leicestershire County Council on fair funding and need, and CCN is arguing for the acceleration of the needs-based review.

This will hopefully create a system where all communities are funded on need, addressing the historic underfunding of county authorities.

The sustainability of full business rate retention is dependent on fairer baseline funding for councils.

We will also continue to work with partners such as the LGA to highlight that withdrawing Education Services Grant for councils next year

will have a hugely detrimental impact on community school standards.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling spoke of the importance of county highways and infrastructure to the country’s economy, and we must ensure the Government’s promised industrial strategy reaches all four corners of England and boosts productivity.

On housing, it is clear that the new Communities Secretary’s priority is building more homes. CCN has consistently argued for planning and infrastructure to be placed on a strategic footing in our areas to assist the Government in delivering its agenda, and we are engaging closely to shape legislation in the upcoming Housing White Paper.

And during conference there were whispers that some immediate funding could be found for social care. It comes at a crucial time, as CCN launched a new report looking into delivering this life-critical service at the conference. It contained the stark figure from a survey of adult social care directors that just one in ten believe their budgets are now manageable.

Counties can be a key ally for this Government, in delivering more homes, boosting economic growth, and leading on health and social care integration. But one thing is clear: retaining and building on the strong county governance already in place will be key to fulfilling this sizeable agenda.

For more information about the County Councils Network and its recent publications, please visit www.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk

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group leaders’ comments Social care and the Autumn Statement

“The Government has failed to listen to urgent calls about the critical funding crisis in social care”

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abour in local government continues to force the Government into a series of climb-downs. First it was a U-turn on forced academisation, and last month on the ill-conceived Pay to Stay housing policy.

But in both cases, further clarity is urgently needed. Despite the academisation U-turn, the Government is pressing ahead with the planned £600 million cut to the Education Services Grant. And on housing, Pay to Stay has been scrapped but it is imperative we have clarification regarding plans for receipts from high value asset sales.

The pressure to listen to voices in local government continued in this week’s Autumn Statement with housing, local growth,

local infrastructure and devolution taking centre stage.

However, there was one glaring and unequivocal omission – social care. The Government has failed to listen to urgent calls from councils, the NHS, charities, parliamentarians, the Care Quality Commission and care providers about the critical funding crisis in social care.

In fact, Chancellor Philip Hammond went one step further and dismissed all talk of a crisis. This is absurd, given that we know that the funding gap is set to increase to £2.6 billion by 2019/20.

If it isn’t addressed now, the Government is robbing the elderly, vulnerable and disabled

Cllr Nick Forbes is Leader of the LGA’s Labour Group

of their dignity and their quality of life. They will increase the burden on family carers and impact on their health and ability to stay in work.

Labour in local government believes that everyone deserves the care they need, especially when it comes to meeting basic needs such as washing, dressing or getting out of bed. No-one should have to worry about how they will care for their loved ones, or be cared for themselves when they get old.

The social care crisis is real and the Government cannot ignore it any longer if we are to truly have a society that works for and cares for all. Labour in local government will continue to fight for this funding and put pressure on government until it listens.

chairman’s comment

A mixed bag for local government

C Lord Porter is Chairman of the LGA

“Investing in new affordable homes to rent and buy is positive for our communities”

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hancellor Philip Hammond has delivered his first, and last, Autumn Statement.

It was a mixed bag for local government.

The fact that there was no mention of adult social care, let alone any new funding, was unacceptable and we said so afterwards.

Since the Autumn Statement, we have continued to work with ministers and officials to press the case for government to recognise councils’ concerns.

While the extra council tax powers and extra money in the improved Better Care Fund announced last year are helpful, they are not enough. They won’t plug the funding gap of at least £2.6 billion facing social care by 2020.

This crisis is real and it is happening right now.

There were positive signs that the Government is listening to us on housing and the implementation of Housing and Planning Act reforms. Ahead of the Autumn Statement, the Government announced Pay to Stay would be voluntary for councils.

We worked hard with the Department for Communities and Local Government on the

unintended consequences and costs of the policy. It is great that they listened.

The Chancellor then announced councils will not be required to make any payments from the forced sale of council homes in 2017/18. Instead, it will fund pilot areas across the country. We will continue to work with government on ensuring the policy is not funded by the sale of high value council housing.

The £1.4 billion cash injection into affordable housing plus the additional £2.3 billion for those homes in areas of high demand is good news. Investing in the building of new affordable homes to rent and buy and in infrastructure that is linked to housing growth is positive for our communities and signals a welcome shift in direction.

We have been clear that the Government’s imminent Housing White Paper needs to give councils the powers and funding that will allow them to resume their historic role as a major builder of affordable homes.

www.local.gov.uk

Cllr David Hodge is Leader of the LGA’s Conservative Group

Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson CBE is Leader of the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group

Cllr Bob Dutton OBE is Treasurer of the LGA’s Independent Group

Council finances ‘remain precarious’

Communities need housing and social care

Voices ignored on care funding crisis

“Elderly people deserve a caring conclusion to their lives and government should adequately fund this”

“One of our key priorities is for housing to be supported by adequate, local infrastructure”

“The Government has slammed the door on older and vulnerable people, who now face not getting the support they need”

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he Autumn Statement saw a number of welcome announcements, including increased investment to improve broadband, significant funding to provide the necessary infrastructure for 100,000 new homes and to build an extra 40,000 affordable homes – in which local government has a key role – and ambitious transport infrastructure and congestion reduction schemes.

However, it is extremely disappointing and alarming that the Government has not found any extra money to address the demand crisis in adult social care. This problem long predates 2010 but is one that has become increasingly serious in recent years.

As the Leader of Surrey County Council, I am acutely aware of the seriousness of this issue and I, the LGA Conservative Group and the LGA corporately will continue to lobby for this to be properly financed to meet the ever increasing demand.

Elderly people deserve a caring conclusion to their lives and government should adequately fund this. By providing better care services locally we can reduce admissions to hospitals and thus pressures on the NHS. The overall financial position of councils remains precarious and the localisation of business rates by 2020 therefore becomes increasingly important. We need to ensure that this historic reform delivers a more self-sufficient local government sector which is able to boost local economic growth whilst also plugging the funding gaps that councils are facing.

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here were few surprises in the Autumn Statement, which focused on the ‘housing challenge’, preparing for Brexit, innovation, and raising the tax threshold and minimum wage.

We were told that the Chancellor is to increase borrowing by a further £120 billion over five years, taking our national debt to 90 per cent of GDP or just under two trillion pounds. The debt is to increase spend on infrastructure to enable build of 100,000 new dwellings in places of high demand.

One of our key priorities is for housing to be supported by adequate, local infrastructure and services. Although infrastructure featured heavily in Mr Hammond’s speech, it’s unclear what this means in practice.

It is positive to hear support for a mixed housing economy and protection for tenants, but sustainable and affordable housing options for sale and rent are essential. Challenge to current land supply deals is another critical issue that is yet to be resolved and we will need to be cautious around freeing up land to build on, which could erode much-needed green spaces.

However, investment in housing to support thriving communities continues to be undermined by the omission of any significant government support for social care. Social care is the fabric of our society and without adequate support for people’s care, as well as health, strong communities are irreversibly weakened.

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n my last column for first, I mentioned how social care is at a tipping point and how my colleague Norman Lamb MP was leading a call for a cross-party settlement on the long-term funding of health and adult social care.

Sadly the complete lack of any extra funding whatsoever for our care services in the Autumn Statement meant that once again, the Government has ignored all voices – care providers, charities, the NHS as well as local government – and failed to take action on this issue.

But worse than ignoring the health and care sector, it has slammed the door on older and vulnerable people who now face not getting the dignified support they need, such as help getting dressed or getting out and about.

At the moment we are facing a funding gap of at least £2.7 billion. And we all know the knock-on effects faced by our NHS if millions of people are denied the care and support they need to survive.

The campaign to leave the EU promised there would be £350 million more a week to spend on our NHS. But the lack of any extra funding for health and care services will raise fears there is no ‘Brexit bonus’ and in fact the purse strings will be tightening as a result of Brexit.

For more information about the LGA’s political groups, see www.local.gov.uk

December 2016

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City regions need ‘doughnut’ mayors Cllr Richard Farnell (Lab) is Leader of Rochdale Borough Council

The new mayor of Greater Manchester – due to be elected next May – must be a ‘doughnut mayor’ who fights for the outer ring of local authorities and not just the city centre.

In fact, all the city mayors mooted for other areas should be challenged to focus on their regions and not just city centres.

We cannot have a regional figurehead who works only for Manchester city centre.

We need someone who understands the untapped potential of the outer boroughs like Rochdale and is willing to help realise that.

For too long and in too many ways, the focus has been on Manchester and the south of the region. Now is the time to look at the areas where growth can be achieved for the benefit of the whole of the conurbation.

I am excited by what is happening in Rochdale and the plans that we have put forward for the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework and the creation of a Northern Gateway.

This is nationally significant in the scale of the new jobs and homes to be created.

But it has to be backed up by the new mayor with ideas and investment to attract new businesses, improve education and skills

“We need someone who understands the untapped potential of the outer boroughs and is willing to help realise that” and to create better paid and skilled jobs.

The Northern Gateway will be on a scale and demonstrate the strengths of its excellent transport links to show we are creating a new sustainable Rochdale which will provide the quality jobs, housing, infrastructure, transport, and opportunities that will not only attract people to the borough but will also make life better for those already here.

Yes, the city centre and airport are important economic drivers for Greater Manchester. But for too long it’s been the only story. I don’t want areas like Rochdale, Bury, Oldham and Tameside to be left behind and lose out to other parts of Greater Manchester – we must turn Greater Manchester on its head.

Supporting rural economic growth Cllr Alan Cockburn (Con) is the Lead Member for Warwickshire’s Rural Growth Network

The usual perception of the ‘rural economy’ is one of food, farming and tourism.

While these are important elements, it hugely misrepresents the strength and diversity of these areas, and the entrepreneurialism that exists within them. Nearly 40 per cent of all advanced engineering businesses in Warwickshire are in our rural areas, as are 36 per cent of our IT and digital media companies.

Our rural areas also contain huge economic opportunity, with a much higher new business start-up rate, on average, than our urban areas.

Yet traditional business support programmes historically focused their delivery in urban areas, because it is often cheaper and easier to engage

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“We invested in a number of innovation programmes specifically tailored to the needs and issues of rural areas” with potential clients and generate the outcomes demanded by funding bodies.

Warwickshire was one of just five areas to pilot new and innovative ways to support the growth of our rural economy, through the Government’s Rural Growth Network initiative.

Our focus was on supporting the growth of our small and micro-businesses. We provided a growth-orientated business start-up programme and provided support to existing small businesses committed to growth.

We also invested in a number of innovation programmes specifically tailored to the needs and issues of rural areas. These included support for businesses around accessing finance for growth and, in partnership with LaSalle Investment Management, the development of a rural innovation centre, providing much needed incubation space for small, growth-orientated businesses.

The programme was an undoubted success, and I am proud to say led to Warwickshire being highly commended in the recent Enterprising Britain Awards as one of the most enterprising places in Britain.

The legacy of this project will continue well into the future. Over the last three years the Rural Growth Network has supported 738 small businesses, helped 185 people to start a business and created or safeguarded more than 550 jobs in rural Warwickshire. And we have thoroughly evaluated the programme to inform the design of new business support programmes in Coventry and Warwickshire. www.local.gov.uk

Caring for the carers Heléna Herklots is Chief Executive of Carers UK

As the ‘tipping point’ fast approaches when the number of older people with care needs is predicted to surpass the numbers of working age people available to provide unpaid care, the role of the state in supporting unpaid carers is rapidly rising up the agenda.

The number of unpaid carers has risen by 11 per cent in the past 10 years, with a 25 per cent increase in those providing the most care (50 hours and more per week).

This a consequence of both the growing health and care needs of an ageing society and the spending pressures on councils that have led to a 25 per cent reduction in the numbers of older people receiving social care services in the last five years.

Changing family structures, for example having children later in life, and geographical mobility, are changing how and how much care we can provide. For most of us, a caring role comes in our 40s or 50s when we’re still working, perhaps at some distance from our parents; possibly still bringing up children or even already caring for a disabled son or daughter. Combined with other consequences of longer life expectancy, such as the need to work longer, this is leading to a collision of responsibilities that demands a new approach.

We need different solutions for the way we live today and in the future to enable us to care for our family and friends. To explore and promote such solutions, the Government is preparing to publish a new crossdepartmental strategy on carers.

Assessments delayed The Care Act 2014 has provided an excellent framework with which to build support from statutory and community services around those with care needs and carers. In Wales, the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, in force for just nine months, brings comparable improvements for carers in Wales.

However, the implementation of the Care Act in the midst of financial pressure has led to some long delays in assessments and outcomes and too few carers yet seeing the benefit of their statutory rights.

So how can councils transform the support they provide for carers in their area and what’s the role of the Government’s Carers Strategy?

December 2016

“Without more funding for social care, many of the difficulties faced by the care sector will continue to grow and the impact will be felt by families” Undoubtedly, without more funding for social care, many of the difficulties faced by the care sector will continue to grow and the impact will be felt by families. Recognising social care as the vital infrastructure it is would build a wider spread of quality services and a sustainable care market.

We need to make the most of technology, focusing on using more digital and technology opportunities to support people better. Carers UK has worked with carers and councils to develop its Digital Resource for Carers, which provides a simple online self-assessment to build resilience, help coordinate care and

link to local support services.

The NHS needs to have a system to identify and support carers better – the imbalance between the rights base in social care and the NHS, where carers have most contact, hampers attempts at integration and well-coordinated services. The stakes for the NHS couldn’t be higher as failure to properly support carers and their families is leading to greater use of emergency health services.

Employers, too, have a role in supporting the three million people who combine caring with work – a stronger rights base is needed alongside more support for employers.

Finally, society needs to have a better understanding of care and caring, what that means for carers and how to plan for the future. With Government, councils have a key role in championing support for carers and developing new approaches to reach people early with the information and advice they need to make decisions so that they can meet the care challenge.

For more information, please visit www.carersuk.org

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Jessica Harris is Cultural Commissioning Programme Manager at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations

Health, social care and children’s services are under huge pressure.

The causes are three-fold: budget cuts; demographic change, including an ageing population; and changing lifestyles. According to Public Health England, illnesses increasingly stem from how we live our lives, and our most deprived communities suffer the biggest burden.

Equally, there are three potential responses.

We can restrict services – councils already grapple with this, often making tough choices about non-statutory services such as green spaces and libraries, despite these being highly valued by the public.

We can ‘do things differently’ – and many councils are sharing services or investing in commercial enterprises. Or we can manage

demand by investing in community assets to help people manage their health and improve their wellbeing.

At the Cultural Commissioning Programme, we have been working with two pioneers doing just that. Kent County Council has been partnering with arts and cultural organisations to work with people with mental health issues. Outcomes for individuals include gaining employment, maintaining housing, better physical health and stronger community connections.

Gloucestershire Clincal Commissioning Group, partnered by three district councils, identified 10 clinical outcomes for improvement, inviting local arts organisations to apply for funds to deliver these. They ranged from promoting confidence and reducing isolation among overweight people, to raising awareness among teenagers of the importance of taking prescribed medication for diabetes.

Kent and Gloucestershire represent a shift towards social models of care and prevention, with a focus on place-based support to limit the need for expensive interventions in the future.

Halving the disability employment gap Steve Sherry is Chief Executive of Royal British Legion Industries

The Government’s aim of halving the disability employment gap is achievable.

However, it will require a strong collaborative effort from national and local government and an investment that matches the ambition.

It needs a financial commitment from government – perhaps a percentage of GDP – to fund a range of new programmes, such as fixed-term incentives for employers to take on disabled staff and new pilots of successful

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programmes, like our LifeWorks programme.

A recent evaluation found that more than four in five of veterans who went through the LifeWorks programme moved into employment, training and volunteering within a year. These significant results shouldn’t be limited to veterans; we are asking government if it can fund a wider pilot, especially for those with disabilities and health conditions.

Our social enterprise, Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company (BBMC), employs more than 100 people, over 70 per cent of whom are either ex-service or disabled, and is the fastest growing manufacturer of road signs in the country. Customers include Amey, Balfour Beatty and Highways England, as well as local councils such as Birmingham City, Kent County and Bath and North East Somerset Councils.

GREEN CANDLE DANCE CO

The health benefits of arts programmes

Older Men Moving Project The effectiveness of partnering with arts and cultural organisations to focus holistically on people and places is borne out by numerous examples, and studies show that such interventions are cost effective.

Artlift sessions in Gloucestershire, delivering art sessions in GPs’ surgeries, cost £33.48 per patient while savings from reduced GP, outpatient and hospital appointments are calculated at £471 per patient.

Coupled with improved quality of life, who wouldn’t want that?

For more information, please visit www.ncvo.org.uk/CCProg

Engaging the support of local government and collaborating with local businesses has proven crucial to BBMC’s success. The Public Services (Social Value Act) 2012 has also been beneficial, but more councils need to be aware of and act upon this.

Kent County Council now includes social value as an element of its tenders, which led to its highways’ contractor Amey making a major purchase from BBMC, providing a strong endorsement for all we have achieved and pioneering the way to benefit other social enterprises. Furthermore, the employment provided to people with disabilities through this contract (and others) saves the taxpayer approximately £1 million a year.

More savings could be made in the future if local and national government take a more radical approach and seriously invest in buying from social enterprises and educating employers about the benefit of helping those with disabilities into work.

See www.rbli.co.uk for more information

www.local.gov.uk

Saving on SEN school transport Cllr Adrian Gulvin (Con) is Portfolio Holder for Resources at Medway Council

No doubt like many other councils, Medway has been trying to contain the rising cost of providing school transport for pupils with special educational needs (SEN). Historically, the number of children needing transport has stayed roughly the same but the costs have been increasing.

We have come up with an innovative ‘one operator, one school site’ approach. This has helped transport operators to plan routes better, reduce mileage and journey times, and provide the council with an annual price per school site – which is fixed, so long as the agreed number of children needing transport doesn’t go up or down by more than 25 per cent over the school year.

Overall, we have saved £1.1 million a year. But an added bonus has been that schools and parents know exactly who to contact if there are any issues, whereas before it could have been any number of operators. And children who previously were transported alone now have more social contact as they can travel with their school friends, which is benefiting their development and learning.

The gathering of data was crucial to making the ‘one operator, one school site’ approach work. Previously, transport had

“Children who were previously transported alone can now travel with their school friends”

Sharing services five ways Cllr Narinder Bains (Con) is Havant Borough Council’s Cabinet Lead for Marketing and Business Development and Five Councils

Partnerships between neighbouring councils are becoming increasingly commonplace as local authorities seek to make up funding shortfalls. My council, Havant, has enjoyed a fruitful relationship with our neighbour East Hampshire since we agreed to share a chief executive in 2009.

However, the strain on local government finance is not restricted to one area. With that common challenge in mind, it makes sense that some services can be shared by

councils with no geographical links.

And that’s what we have done in a new ‘Five Councils’ partnership. Havant council services, including those already shared with East Hampshire, will be shared with Hart, Mendip, South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils.

The new contracts, with Capita and VINCI and its partners Arcadis and Indigo, will save around £40 million across the partnership and handle a large range of services including human resources, IT, finance, revenues and benefits, facilities and some front-facing services, such as parking.

“What really helped this process was that we had shared political and financial strategies” December 2016

been provided on a route-by-route basis with no overall view as to what would work efficiently for the council, the transport operator, the schools and families.

There was confusion as to who held what information regarding transport and pulling this together was an immense challenge. And we had to put a lot of work into identifying and supporting potential suppliers to make sure we had good quality bids for the work. Support included a supplier event and workshops on tendering tips.

But we believe our ground-breaking approach shows that spending controls can be created, and it can work for all parties involved. The real advance is that this mechanism can be replicated around the country without restriction to help others control their SEN transport costs.

If you want to find out more, please email carl.rogers@medway.gov.uk

This innovative public-private collaboration will deliver services to customers in the way that suits them. We will continue to guide customers towards our hugely improved digital services but services will also be tailored to meet the needs of our more vulnerable residents.

All the councils involved have experience of working in partnership with other public service organisations to deliver the best services. What really helped this process was that we had shared political and financial strategies, and that the councils’ political and managerial leadership got behind the project. Ultimately, each council involved already shared a similar ethos, vision and ambition.

At the same time, the nuts and bolts were tapped and tightened by the service managers, who really know the job. That way we could guarantee continuity and the quality of service as the new system launched.

Even though we are separated by 85 miles and several county boundaries, we are unified in our commitment to finding new ways to deliver the services our residents expect and deserve without asking them to pay more.

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Leading innovation The future of culture, tourism and sport LGA Annual Culture, Tourism and Sport Conference Wednesday 22–Thursday 23 February 2017, Bristol Sustaining valued frontline services during tough times is the critical challenge facing local culture, heritage, tourism and sport services. At this national conference we will look beyond local government to how devolution, changes to local government funding and wider public service reform, could open up new delivery and investment models. We will also take stock of what a new government and negotiations to leave the EU mean locally.

To book your place visit: www.local.gov.uk/events 9.8 LGA first CTS_02.indd 1

09/08/2016 14:08

Know your patch

Have you ever wondered what proportion of your residents are employed or how many local schoolchildren are obese?

How does that compare to other places?

LG Inform gives you and your council easy access to up-to-date published data about your local area and the performance of your council and fire and rescue service.

Whether you’re interested in scrutiny, a particular service area, or simply need an overview, it can help you review and compare performance with other authorities and assess whether your council is meeting your residents’ needs.

To view LG Inform and register visit: www.lginform.local.gov.uk L16-71 LGInform_ad_first_v02.indd 1

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17/03/2016 11:48

www.local.gov.uk

councillor E-learning for councillors Inspiring local communities and creating a better future for the people and places we represent takes ambitious leadership: effective political leadership has always been at the heart of healthy democracy.

The LGA’s range of councillor development opportunities is designed to support and develop local politicians and ensure they are confident and capable, well-equipped and wellsupported to make a difference, can deliver and are trusted.

For new councillors in particular, the Community Leadership Programme provides a number of resources to support politicians in their role as community leaders, facilitators and advocates, including a new range of e-learning modules.

These are designed to allow you to complete either whole modules

Councillor induction Designed to complement the LGA’s Councillors’ Guide (see www.local.gov.uk/ councillors-guide), this module provides an introduction to the diverse and complex role of being a local councillor. It looks at the legal and structural framework of councils, provides helpful tips and pointers for the newly elected, and is designed to sit alongside council-specific training to provide a national perspective on the roles of councillors.

Effective ward councillor Considering the key skills required to be effective in your role, the module invites you to understand the issues and concerns specific to your ward or division and equips you with the skills, confidence and ability to take action and make a difference to your community (see first 593).

December 2016

which might be useful for demonstrating competence or personal development in your role as a councillor, or to ‘dip in’ to refresh your skills and reflect on your subject knowledge.

Currently there are nine modules ranging from induction to influencing skills (see below), with a tenth, on planning, due out later this year. The modules are free to access and use, via http://lms. learningnexus.co.uk/LGA. To sign up, simply email elearning@local.gov.uk to receive a user name and password.

For more information about all the LGA’s political leadership resources, please visit our website at www.local. gov.uk/councillor-development.

Community engagement and leadership

facilitator for resolution. This module looks at the possible causes of conflict and tension and provides some tools and tactics for acting effectively to resolve them, where possible.

Handling complaints for service improvement Written in partnership with the Local Government Ombudsman, this module looks at the type of complaints you might receive as a councillor, considers which are appropriate to be dealt with and which should not! It provides councillors with the necessary signposting to direct complaints to the appropriate body for resolution, be that the council or elsewhere.

Licensing and regulation

With the increasing emphasis on local democracy, this module considers the important strategic role of a councillor as a community leader and advocate for their local area.

Council’s regulatory services are responsible for enforcement of licensing and regulation legislation. This module takes a look at why licensing and regulation is necessary, what regulatory services are, their role and function, and the role of the councillor.

Influencing skills

Police and crime panels

The ability to influence others is a key skill for every councillor. This module examines what good influencing skills look like, what your personal style of influencing is, and how to change the way you are perceived by others through good influencing skills (see first 605).

The module provides you with the information you need as a councillor to sit on a police and crime panel and looks at the links between panels, councils and local councillors.

Facilitation and conflict resolution As a councillor you will play an important role in resolving community conflict, dealing with conflicting priorities and acting as a

Scrutiny for councillors This module is aimed at councillors who sit on overview and scrutiny committees, are involved in scrutiny work or wish to learn more about the overview and scrutiny function of a council (see also first 597).

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Education for All Bill

parliament Reforming bus services Bus services are a lifeline for many communities in rural areas and provide a vital alternative transport choice in urban areas.

Launching the Bus Services Bill in the Lords in May, the Government said it wanted to improve services for passengers and enable a thriving and innovative commercial bus sector, which in turn could help unlock economic growth and reduce air pollution.

The Bill proposed strengthening arrangements for partnership working in the sector through ‘enhanced partnerships’; introduced new London-style franchising powers for combined authority mayors; and included requirements for improving the information available to bus passengers.

While the LGA is supportive of much of the Bill, it has been arguing that all local authorities that wish to improve bus services should have

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franchising powers – not just mayoral combined authorities. To be fully effective, the option to franchise also needs to go hand-in-hand with the devolution of bus subsidies, a commitment to fully fund concessionary fares and effective traffic management powers.

The LGA has since secured two significant amendments to the Bill during its recent passage through the Lords. First, we supported an amendment which sought to make franchising powers automatically available to all authorities that wanted them, which was accepted during the Bill’s Report Stage debate. The LGA explained that all councils should have automatic rights to franchising, not just mayoral combined authorities.

The Government has said it no longer intends to move ahead with its education reform plans, as part of an Education for All Bill. These had included plans to remove the council role in school improvement and force schools in ‘unviable’ local authority areas to become academies.

Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the Children and Young People Board, said: “This announcement is the right decision and shows the Government has been listening to our concerns, which have been echoed by MPs, teachers and parents. Councils have been clear from the outset that the proposals within the Bill focused too heavily on structures, when our shared ambition is on improving education for all children.”

The LGA also supported an amendment which would ensure councils retain the power to form new municipal bus companies. We argued that some councils, such as Reading, had already formed municipal bus services which have provided consistently high standards for passenger journeys and better value for money.

When briefing Parliamentarians, the LGA emphasised the importance of adequate and sustainable funding for local bus services, and particularly the need for government funding of the concessionary fares scheme.

The scheme provides free bus passes for disabled and older adults, but is subsidised by local councils.

Cllr Martin Tett, LGA Transport Spokesperson, said: “While we welcome the Bill for simplifying the franchising process and introducing new opportunities for innovative partnerships, for example between councils and bus operators, it will not by itself overcome the major challenges facing most councils in their efforts to protect local bus provision. Councils are doing everything they can to support bus users and are having to dig deep to subsidise transport costs while protecting vital services like caring for the elderly, filling potholes and collecting bins.

“Government should fully fund the concessionary fares scheme to protect the routes which act as a lifeline for vulnerable and non-driving residents to go shopping, pick up medication, attend doctor appointments or socialise with friends.”

The Bill had its Third Reading late last month and now moves to the Commons.

The Government is expected to reverse the amendments we supported, but this will provide another opportunity to ensure local government voices are heard during the Bill’s legislative progress. www.local.gov.uk

elections The third party in English politics?

local by-elections Braintree, Witham North LAB GAIN FROM CON 3.4% over Con

Local by-elections, much like parliamentary ones, are near random events. Deaths and resignations (even the odd disqualification) among councillors are regular occurrences. So the pattern of which seats in what local authorities and with what type of political competition fall vacant cannot be predicted.

The Liberal Democrats, for example, notched up a run of eight weeks where they made at least one gain (including one in Scotland). Some of these victories represented only a modest advance; others, like their win in the East Riding of Yorkshire in October, were more spectacular. The party had elected one of the three councillors in the St Mary’s ward in both 2003 and 2007, but this time a near 30 per cent increase in share of the vote compared with General Election day 2015 saw them home comfortably.

In the three weeks since then, though, opportunities have been scarce and gains non-existent, and suddenly the ‘Lib Dem surge’ is something not quite so worth talking about.

Yet the party still has reason to be quietly pleased with its showing this autumn as it once again lays claim to being the third party in English politics.

In 75 local by-elections since the beginning of September, the Liberal Democrats have contested 62 and registered 10 gains against zero losses. In those contests their mean share of the vote has been 21.6 per cent: a 7.9 point average rise on the previous time the party fought the seat.

By contrast UKIP, which won more local votes though never more seats than the Liberal Democrats in 2013, 2014 and 2015, trailed in their wake. They contested 53 byDecember 2016

Turnout 18.3%

Cardiff, Grangetown PLAID CYMRU GAIN FROM LAB Professors Colin Rallings (right) and Michael Thrasher are Directors of Plymouth University’s Elections Centre

elections, made one gain and suffered two losses, and their mean share of 13.1 per cent was 5.9 points down on their previous performance.

As first went to press, forthcoming battles look more promising though. The Abbey ward in Bath had a Lib Dem presence until 2015, as did Sovereign ward in Eastbourne until 2011. On the other hand, Turn Hill in South Somerset eluded the party even in its pomp in that part of the country.

A victory in at least one of those will

4.1% over Lab

Turnout 21.3%

Conwy, Abergele Pensarn IND GAIN FROM LAB 4.5% over Ind

Turnout 25.5%

East Riding Of Yorkshire, St. Marys LIB DEM GAIN FROM CON 14.7% over Con

Turnout 29.2%

Greenwich, Eltham North CON GAIN FROM LAB 1.2% over Lab

Turnout 31.3%

Kettering, Rothwell CON GAIN FROM LAB

“The Lib Dems have reason to be quietly pleased with their showing this autumn” give the party momentum and positive publicity in advance of the Richmond Park parliamentary contest on 1 December.

Richmond Park was held by the Liberal Democrats from its creation in 1997 through to 2010 and is the kind of seat in which a by-election would normally be seen as heaven sent.

However, the circumstances of the contest and the 20 per cent swing needed for victory mean that the odds of Tim Farron’s party (even boosted by the absence of a Green candidate) adding national success to its local fightback currently remain slim.

14% over Lab

Turnout 22.8%

Kings Lynn & West Norfolk, Heacham IND GAIN FROM CON 5.5% over Con

Turnout 26.2%

Medway, Strood South CON GAIN FROM UKIP 10.8% over Lab

Turnout 16.7%

Neath & Port Talbot, Blaengwrach PLAID CYMRU GAIN FROM LAB 17.5% over Lab

Turnout 32.6%

Only by-elections where a seat changed hands are listed above. For the full list of recent results and a spreadsheet with detailed data on each election, please visit www.local.gov.uk/first

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councillor Xxxx xxxx xxxxx

xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxx

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Vital to councillors, directors, senior officers, directors of public health, policy makers and service managers as well as organisations with responsibilities for children and adults in the statutory, voluntary and private sectors, the conference will include a mix of keynote and ministerial addresses as well as plenary sessions by expert representatives from the adult, children and education sectors.

There will also be opportunities to participate in a wide range of workshops and networking sessions.

In addition, delegates will be able to visit the exhibition and speak with suppliers and providers of relevant services. #ncasc17 Book your place at www.local.gov.uk/events

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