LGA first magazine August 2017

No.614 August 2017 www.local.gov.uk

the magazine for local government

LGA annual conference

“Councils can no longer be expected to run our vital local services on a shoestring” Lord Porter, LGA Chairman

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Leading places through crisis ‘Get there and get there fast’

Mental wellbeing The role of council services

Intervening in councils Learning the lessons

Conference review

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t was xxxx a pleasure to meet so many xxxxxx of you at the Lord Porter LGA’s annual isconference Chairman of Birmingham in the LGA in July.

For those of you who were unable to attend, this month’s first is packed with stories from that event. You can find out about our call for the financial sustainability of councils to be the top priority of government (p9), and for mobile phone fines to be used locally to boost digital connectivity (p10).

Three of the six recently elected combined authority mayors addressed delegates, on Brexit, industrial strategy and the future of local government (p19).

The latter session also included a challenging presentation on designing innovation (p28).

We launched our costed and practical plan for localising and improving employment and skills provision for the benefit of local people and businesses (p20), while mental health was another key conference theme (p16).

In addition, colleagues from across the sector spoke forcefully and movingly of the challenges they faced and continue to face following the recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester (p15).

I hope you have a restful and peaceful break over the summer; before we know it, we will be meeting again at the party conferences in the autumn.

Lord Porter is Chairman of the LGA Editor Karen Thornton Design & print CPL www.cpl.co.uk Advertising john.wheaton@cpl.co.uk 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 01223 378 042 Photography Getty Images and iStock.com unless otherwise stated Circulation 18,300 (July 2017) 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.

August 2017

contents news

4 School funding Parents’ mental health

Nursery provision 5 Homeless children

Women in local government

Insurance mutual 6 Health and care integration

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FGM funding Care services ‘good’ 7 Grenfell Tower 8 12 million caught in skills gap

New LGA leaders

Rental logjam 9 Financial sustainability Education questions Local Government Challenge winner 10 Mobile fines

‘End austerity’

Local roads funding

comment 25 Shisha smoking 26 LGA chairman and

group leaders 28 Designing innovation

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25 30 12 16

features

12 Public services for

the future 14 Community cohesion 15 Terrorist attacks 16 Mental health 18 Intervening in councils 19 Combined authority mayors 20 Local one-stop shops for skills 22 Enterprising councils 23 Shared services

regulars

11 Letters and

sound bites 29 Parliament – debating the Queen’s Speech 30 Councillor – residents with complex issues 31 Local by-elections

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Mental health and new parents

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news School funding concerns The LGA is calling for full details of how Department for Education (DfE) savings will be made, following the announcement last month of £1.3 billion additional funding for schools.

The extra funding in school budgets will ensure that no school loses out as a result of the transition to the new National Funding Formula for schools, a key LGA priority.

But councils want an urgent reassurance that it is not coming at the expense of other education provision, including DfE budgets that fund council responsibilities for education and children’s services.

Education Secretary Justine Greening told Parliament that an additional £1.3 billion in extra funding had been found within DfE budgets for schools funding, made up of £416 million in 2018/19 and £884 million in 2019/20.

The department’s statement said £420 million of the funding will come from savings in the main DfE schools capital budget. The majority of funding will come from healthy pupils funding due to be received by schools. A further £280 million will come from the free schools capital budget, meaning at least £600 million still needs to be found from elsewhere within

the Department’s wider budget. The LGA will be seeking to ensure that these other savings are not taken from DfE funding for already over-stretched councils.

The Secretary of State also said that 30 of the 140 free schools that were announced in the last Budget would be delivered ‘through the local authority route’.

At this stage it is unclear what this means in practice – whether councils will be given additional funding to deliver new school places in existing schools, or whether councils will be asked to commission new free schools.

Ensuring that no school lost out in the transition to a new National Funding Formula and the extension of the transition to the new formula from one to two years reflects LGA lobbying. The Government has accepted our case for a continuation of a ‘soft’ formula that will continue to give councils a degree of flexibility when agreeing budgets with their schools forums.

There has also been some movement on the proposal to reduce the flexibility that schools and councils have to fund high needs provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities during the transition to the new formula.

‘Inadequate’ childcare funding

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urseries hoping to offer 30 ‘free’ hours a week to three and four-year-olds of working parents will receive an average of only 40p more per hour in local authority funding, according to research by the National Day Nurseries Association. It says the rise is too low, and will be more than absorbed by rising business costs – potentially leaving parents struggling to find places, as nurseries may not take part in the Government scheme to expand free childcare. Cllr Roy Perry, Vice-Chairman of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “From September, councils will be working closely with providers to deliver the Government’s commitment to an additional 15 hours of free childcare for working parents, bringing the total to 30 hours. This represents a great opportunity to provide support for parents as well as early education for children to help them get ready to start school. However, councils remain concerned that the proposed increase in funding will not be enough to secure enough high-quality provision for everyone who wants it.”

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he LGA is calling for new parents to be given advice and information about the importance of their mental health and wellbeing before they are discharged from hospital or the care of a midwife.

Information could include midwives providing mums and dads with leaflets outlining symptoms of depression and anxiety to look out for, as well as where to go if any of these arise. It could also include tips on how to stay mentally well.

A new LGA report, ‘Being mindful of mental health’, (see p16), sets out the vision of what a mentally healthy place looks like, and highlights the need for better support for new and expectant parents.

The report says there is a need to move away from focusing on mental health as an illness, and instead to help everyone stay mentally well by providing community support and helping people continue with their lives.

Expectant parents should be told about the importance of their mental health alongside advice on vitamin supplements and healthy eating. They should also be given opportunities to discuss any concerns they have, the report says.

A recent survey revealed that only 7 per cent of pregnant women and new mums with mental health problems in the past five years were referred to specialist care, while 12 per cent of women’s partners experienced a mental health problem during or after the pregnancy and were offered little support.

The LGA says the Government should introduce measures to support the mental health of expectant and new parents in its Mental Health Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “No new mother or father should suffer in silence. For example, they need to know that it’s perfectly okay to admit to feeling depressed, and that there are people they can turn to for help.” www.local.gov.uk

Homeless children up by a third The number of homeless children councils are having to house in temporary accommodation has increased by more than a third in the last three years – equivalent to an extra secondary school’s worth of children every month, the LGA has warned.

It said latest figures show councils are currently providing temporary housing for 120,540 children with their families, a net increase of 32,650 (37 per cent) since the second quarter of 2014, or an average of 906 extra children every month. There are 946 pupils in an average secondary school.

Placements in temporary accommodation can present serious challenges for families – from parents’ employment and health to children’s ability to focus on school studies and form friendships.

The net cost of providing temporary accommodation has tripled in the last three years, as the extra demand places increasing pressure on local government, which faces a total £5.8 billion gap in funding by 2020.

A new LGA report – ‘Housing our homeless households’ – sets out the lengths that councils

news in brief Housing advisers

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are going to to tackle homelessness in their area. Examples include innovative modular housing, dynamic purchasing systems and private rented sector offers.

Cllr Martin Tett, the LGA’s Housing Spokesman, said: “Councils are working hard to tackle homelessness, with some truly innovative work around the country – and we now need the Government to support this local effort by allowing councils to invest in building genuinely affordable homes, and taking steps to adapt welfare reforms to ensure housing remains affordable for lowincome families.

“While the Government’s indication that it will explore ways to enable councils to build more homes is encouraging, new homes can’t appear overnight, and the demand is urgent.

“When councils are having to house the equivalent of an extra secondary school’s worth of pupils every month, and the net cost for councils of funding for temporary accommodation has tripled in the last three years, it’s clear the current situation is unsustainable for councils, and disruptive for families.”

Women in local government

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exism and discrimination is widespread in local government and often goes unchallenged, a new report by the Fawcett Society claims.

According to the women’s rights charity, one in three local councillors are female, while women account for just 17 per cent of top council jobs.

Local government in England and Wales is “stuck in the past” and more needs to be done to ensure the role of women in public office is put on an equal footing, says the report. Its recommendations included providing female councillors with statutory maternity leave, funding for childcare and allowing councillors to attend and vote remotely.

Cllr Marianne Overton, Vice-Chair of the LGA, said: “The report rightly identifies that progress must be made at a faster pace to ensure a greater representation of women in our local authorities.

“It is important that local government August 2017

reflects the communities it represents and the LGA is leading the Be A Councillor campaign, which includes a focus on encouraging women and under-represented groups to engage with and enter politics.”

Cllr Overton added: “Local government must be at the forefront of driving change, but it will be important to get the balance right between changing culture and imposing structures. Change will also require all political parties, no matter the colour of their rosette, to engage fully and support a wide range of aspiring councillors.

“Among other things, the LGA is also supporting the Women’s Local Government Society’s project to identify 100 pioneers in women’s suffrage, who went on to use the vote to bring tangible benefits to their communities (see first 613). The project celebrates the 2018 centenary of women getting the vote and aims to inspire a new generation of women councillors and civic activists.”

he LGA has launched a new scheme to help councils tackle local housing challenges. Its Housing Advisers Programme, which funds the provision of an independent expert, is available to local authorities undertaking a specific project that delivers and plans for new homes, reduces homelessness, or helps councils generate savings or revenues. Cllr Martin Tett, LGA Housing Spokesman, said: “There’s no substitute for central government giving local authorities the tools they need to invest in the homes – of all type and tenure – which their communities desperately need. However, the Housing Advisers Programme will be an essential aid to councils wanting some expertise to help them innovate and improve.” See www.local.gov.uk/topics/housing-andplanning/housing-advisers-programme

Mutual enterprise

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ouncils are being asked to confirm their interest in setting up a local government mutual to help reduce the amount they spend on insurance – currently £650 million a year. The LGA is exploring options to set up a mutual, which would also help support improved risk management through sharing best practice. LGA Chairman Lord Porter said: “The mutual will only be successful if enough local authorities join it. The crucial next stage is for a sufficient number to come together as founding members to explore the option of mutuality and the practical steps needed to help a local government mutual open for business.”

Sleep-in pay

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he Government needs to make the law clear about whether the National Living Wage (NLW) should apply to carers’ sleep-in shifts, the LGA has said, after Mencap warned that the dispute was putting the survival of care provider firms at risk. Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “The current uncertainty is causing worry for care workers, the people they care for and their families. If the Government decides the NLW or a new rate should apply for sleepins, it must provide councils with genuinely new money to cover the cost.”

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news in brief Care rated ‘good’

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ore than three-quarters of adult social care services are rated as good and 2 per cent as outstanding by the Care Quality Commission. But the inspection agency found considerable variation in standards across England, with nearly a fifth of services in need of improvement, and 2 per cent rated inadequate. Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “It is encouraging that the majority of care provided for adults is rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, particularly given the scale of funding pressures facing the sector. But to maintain this level and improve performance where it is required, it is absolutely essential that councils have the funding they need to carry out their duties.”

‘Poverty leads to ill-health’

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he LGA has welcomed “groundbreaking analysis” from Public Health England on how deprivation can lead to long-term ill-health and premature death. The Health Profile for England summarises trends in health outcomes and looks at risk factors and the social determinants of health. Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Local authorities and their public health teams understand how to use their traditional functions in conjunction with their newly acquired public health expertise to help close the unjust health inequalities gap. But, reductions in councils’ public health grants of more than £530 million by 2020 will impact on their ability to continue this good work.”

Smoking ban

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he LGA has published ‘A breath of fresh air: smokefree workplaces 10 years on’ to mark a decade of the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces in England.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “It is pleasing that we have taken huge strides as a nation in reducing smoking rates. Of course, it is important not to get complacent and acknowledge that there is still more to be done, with nearly one in six people still smoking.”

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New care guidance ‘undermines integration’ The LGA has withdrawn its support for new guidance on the Better Care Fund after “late” changes included a much greater focus on delayed transfers of care from hospitals, along with tougher targets on meeting reductions.

The new planning requirements also include the threat of withholding money in areas considered to be performing poorly.

The LGA says it will continue to push back strongly on the new guidance for 201719, which it has described as “unacceptable” and “a step back” for the integration of health and care.

The change to the new guidance, published late on the eve of the LGA’s annual conference in Birmingham, applies to the £2 billion ‘Improved Better Care Fund’ announced by the Government in the Spring Budget.

Councils have argued that they need “freedom and flexibility” over how the money is spent because local health and care system leaders are best able to direct the resources to meet local challenges.

The LGA says that the annual funding gap facing social care will be £2.3 billion by 2020.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “The sudden shift in focus, so late in the process to prioritise delayed transfers of care, and the threat of a review of funding allocations if associated targets are not met, is completely unacceptable to local government.

“Councils cannot now have confidence to plan for the long term. We have had assurance that no more than 10 per cent of funding would be affected by the performance review and that all the funding would stay with councils.

“But the principle is wrong and difficult in practical terms; councils have already agreed their plans locally and made commitments on how to spend this year’s allocation.

“This is extremely disappointing and a step back for integrating health and care.

It has left the LGA with no choice but to withdraw our support for the guidance.”

Cllr Seccombe added: “Councils are doing all they can to reduce delays in getting patients out of hospital and back into the community. But social care is about far more than alleviating pressure on health. It is a vital and essential service in its own right.”

More funding for FGM centre

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ouncils’ efforts to help tackle female genital mutilation (FGM) have received a major boost after the National FGM Centre received £1.7 million in government funding.

The centre, run by the LGA together with children’s charity Barnardo’s, was one of 24 projects to receive a share of £30 million, announced by Children and Families Minister Robert Goodwill at the Association of Directors of Children’s Services’ conference in July.

Government funding for the centre was set to run out this month. The new money will cover a period of nearly three years.

Cllr Simon Blackburn, Chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: “This renewed funding is great news for the National FGM Centre and its vital work to end this horrific form of abuse in the UK. “Social work provision to girls and families affected by FGM has been quickly and significantly improved through the

intervention of the centre’s social workers embedded in council safeguarding teams, and hundreds of referrals have been received in areas that previously only recorded a handful of cases each year.

“This funding boost validates its pioneering prevention and intervention work and follows an independent evaluation hailing the centre’s positive impact in communities where FGM is practised.”

The funding announcement came two days after new annual statistics were published by NHS Digital about the number of identified cases of FGM in England from April 2016 to March 2017.

Cllr Blackburn said: “These figures highlight the size of the challenge facing all agencies seeking an end to FGM, with more than 11,000 new cases identified over the past two years. The National FGM Centre represents a ready-made solution to this challenge.” www.local.gov.uk

‘Review building regulations’ – LGA The LGA has called on the Government to launch an “urgent and immediate” review of building regulations, following the Grenfell Tower fire.

Chairman Lord Porter said the review must address the “complexity and confusion” in the current system.

“Local government must play a central role in the review from the outset,” he said.

“The review needs to consider how easy it is to use, comply with and understand the building regulations and the associated documents supporting them, particularly those relating to the installation of cladding and insulation on external walls of buildings, and how the building control, fire safety and planning regimes interact.”

Sixteen councils have identified housing blocks they own with aluminium composite material cladding. All council blocks have had samples of the core of the cladding panels tested.

From the outset, the LGA has been pressing for entire cladding panels and the insulation behind them to be fire tested together as a system, rather than just the core of the panels on their own.

As a result, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) is embarking on a new round of fire safety testing on cladding systems – including insulation – which should provide a better guide to the safety of these buildings.

Lord Porter said: “We are pleased these much-needed changes to the testing process will now happen. It is vital that we get this right and this whole-system testing needs to happen as soon as possible.”

The LGA is calling for the industry and BRE to publish the results of past tests, including so-called desktop studies which estimate the effects of fire on cladding systems without actually carrying out a physical test. Publication of these tests would allow government and councils to

August 2017

be as clear as possible about the safety of people’s homes, schools, hospitals and workplaces.

It comes as the BRE warned it cannot share the test results because of intellectual property rights.

Lord Porter has appealed to these companies to waive their rights to confidentiality in order to help ascertain which tower blocks fitted with cladding may be unsafe in the event of a fire.

He said: “If the public are going to have faith in this fire safety testing process then

everything needs to be out in the open. It is no time for contractors or manufacturers to withhold test results from both councils and the public.

“The industry and BRE needs to waive this confidentiality in the public interest to assist the Government and councils in gathering as complete a picture as possible of what is and is not acceptable in cladding systems. These are exceptional circumstances when not only the safety of thousands of residents, but also the peace of mind of many more, is at stake.”

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Rental logjam highlighted in LGA research

conference news Local solution to skills gap Twelve million people – equivalent to the combined population of London, Greater Manchester and Staffordshire – will be without a job or in work they are overqualified for by 2024, new research for the LGA has found.

It says that the current national employment and skills system is failing local businesses and residents. A maze of centrally governed skills and employment funding – totalling £10.5 billion a year, run by eight government departments or agencies and scattered across 20 different national schemes – is confusing, fragmented, untargeted and ineffective.

In a new report on the future of public services, the LGA is calling for new powers for councils to help transform the lives of millions of people who could be trapped in a future skills gap.

Devolving all back-to-work, skills, apprenticeship, careers advice, and business support schemes and funding to the local areas in which they are used will allow better coordination of services to help people get the skills they need to progress in work, and supply businesses with the right skills at the right time to help local economies grow.

Failure to address the growing skills crisis will mean the average worker will be £1,176 a year worse off by 2024, while £90 billion of economic growth will be lost.

Cllr Sir Richard Leese, Chair of the LGA’s City Regions Board, said: “Without radical reform, swathes of people face a future where they have skills mismatched for jobs, risking them being in low-paid, insecure work, and reliant on benefits, at a huge cost to people’s lives and the local and national economy.

“Limits on EU migration after Brexit could exacerbate these skills challenges, which makes it more important than ever to have a better system in place for retraining and upskilling the current workforce.”

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “Local government across England is ready to take the lead to tackle the skills crisis facing the nation and get the local economy moving.

With commitment from central government and the right funding and powers, we can start today.” l See p20 for more on Work Local, the LGA’s proposed local employment and skills service

Changes to LGA leadership

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he LGA’s General Assembly Annual Meeting has elected a new Leadership Board for 2017/18, to provide advice on the strategic direction of the organisation.

Lord Porter remains Chairman, alongside Senior Vice-Chair Cllr Nick Forbes, Leader of the LGA’s Labour Group, and Vice-Chairs Cllr David Simmonds CBE, Leader of the LGA’s Conservative Group, Cllr Howard Sykes MBE, Leader of the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group, and Cllr Marianne Overton MBE, Leader of the LGA’s Independent Group.

Also elected to the Leadership Board as Deputy Chairs were Cllrs Sean Anstee (Con, Trafford), Paul Carter CBE (Con, Kent), Peter Fleming OBE (Con, Sevenoaks), Izzi Seccombe OBE (Con, Warwickshire), Peter Box CBE (Lab, Wakefield), Sue Murphy CBE (Lab, Manchester), Michael Payne (Lab, Gedling), Lib Peck (Lab, Lambeth), Ruth Dombey OBE (Lib Dem, Sutton), and Peter Reeve (UKIP, Cambridgeshire).

The new board met for the first time on 20 July and its next meeting is on 13 September.

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shortage of affordable housing is leaving a generation stuck in a “rental logjam”, the LGA has warned.

Its new analysis shows that almost one in seven private renters (14 per cent) are spending more than half of their total income on rent, in stark contrast to just 2 per cent of homeowners on their mortgage.

The figures highlight the difficulties renters face, not just in finding an affordable home to live in, but in saving up a deposit for a home of their own, with the average deposit now costing 71 per cent of a first-time buyer’s annual income.

The LGA is calling for the Government to enable the building of a new wave of rented homes that reflect what families can actually afford – no more than a third of total household incomes.

High house prices and rents are making it more difficult for young people to save a deposit to buy their first home.

Last year, the country built around 30,000 new ‘affordable’ homes – the lowest number in 24 years – with many being priced at levels not affordable for many families.

The LGA said councils also need to be given the powers and access to funding to resume their historic role as a major builder of affordable homes – including those for social and affordable rents. This means being able to borrow to invest in housing and to keep 100 per cent of the receipts from any homes they sell to replace them.

Cllr Judith Blake, LGA Housing Spokesman, said: “When one in seven private renters are spending half their income on rent, it’s no wonder we have a rental logjam – with a shortage of homes with genuinely affordable rent, and young people struggling to have enough income left over to save for a deposit.

“Only an increase of all types of housing – including those for affordable or social rent – will solve our housing shortage and a renaissance in house building by councils is ultimately needed if we are to boost affordability.” www.local.gov.uk

Council funding ‘should be government’s top priority’ Securing the financial sustainability of councils and vital local services must be the top priority for government, LGA Chairman Lord Porter has said.

Using his keynote address at this year’s LGA annual conference, he said that councils must be at the “front of the queue” for new funding if “austerity is coming to an end”.

Councils have faced growing financial pressures and uncertainty, with local government in England set to lose 75 pence out of every £1 of core central government funding by 2020, used to pay for services like collecting bins, filling potholes, protecting children and caring for elderly and disabled people. Overall, the LGA estimates the sector faces a £5.8 billion funding gap by the end of the decade.

It says adequate funding for local government is urgent. To maximise the potential of local government and protect local services from further cuts, councils must also be made financially sustainable and fiscally independent by being able to keep every penny they raise locally in taxation to spend on local services.

Lord Porter told conference delegates: “The money local government has to provide vital day-to-day local services is running out fast. There is also now huge uncertainty

about how local services are going to be funded beyond 2020.

“Councils can no longer be expected to run our vital local services on a shoestring.

We must shout from the roof tops for local government to be put back on a sustainable financial footing.

“Every penny in local taxation collected locally must be kept by local government and spent on our public services. The cap on council tax also needs to be lifted to ensure new money can be raised locally and spent locally.”

He added: “Local government is the fabric of our country, even more so during this period of uncertainty for the nation.

Councils are the ones who can be trusted to make a difference to people’s lives, to build desperately needed homes, create jobs and school places, provide the dignified care for our elderly and disabled and boost economic growth.

“If austerity is coming to an end, then we need to make sure councils are at the front of the queue for more money. Only with adequate funding, and the right powers, can councils help the Government tackle the challenges facing our nation now and in the future.” l See p12 for LGA Chairman Lord Porter’s conference speech

Future leader

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roydon Council’s Denise Blair was crowned the winner of the LGA’s ninth Local Government Challenge, which seeks out the best new leadership talent among local government officers.

Ms Blair, who works in Croydon’s public health team, clinched the title – and the prize of a £10,000 Bruce Lockhart

August 2017

scholarship – with her proposals to tackle teenage pregnancy, which she pitched at the LGA’s annual conference. She said: “I’ve learned a lot about myself, and taking part in this challenge has highlighted to me the importance of building relationships and being committed to solving problems by working together.”

‘Give equal weight to tech education’

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here must be a rebalance in the education system, with councils playing a lead role in school improvement, speakers at this year’s LGA annual conference said.

In an education question time session in Birmingham, representatives of councils and head teachers discussed the importance of technical education, the council role in school improvement, school funding and other issues.

In response to questions on technical and skills-based education, Cllr Gareth Barnard (Con), Executive Member for Children, Young People and Learning, at Bracknell Forest Council, said: “We need to be ensuring that our children have the skills to access the things they want to do.

“Anything that raises the profile of technical education is really important – but there is something that is missing from education at the moment, which is that we are not focusing enough on developing the well-rounded citizens of tomorrow.”

Cllr Liz Green (Lib Dem, Kingston), Deputy Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “We sing the praises of our well-performing secondary schools and I think we need to change our language so that we are giving equal weighting to those that have come out with a vocational qualification.”

On school improvement, Cllr Green was clear that “councils are better at school improvement”, despite the Government promoting academies and multi-academy trusts (MATs) as the way forward.

Karen Bradshaw, Director of Children’s Services at Shropshire Council, agreed, saying: “There is no evidence to suggest that MATs secure school improvement at all – some local authorities deliver great school improvement.”

But Cllr Barnard, who is also a member of the LGA’s Children and Young Peoples Board, said: “The reason we are where we are is because there were some local authorities that were pretty lamentable in terms of school performance. That has changed and changed rapidly. My concern is that good local authorities’ voices are not heard in terms of what they can do to support school improvement.”

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‘Use mobile fines to boost digital connectivity’ Money from fines given to mobile operators for poor customer service or coverage should be handed over to local areas to boost connectivity, the LGA said.

Ofcom, the telecommunications regulator, has levied fines of millions of pounds on mobile operators over the past three years for breaches of its rules, such as incorrectly billing customers and the poor handling of complaints.

The Government’s new Digital Economy Act 2017 will also give Ofcom new powers to fine operators up to 10 per cent of their gross revenue if they breach licensing obligations to improve mobile coverage.

Currently, cash from fines levied on mobile operators goes straight to the Treasury – with no guarantee it will be spent on improving the country’s digital connectivity.

The LGA is calling for this money to be handed over to local areas to support efforts to help residents and businesses access increasingly vital digital infrastructure.

It comes as only 61 per cent of rural premises receive outdoor 4G coverage from a

single operator compared with 94 per cent in towns and cities. That drops to 28 per cent for indoor coverage compared with 82 per cent in urban areas.

Cllr Mark Hawthorne, Chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board, said: “Good digital connectivity is a vital element of everyday life for residents and can help them cut household bills, shop online for cheaper goods, stay in touch with distant relatives, access their bank accounts and even run their own businesses.

“As central and local government services increasingly become ‘digital by default’, more people will need to have faster and more reliable speeds, wherever they are.”

At its annual conference last month, the LGA launched a new report, ‘Growing places’, which includes measures needed to ensure all residents and businesses across the country can access fast and reliable digital connectivity.

These include prioritising the trial of 5G in rural areas, work towards developing universal standards for mobile data, and ensuring the Broadband Universal Services Obligation guarantees upload as well as download speeds.

Local roads funding for councils

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ouncils will be given access to a multibillion pound fund for local road improvements under plans unveiled by the Department for Transport (DfT). The announcement came as Transport Minister Jesse Norman MP (pictured) spoke at the LGA’s annual conference.

It was initially envisaged that the money – held in the National Roads Fund – would be spent on the motorways and major A-roads managed by Highways England.

However, the DfT has pledged to support every part of the country and, in some cases, give priority to smaller schemes that are “proven solutions”, so passengers and drivers get the benefits quicker.

Under the strategy, which could be implemented in 2020, road improvement programmes are to be judged on how they contribute to balancing the economy regionally, limit traffic and boost growth.

A major road network is to be created under the plan and a consultation will be opened later this year.

LGA Transport Spokesman Cllr Martin Tett said: “Councils have long called for a better balance of investment between local and national infrastructure. It’s great to see

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the Government adopt this approach, which recognises our roads form one big network.

“We’re pleased that the Government recognises that our local roads network has significant economic value. This additional funding could help improve existing local roads for which there is a £12 billion repairs backlog.

“However, this can only help if it is new money, and not a substitute for existing funding. Decisions on local roads must be made by councils, which are closest to the people they serve.”

‘An end to austerity’

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ou cannot empower local government if you impoverish it was the message to LGA annual conference delegates from Shadow Communities Secretary Andrew Gwynne.

He called for an end to austerity to stop councils cutting back on core services, and for Brexit to deliver genuine and meaningful devolution, so that powers are not passed from Brussels to Whitehall, but “given back to local decision makers”.

Responding to comments made by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid following the Grenfell Tower fire, Mr Gwynne (pictured) said: “I have not met a local government officer or councillor who has underplayed the tragedy of Grenfell, or not asked searching questions about how this could have been avoided.

“Councils of all complexions, and their staff, from across London have come together to help.”

Raising the prospect of councils facing a bill of at least £600 million to pay for extra fire safety measures in the wake of the blaze, he said: “Local government should not be required to make even more ‘difficult decisions’ after years of austerity to ensure that properties are safe for residents following this disaster.”

Mr Gwynne urged government to provide emergency funds for councils to check cladding and install sprinklers in tower blocks around the country.

Referencing the LGA’s estimated £5.8 billion funding gap, Mr Gwynne said many challenges faced by councils “will not be solved if austerity continues”.

Citing the “crisis” in social care, Mr Gwynne said: “What kind of society are we when we can’t prioritise decent care and help when people need it?”

He highlighted local government as one of the most efficient parts of the public sector, “leading the way on innovation, transformation and shared services”, and said the conference had proved that “certainty over local government finance is not a party political issue”.

He added: “Ensuring that our local government has adequate funding to provide core services is not something that should be up for debate.” www.local.gov.uk

letters Council tax exemption for care leavers

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s first was going to press, Liverpool City Council’s cabinet was making the decision to approve a proposal for young people leaving care to be exempt from paying council tax.

Our proposal will benefit young people – up to the age of 21 – who are leaving the care system and starting to lead independent lives for the first time. The idea came from our Children in Care Council – a group that represents young people in care in the city – and the move is also backed by The Children’s Society.

Evidence shows that care leavers often move into their own house or flat earlier than their peers, and are a particularly vulnerable group for getting into debt. Young people leaving care face a difficult transition into adulthood and having to manage money for the first time leaves them at real risk.

That’s why we were willing to listen to the suggestion from the young people themselves, and have now made this decision. We all want the best for our children, and as their corporate parent it is right and proper that we support them as much as we can, to help get their independence off to a good start.

Only 20 councils offer care leavers a council tax exemption, and we are proud that Liverpool is joining this list.

Mayor Joe Anderson (Lab), Liverpool City Council

sound bites

Finnish local elections

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arlier this year, I was in Finland monitoring their local elections, as one of the UK representatives on the Council of Europe. It was fascinating to see local elections carried out in a very professional way but quite differently from how we do it.

The day before, there was an election fayre in the centre of Oulu – where I was based – where each party had a stall, giving away sweets, chocolate, pea soup, coffee and red roses. The candidates each had an allotted time to speak.

When the polling station opened, the ballot box was open and the first voter was asked to confirm that it was empty before it was locked and sealed with tape. Voters had to show ID, either a driving licence or passport, and were issued with a ballot paper which had a circle for them to enter the number of the candidate they wanted. There were 650 candidates from eight parties to choose from.

There was a 58.8 per cent turnout even though it was snowing and zero degrees in many places.

At present, there are only two levels of governance in Finland – national, and municipal.

Next year will see the introduction of a regional level. The new counties will administer health and social care, which is considered too large for small councils to do effectively. But there are concerns that this will lead to centralisation of competences and finances. It will be interesting to see how these changes work out for Finland.

Cllr Linda Gillham (Ind), Runnymede Borough Council

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

Letters may be edited and published online

August 2017

Cllr Lynn Riley (Con, Cheshire West and Chester) “#lgaconf17 hears that 32m voters might have returned a hung parliament but don’t want it to hang about. All colours need to get on with it.” www.twitter.com/mustbecwaced Cllr Clare Golby (Con, Nuneaton and Bedworth) “@LGAcomms great conference with lots of ideas and information to take away and work with. #LGAconf17.” www.twitter.com/MrsGolby Cllr Rachel Sutton (Lab, Exeter) “Can only hope someone tells Sajid Javid about the inspiring responses from LAs in Southwark, Manchester & Islington #LGAConf17.” www.twitter.com/CllrSutton Cllr Brigid Jones (Lab, Birmingham) “Really impressed by @GwynneMP. A passionate former Cllr and MP who actually understands & stands up for Local Government #LGAconf17.” www.twitter.com/brigidjones Cllr Emily Fermor (Lib Dem, Maidstone) “Fittingly I’m heading straight back to the Town Hall from #LGAConf17 in Birmingham to speak at Planning Committee #LocalGov.” www.twitter.com/emilyfermor Cllr Susanna Matthan (Ind, North Kesteven) “Empowering community & uplifting one another is our privilege as Cllrs.

I am an accountable public servant. #LGAConf17 @LGA_Independent.” www.twitter.com/thesurealist 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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LGA annual conference 2017

Building public services for the future

Lord Porter is Chairman of the LGA

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e often talk about the ‘local government family’ and – much like any family – we don’t always agree on everything and we can’t please each other all of the time.

It’s no secret that over the past year, there have been some competing interests in the sector. Everyone wants funding to be the focus, but is social care more important than housing? Are skills more important than potholes?

I like a healthy debate, but never at the expense of us speaking with one voice or without a clear purpose. And that purpose is always to make sure we get the best for our residents. After all, that’s why we’re here.

Every single council leader has helped to strengthen our impact, unite us to speak as one strong, credible voice, and helped to influence successive governments over the past 20 years. You will all have your own achievements in your local areas, but in the LGA we can be proud of: • successfully making the case for devolution and localism • getting 95 per cent of your money back from Iceland • creating a new system of sector-led improvement to replace top-down inspections

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• setting up a new system for public sector audit, which has helped save our members £45 million since 2011 • bringing public health back into the local government family • securing £2 billion of extra money to fund our social care.

With all that’s going on in Westminster – and what’s coming over the hill in the next two years – it’s more important than ever that we all stick together and speak as one.

Government needs us more than ever to keep our country running as it negotiates our exit from the EU. And our conference paper, ‘Growing places: building local public services for the future’, sets out what we need to do to provide that stability.

For example, I know that the state of council finances keeps many of us up at night.

Making the bottom line work for you will continue to be a priority for the LGA’s lobbying.

The money local government has for vital dayto-day services is running out fast. There is also huge uncertainty about how local services are going to be funded beyond 2020.

Councils can no longer be expected to run our local services on a shoestring. We must shout from the rooftops for local government to be put back on a sustainable financial footing. We’ve protected government for a long time by making sure all the cuts thrown our way were implemented in a way that shielded our residents as much as possible.

But if austerity is coming to an end, then as we were in the front of the queue when it started, we must also be at the front of the queue for more money when it ends.

Only with adequate funding and the right powers can councils help the Government tackle the challenges facing our nation.

ANDREW BAKER/LGA

Councils need to be put on a sustainable financial footing if they are to provide the stability the country needs as government negotiates Brexit

All of us know what the cost pressures are – adult social care, children’s services and homelessness, to name but a few.

Adult social care is putting pressure on council budgets up and down the country.

We need to work with national politicians to get a consensus on a long-term solution. Any solution to the adult social care crisis can only be found by working with councils. Solutions imposed from Westminster will not work.

Children’s services are another cost pressure that many of you frequently tell me about. It matters to us because we want to make sure our children and young people are safe. It should be the top priority of any government. And, if we are to give our children the start they deserve, it can’t be done from Whitehall. Councils need to retain control over school budgets.

But our work can’t stop there. Our country www.local.gov.uk

is facing a housing crisis and the national shame of homelessness is on the rise again.

It is a crisis that we’ve seen coming for the last 50 years. But for too long governments of all colours have failed to tackle it. Targets do not build homes, brickies do! Again, Whitehall alone can’t fix the housing market.

Central government needs councils to build good quality, affordable homes that are well supported by local services. To do that we need financial flexibilities – and that means, among other things, scrapping the housing borrowing cap.

Our residents are central to meeting the challenges we face. Whether it is providing the services I’ve talked about here or growing the economy, people are our most important asset. If we don’t equip them with the skills they need, we will fail.

And it is not just about our children, important as they are. It is also about retraining people for the future. Councils must have the powers and funding to create a new skills system that is fit for purpose.

Looking back, there is plenty for the LGA and local government to celebrate – 20 years of working together for our residents.

But of course we can always do more. We are in unprecedented times. The coming years will bring some big challenges. Our message to the whole of government is simple – in these uncertain times, you get on with Brexit and let us in local government have the money and freedom we need to run the country. We’ll do the rest.

You and the councils you lead are the ones who can be trusted to make a difference to people’s lives, to boost economic growth, to build desperately-needed homes, to create jobs, to provide school places and the best start in life for our children, and to deliver dignified care for our elderly and vulnerable neighbours.

Showcasing innovation Cllr William Nunn is Chairman of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board

Creative and positive disruption was the theme of this year’s Newton Europesponsored Innovation Zone at the LGA’s annual conference, and it summed up the zone’s whole atmosphere.

Throughout the three days of the conference, delegates filled the zone to engage in lively discussions with speakers and each other. They learned not only about the innovations making positive differences to people’s lives, but also how they came about.

Of particular interest were sessions related to our key priorities of inclusive growth, jobs and housing. Colleagues from Derby City, North East Lincolnshire and Warrington Borough Councils showcased ambitious regeneration projects they are working on with the Department for

Communities and Local Government.

They outlined the challenges faced by local authorities and detailed bespoke solutions to get town centres working for both residents and firms, including how to attract inward investment.

The state of our roads was discussed in a session led by Wiltshire Council, the independent research and advisory practice SOENECS and the Department for Transport. Working with Thurrock and City of York Councils, Wiltshire is surveying roads using high-definition cameras mounted on refuse collection vehicles, buses and e-bikes, helping it improve its highways maintenance services.

These are just highlights from a varied programme on everything from reducing sugar intake, homelessness and delayed transfers of care, to advancing safety, wellbeing, democratic engagement and using data to target services to best effect.

Presentations from many sessions are now available on our website at www.local.gov.uk. Please email karen. thornton@local.gov.uk if you attended a presentation you would like to see featured in first.

August 2017

ANDREW BAKER/LGA

This is an edited version of LGA Chairman Lord Porter’s speech to the LGA’s annual conference in Birmingham. For the full version, please visit www.local.gov.uk/about/ news. For ‘Growing places: building local public services for the future’, please visit www.local.gov.uk/ publications

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ANDREW BAKER/LGA

LGA annual conference 2017

Building cohesive communities Councils have a key leadership role to play in improving social integration in their areas

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ouncils need to engage much more with communities – and at their communities’ convenience – to build trust and improve cohesion, delegates were told at the LGA’s annual conference.

Engagement strategies need to be reviewed constantly and services – such as housing – need to be designed to help reconnect people so they feel able to progress in their lives, a session heard.

Nazir Afzal (pictured below), former Chief Executive of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and former Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service for the North West of England, told delegates to “stop being lazy” if they want to tackle extremism and improve community cohesion.

He urged them to react “in real time” when challenging what people say to avoid their comments getting traction and seeing myths take over from reality.

He said: “Engagement isn’t just sitting in your office sending emails, it’s actually being

among your people – the people who you serve. If you don’t go out of your offices and engage with your public, who elected and voted for you and rely upon you, then rest assured nothing will change.”

Recalling one of his best meetings – above a betting shop in Willesden, London, with young men wearing bandanas across their faces to talk about knife crime – he said: “I went to them… and that’s what you need to do. Don’t expect them to come to your buildings, your offices, at your time. Spend

“Engagement isn’t just sitting in your office sending emails, it’s being among your people – the people who you serve”

ANDREW BAKER/LGA

your time at theirs. You have to make the leap – don’t expect them to do so.”

Chris Naylor, Chief Executive of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, which has the largest influx of immigrants of any London borough, said it was working to address the dichotomy between its incoming communities – who feel the greatest sense of connection – and its indigenous white working-class population, which feels less connected and the most left behind.

He stressed the importance of designing services, such as housing, that help reconnect families; piloting community-led endeavours;

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and tackling issues such as domestic violence and female genital mutilation to understand better how girls and boys are being raised, so as to help create more cohesive communities.

Mr Naylor said a cohesive community would not be achieved “where vast numbers of people feel they are excluded from the opportunity to progress”.

His point was echoed by Cllr Hazel Simmons, Leader of Luton Borough Council, who said: “If somebody has no hope in a town or they haven’t got a house, or they can’t get a school place, then they are more likely to be susceptible to the extremist message.”

Cllr Simmons outlined the considerable work undertaken by her council to tackle the far right agenda in “one of the most vibrant, culturally and ethnically super-diverse towns in the country”.

This has included: extremist training for members and the council’s workforce; setting up a community forum for local people to discuss concerns; liaising with police to manage marches, seeking injunctions and dispersal orders; and developing a town centre policy that restricts events to those complying with its community cohesion strategy.

The town is also home to two antiextremism campaign groups led by local activists and a police and community-led website focused on engaging the community on extremism-related issues.

Cllr Simmons said: “It has involved different conversations within our communities – some of them very difficult – and these will continue. As long as you’re having a conversation you’re talking about things and you can find solutions. If you’re not talking about things it goes underground.

“Look at different ways of doing business and embrace the community activism. We don’t always get things right, but working with our communities is the only way forward.” www.local.gov.uk

Leading communities through crisis

LGA annual conference 2017

Council and community leaders from Manchester and London have spoken movingly of how their cities responded to the recent terrorist attacks

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he “critical importance” of visible and local leadership was highlighted by the leaders of councils affected by recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London.

“If you ever have the misfortune to have this happen on your patch, get there, and get there as soon as possible,” said Cllr Richard Watts, Leader of Islington Council, as he described the aftermath of the attack near Finsbury Park Mosque in which one man died and others suffered critical injuries.

“The police, ambulance and fire have got an incredibly difficult job to do. They don’t need us to tell them their job… But we can speak for our communities.”

He said it was crucial that he was able to get the police to use the word ‘terrorism’ in respect of the attack, as “many of our Muslim communities felt the police are quicker to use the word ‘terrorism’ when it’s a Muslim attacker than when it’s a nonMuslim attacking Muslims”.

He highlighted the importance of knowing your communities, and how simply having Finsbury Park Mosque Chairman Mohammed Kozbar’s mobile phone number helped.

“You can’t get to know each other after this happens,” he said.

Mr Kozbar reinforced how important it was that Cllr Watts and other colleagues and community leaders were on the scene within hours, and able to discuss next steps.

And he spoke of how the mosque worked with the community to try to avoid a backlash, by helping it understand that the attacker “only represented himself” – as did the Manchester, Westminster Bridge and London Bridge attackers – and not a religion or a community.

August 2017

“It really came home to me knowing local government is a family, and having the support of that family really helped.”

“These are a bunch of criminals who use religion for their own agenda and we will not let them win over us,” he told the LGA’s annual conference.

Cllr Peter John, Leader of Southwark Council, spoke of the “unreal intensity” of the attack on his home patch of London Bridge and Borough Market, in which eight people died.

“Until 3 June, terrorism happened in other parts of London, other parts of the world,” he said.

“It really came home to me knowing local government is a family, and having the support of that family really helped.”

Councils, he said, are often “the unheralded emergency service”, and he

paid tribute to his council: “The staff at Southwark are pretty amazing. Not all councils fail their residents.”

Cllr Sue Murphy, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, spoke movingly of the local government and community response to the 22 May bombing in the city, which claimed victims from the Highlands to Cornwall among the 22 who died and the 245 injured.

She said the partnerships the council had built up over the years meant it didn’t need to ask for help – “people came to us” – while council staff working on the immediate response to the attack had to be instructed to go home because they hadn’t slept in 48 hours.

The evening after the bombing, the council organised a vigil, attended, among others, by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid.

“He saw leadership from local government. He certainly didn’t see a crisis of confidence,” she told conference.

She said the council’s first priority was support for the bereaved families and the injured: “We are determined they don’t feel forgotten when the world moves on.”

Local people and communities expected the council to lead, she added: “They may not always agree with everything we do but they see us as relevant to their lives.”

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LGA annual conference 2017

Spotlight on mental wellbeing The LGA launched a new report on how councils influence the mental wellbeing of their communities at the association’s annual conference in Birmingham

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ental health is finally getting the attention and profile nationally that it deserves.

The LGA wants to work with the Government to bring the unique position and expertise that councils have on mental health, and the determinants of mental health, to bear on plans to improve the mental wellbeing of all of our communities.

Good mental health is essential for a healthy and prosperous society. However, it is easier to focus on what happens when a person becomes mentally ill – and how the health service intervenes – than how to keep our communities mentally well in the first place, preventing mental health issues arising, intervening early if problems do start surfacing, and helping people manage their lives going forward.

health: the role of local government in mental health and wellbeing’, sets out this significant range of services to demonstrate the key part councils have to play in the mental wellness of their communities.

It also calls for: • a new national approach, led at the local level, to mental health and wellness that moves away from medicalisation and towards prevention and early intervention • a whole-system review that looks at the future of all mental health services, including the voluntary and community sector

• a coordinating role for councils on mental wellness and health, with the devolution of associated services and funding • adequate funding to enable councils to play their essential part fully in the mental health system.

The voluntary and community sectors are key partners in helping our communities keep mentally well, with locally based groups offering specialised support based on unique local circumstances. Many of them contributed to our report.

Severe cuts to local government funding – more than 40 per cent since 2010 – have hampered the ability of councils to continue providing funding to these vital local groups.

If we are to see an improvement in the nation’s mental health, the role of local government – and how local government supports the voluntary sector – needs to be a fundamental part of a new collective approach to mental health and wellness.

This is where councils play a fundamental role in the mental health and wellbeing of the population. The mental health of our communities and individuals is a priority for local government, and we offer a range of statutory and non-statutory services that are either directly related to or impact on mental health – from adult social care, children’s services and public health to housing, parks and community safety.

Our report, ‘Being mindful of mental

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ANDREW BAKER/LGA

“We need a coordinating role for councils on mental wellness and health, with the devolution of associated services and funding”

You can read ‘Being mindful of mental health: the role of local government in mental health and wellbeing’ at www.local.gov.uk/publications

www.local.gov.uk

ANDREW BAKER/LGA

Councillors ‘lack confidence’ in health plans

Mental health: make it personal Every council service should be contributing to the mental wellbeing of local residents, and it is crucial that people with mental ill-health are involved in codeveloping services.

That’s according to mental health champions and service providers who addressed delegates at the LGA’s annual conference last month on how mental health underpins our economy, society and place.

Lord Victor Adebowale, Chief Executive of Turning Point, a social enterprise providing mental health, learning disability and other services, said local authorities had a critical role to play because “the solutions to mental health can’t be found unless we look outside mental health services”.

“I like the reports that come to [council] chambers throughout the country on housing and highways and dustbins and public health. None of them tells you if those services are a negative or positive contributor to the health and wellbeing of the people you serve,” he said.

He couldn’t think of a single council service that is not relevant to the delivery of mental wellbeing, and said he knew of one council leader who refused to allow reports to go to the chamber unless they included a statement of impact on the wellbeing of the local population.

“That’s excellent,” he said.

Lord Adebowale, (pictured, left), who is also a Non-Executive Director of NHS England, told delegates it had been a struggle to get mental health discussed and considered properly at NHS board level.

“The future is decided by those things we don’t talk about, and we don’t talk about mental health… The key issue we don’t August 2017

talk about is the impact of place, of public services, on those most vulnerable to mental ill-health,” he said.

“The NHS spends £27 billion on poverty... £4.6 billion is spent just on providing services to poor people in A&E because services like mental health... are not provided in the community.”

Amanda Tuffrey, (pictured, above), a Young Advisor with the Great Involvement Future Thinking (GIFT) Partnership, identified several things that would make a difference to mental health services for children and young people, including: multi-agency training with children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and social care staff; pooling budgets; and providing safe places for young people to drop into for immediate help.

She also highlighted issues and concerns around the transition of young people from children’s to adult mental health services – these are “poor” and “still not joined up”.

“Many young people never get to adult mental health services and are left having to find support on their own,” she said – citing her own experience when she moved to university.

She emphasised the need to empower young people by engaging them in the development of mental health services.

Becoming an advocate had been one of the best things she had ever done, she said.

“I never thought, when I was suffering from depression and anorexia, that I would be standing here today… and promoting other young people’s engagement,” she told delegates.

“It’s really empowered me to make sure what happened to me doesn’t happen to anyone else.”

A survey carried out by the LGA on councillors’ perceptions of the NHS’s sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) has revealed a lack of confidence in the plans.

The LGA’s poll found that less than a quarter of councillors are confident that STPs will succeed, and the majority of respondents do not feel they have been involved with shaping, commenting on or approving the 44 STP ‘footprints’ across England.

STPs are redesigning and overhauling local health and care services to cope with increasing patient demand and will focus on treating patients in the community and away from hospitals.

Key findings of the LGA survey, published at the LGA’s annual conference in Birmingham, are that: • more than 90 per cent of responding councillors know about STPs • just 21 per cent felt sufficiently engaged in their STPs • less than 25 per cent are confident that their STP will deliver on its objectives or bring benefits to their local communities • not a single respondent reported that their full council had been “very engaged” in their STP. The LGA is calling for the NHS to act now to involve councillors as equal partners in STPs. It says that STPs should be more democratically accountable through local health and wellbeing boards, which should also be given a legal duty to signoff the plans.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Chairman of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Many councillors have been disappointed by the unilateral, topdown approach of the NHS in some of the STP areas. As our survey results show, the majority of local politicians who responded feel excluded from the STP planning process.

“For STPs to work, they need to be a genuine partnership between clinical, professional and political leaders, driving forward the change of local health and care for the better.”

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LGA annual conference 2017

Experiences of government intervention Leaders of councils subject to government intervention shared the lessons they have learned with delegates at the LGA’s annual conference in Birmingham

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ncertainty about who is making decisions, senior officers and councillors who socialise together too much, and councillors who don’t feel they are being listened to are among the signs that your council could be at risk of government intervention.

And sticking your fingers in your ears and not accepting there is a problem will leave you in a “deep pickle”, according to John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets Council.

“If you are in intervention, you probably have to accept it as part of the cure,” he told fellow councillors and officers at a session on government intervention at the LGA’s annual conference.

Mayor Biggs was elected in June 2015, after the Election Court reported his predecessor to be “personally guilty” of “corrupt or illegal practices, or both” under the Representation of the People Act 1983. The council was already subject to intervention, with commissioners

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appointed by the Secretary of State. Current Chief Executive Will Tuckley arrived a few months later.

He told delegates: “One of the most persistent things our commissioners said to us is ‘the authority is in denial’. Accepting what went wrong is part of the solution to resolving it.”

That meant building trust and credibility, and showing the commissioners what they were trying to do and what some of the solutions might be – for example, via workshops. They also had in mind the questions the commissioners would be asked by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Ros Jones, Mayor of Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, and Chief Executive Jo Miller also came into office in an authority already subject to intervention.

“We had governance problems, we had denial problems, we had lots of children’s services problems,” said Mayor Jones.

A boundary review helped bring members together, they consulted with the public about what they were doing, and getting a four-year budget approved showed the authority had financial stewardship and knew where it was going, she said.

“We haven’t got all the money we want – none of us have – but let’s get on and deliver for the people.”

Ms Miller said she had “never seen anything so bad” when she arrived for an initial three months. “I had four party leaders and the [then] mayor arguing over which room they were going to meet in.”

Councils subject to intervention still have a community leadership role, and they need to embrace intervention in order to shape it, she said, but added: “I had not anticipated how hard it is to encourage people to come on a journey with you when they have had 10 years of chaos.”

Stella Manzie, Interim Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council, spoke also as a former commissioner appointed to oversee Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council following the child sexual exploitation scandal.

She suggested there were key signals that councils were at risk of intervention.

These include senior councillors and officers who “are too close” and, conversely, “very, very frustrated members” who don’t feel officers listen to them.

Corporate governance and paper trails demonstrating accountability for decision making are key, too: “If no-one can point you to the council report where that decision came from – you are in trouble,” she said.

Services that are “vastly different in quality” are also a bad sign, and councils should be striving for a minimum level of service everywhere.

Ms Manzie principally blamed officers – as the full-time paid professionals – for councils going into intervention, highlighting concerns around both weak, complacent and too powerful leadership.

But members bear some responsibility, especially for the appointments they make: “If you feel uneasy about the person you are appointing, then don’t appoint them – go out twice if necessary,” she said. www.local.gov.uk

MAMUN HUMAYUN/©M24INSTUDIO

LGA annual conference 2017

A collective voice The recently elected combined authority mayors met for the first time to discuss their ambitions for their communities, at a forum hosted by the LGA

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he LGA’s support offer to combined authorities and areas interested in devolution was recently extended to include help for the six newly elected mayors as they take on their roles as the chairs of combined authorities (see first 612).

The LGA was therefore delighted to host the inaugural combined authority mayoral forum in London in June, at which Lord Porter, Chairman of the LGA, welcomed Mayors Andy Burnham, Tim Bowles, Steve Rotheram, James Palmer and Ben Houchen (pictured, l to r), along with Cllr Bob Sleigh, the Deputy Mayor for the West Midlands.

The event facilitated constructive discussions with senior civil servants about the Government’s ongoing commitment to further devolution and how Whitehall departments can support the new mayors and combined authorities in driving local economies and delivering their ambitions for their communities.

The session also touched on a range of key issues for combined authorities, including Brexit and the role of mayors in the negotiation process.

The Commonwealth Local Government Forum also led a timely session on forming trade links around the world, offering an August 2017

opportunity for the mayors and deputy mayor to discuss their role in driving trade and investment with international counterparts from Australia and South Africa.

Reflecting on the event, the combined authority mayors and deputy mayor recognised the potential of their collective voice and the opportunity to work together on a range of issues of shared interest. The mayors were keen for the LGA to arrange a programme of events, and the next one is planned for autumn this year.

The LGA was also pleased to welcome a number of the combined authority mayors

“The mayors recognised the potential of their collective voice and the opportunity to work together on a range of issues of shared interest”

to the LGA annual conference in Birmingham in July, where they participated in panel discussions on a range of topics: Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, contributed to a session on the future of local government in which he charted the progress and potential of combined authorities. He reflected on the positive steps taken to deliver economic growth in the West Midlands and the significant opportunities to drive public service reform in the area.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, provided a combined authority perspective in a lively debate on the post-Brexit role for local government. He expressed a clear desire for the English regions to have a greater say in the Brexit negotiations, and backed LGA calls for powers repatriated from the EU to be devolved beyond Whitehall, Stormont, Cardiff Bay and Holyrood to local government.

Tim Bowles, Mayor of the West of England, emphasised the opportunity for a new working relationship between the regions, business and central government in a session focused on the local response to the Government’s proposed industrial strategy.

The mayor outlined his vision for the West of England to be a “beacon of growth and innovation” and called for a change in the way Whitehall departments operate to enable combined authorities to deliver successful local industrial strategies.

For more information on directly elected mayors, combined authorities and the LGA’s devolution support offer to all areas, please visit www.local.gov.uk/devolution

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Work Local An LGA plan to integrate and devolve employment and skills services would help thousands of people back into work and give local economies a multi-million pound boost

Cllr Sir Richard Leese is Chair of the LGA’s City Regions Board and Cllr Mark Hawthorne is Chairman of the LGA’s People and Places Board

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cross the country, there are significant employment and skills challenges, which we believe the fragmented national system is at best failing to address and, at worst, contributing to.

The LGA is consulting on a practical plan to integrate and devolve employment and skills services that would help thousands back into work, inject hundreds of millions of pounds into local economies, close the widening skills gap, and deliver better outcomes at lower cost by taking into account local circumstances.

All councils, working with local businesses and partners, want to build strong, resilient economies where residents contribute to, and benefit from, growth. Fundamental to achieving this is a steady supply of skills and jobs, fostering local business growth and effective support to help people get on in life.

This is especially important as every area looks to contribute to the delivery of a successful industrial strategy in a post-Brexit Britain.

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But new research commissioned by the LGA reveals that the skills gap is worsening. By 2024 there will be more than four million too few high-skilled people to take up available jobs, two million too many with intermediate skills and more than six million too many low-skilled. Failure to address these gaps puts at risk 4 per cent of future economic growth, equivalent to a loss of economic output of £90 billion, leaving the average worker £1,176 a year worse off.

Nine million people lack literacy and numeracy skills, more than half of all unemployed people do not claim benefits or receive employment support from Jobcentre Plus, while 5.5 million people want a job or more hours.

All of this is bad for the economy, employers and individuals.

And importantly, the picture varies between areas – with some places at or close to full employment and with skilled workforces, while others are still recovering from recession and facing challenges in employment, pay and productivity. For example, manufacturing accounts for more than one in five jobs in Burnley but fewer that one in 50 in Cambridge, while the proportion of residents with low qualifications ranges from one in three in parts of the West Midlands to one in 17 in parts of London. This is why we need a system that responds to the very real challenges and opportunities in different areas.

Yet both the employment and skills systems are highly centralised, with little or no scope for local areas to influence priorities or funding so they can target support. National agencies lack a common plan on how to work together, and have no duty to discuss with democratically elected councillors how services will join up in their areas around service users and reflect local economic priorities.

“Manufacturing accounts for more than one in five jobs in Burnley but fewer that one in 50 in Cambridge”

www.local.gov.uk

Work Local – the plan

At the same time, accountabilities between national agencies are highly fragmented – with £10.5 billion of employment and skills funding commissioned nationally by Whitehall or its agencies, scattered across 20 different national schemes.

We can ill-afford this fragmented approach to employment and skills services.

This is why the LGA is putting forward ‘Work Local: our vision for an integrated and devolved employment and skills service’. Led by combined authorities and groups of councils, in partnership with local stakeholders, Work Local areas will plan, commission and have oversight of a joinedup service bringing together advice and guidance, employment, skills, apprenticeship and business support around place. It will provide a more coherent offer for the unemployed and low skilled of all ages, while supporting local economic growth by forging better links between training providers and employers.

We recommend practical steps that should be taken now to make our vision a reality.

Across a medium-sized combined authority,

Work Local could each year result in 8,500 more people in work, additional fiscal benefits of £280 million and a benefit to the economy of £420 million.

There are clear benefits – for the economy, residents and delivery organisations – in improving how employment and skills services respond to local needs and how they are organised and delivered locally.

Local government is ready to lead. Our vision is ambitious, and we recognise it requires everyone involved to think and act differently, but the potential gains are significant for the local and national economy and for our residents and businesses. We believe it can be achieved, with the political will to do so. We recognise that no one organisation has all the solutions. That’s why we are keen to hear your views on our proposal over the summer, to build a coordinated partnership with a clear vision for the future.

And finally, we’d like to thank the councils that shared their expertise, knowledge and ideas with us and the Learning and Work Institute that helped with the development of this vision.

You can find out more about our proposals in ‘Work Local: our vision for an integrated and devolved employment and skills services’ and respond to our consultation, which closes on 5 September 2017, by visiting www.local.gov.uk/worklocal

August 2017

The LGA wants to see a new ‘one-stop’ local service at the heart of a reformed employment and skills system, bringing together information, advice and the delivery of employment, skills and wider support for individuals and employers.

These Work Local services would: • bring together and localise support services, thereby reducing costs and better responding to local needs • make full use of physical assets – colleges, councils, universities, chambers of commerce, schools, libraries – that host or deliver employment and skills services • have a clear offer for individuals and employers • connect to wider services, partners and support.

Funding would be devolved through block grants to combined authorities and groups of councils, which would take a convening and leading role in partnership with national government, local enterprise partnerships, public and private sector employers and other partners. Areas would agree local strategies and deliver on them, within a national framework setting out clear, common entitlements.

By pooling budgets, aligning objectives and removing silos, Work Local can deliver significant economies of scale, and deliver more accessible, responsive and integrated support for individuals, employers and partners.

This year, we want central and local government to agree to Work Local pathfinders by 2022, and then to have a stronger local role in the current employment and skills system. We want to begin the transfer of funding and powers to those areas most ready to take the lead by 2020.

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Enterprising councils More and more councils are exploiting commercial opportunities to generate income to support vital public services

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ore than 200 people – mostly councillors – attended a workshop on enterprising councils at the LGA’s recent annual conference in Birmingham. Those numbers demonstrate how, during these tough financial times in local government, interest in commercial activity has continued to grow.

Generating income through fees and charges or trading can be a viable way to maintain vital public services. It can also be a way of supplying services that the market does not offer, services at risk of not being feasible, or presenting an affordable alternative for people if a lack of competition has inflated local prices. New, discretionary services can give residents more choice.

Setting up trading companies or investments may seem further removed from the core purpose of a council but can bring revenue back into the council and indeed into the area, when trading at a regional or national level.

The decisions made about commercial activity, and what options to pursue, should be informed and driven by the political aims and objectives of the council. The decisions should be in line with the key outcomes the

council is wishing to achieve, whether that be increased housing, employment or growth of the economy. Success relates to the ability to continue providing quality, local services, rather than trading for trading’s sake.

For those councils considering going down the commercialisation path, the LGA can give you a hand. We have a number of support offers for commercial activities, including a commercial skills training package delivered in partnership with the Institute of Directors; an extension to the LGA’s Productivity Expert offer to fund councils who wish to engage with a commercial expert; and the LGA’s commercial skills procurement solution (CSPS), offering councils a bespoke solution to finding

“Success relates to the ability to continue providing quality, local services, rather than trading for trading’s sake”

commercial skills, ensuring a competitive price for specialist expertise.

We have also issued some practical guidance – ‘Enterprising councils: supporting councils’ income generation activity’ – which helps turn commercial plans into reality and includes helpful case studies from local authorities already well-advanced along this route.

For example, Sevenoaks District Council recognised in 2010 that government spending was unlikely to return to preausterity levels, and that it would need to change its approach to finding efficiencies and savings if it was to maintain the level of service expected by residents.

The council took a hit early on by reducing revenue spending by a third over two years while it looked at alternative ways to generate income. It has a property management strategy for buying and selling local assets, which started with the purchase of a single office block and has now extended to more diverse properties, including a petrol station and the transformation of a car park into a new hotel that is ready to be leased.

Similarly, Nottingham City Council has started to adopt a more business-like approach to delivering its services, and waste management was no exception. Trade Waste now operates as its own distinct service, with the service sold to businesses both locally and in neighbouring areas.

As a result, there has been a reduction in the cost of commercial waste collection by nearly 15 per cent and a decrease in operating costs for domestic waste by £575,000. This approach has increased turnover by £1.9 million a year.

There are many more examples of councils up and down the country embarking on similar commercialisation projects, but this isn’t necessarily the right approach for everyone. However, councils have always been enterprising, and innovative approaches to service delivery are becoming second nature.

‘Enterprising councils: supporting councils’ income generation activity’ is available free at www.local.gov.uk/publications, and further information about the LGA’s support offer can also be found at www.local.gov.uk/commercialisation

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www.local.gov.uk

Sharing services Councils are delivering essential services jointly with partners from beyond their boundaries

Cllr William Nunn is Chairman of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board

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ollaborative working across council boundaries was once thought inconceivable, what with party political differences and the mere size of the country. Today, however, it’s common practice.

More than 98 per cent of councils are now sharing services, whether that be back office functions or more visible ones our residents access on a day-to-day basis. Not only has it meant that services have become more efficient, but councils have saved a massive £619 million in the process.

After refreshing the LGA’s national map of shared services, we now know that there are 488 individual arrangements across the country. They are so embedded in day-to-day delivery that they have become ‘business as usual’ for most councils.

The emphasis and focus for many now lies on improving performance and services, as councils seek to respond to the ever-changing needs and demands within their communities.

Take Devon and Somerset County Councils, for example. They have combined their trading standards functions and made efficiency savings of more than £1 million. Not only has this improved customer experience but it has also created greater resilience.

Councils have gained confidence – in collaboration with their back office shared services – to the extent that they now feel emboldened to deliver essential services jointly, often beyond their historical boundaries and with partners they traditionally wouldn’t have worked so closely August 2017

“We’re starting to see an increase in the number of councils working with other public sector bodies, most notably in health, fire and police services” with. We know this because we’re starting to see an increase in the number of councils working with other public sector bodies, most notably in health, fire and police services.

Procurement and commissioning, however, still generate the highest levels of savings. In 2016, the London Boroughs of Brent and Harrow combined their procurement teams to form HuB Procurement Services. This collaborative approach has delivered more than £500,000 in savings to date. Beyond this, these councils are also reaping the benefits of economies of scale, attracting a wider workforce and sharing best practice.

On my own patch, we’ve adopted a shared management approach. Despite not sharing a border and being in different counties, South Holland District Council and Breckland Council began sharing management in 2010 as a way of increasing our capacity and resilience, while at the same time trying to reduce costs and safeguard services.

The partnership has had its ups and downs, as any relationship does, but, with

a programme of transformation, good communication and strong leadership, we have strengthened the partnership and are delivering savings of around £1.1 million a year. This collaboration has meant we have more capacity to improve the services our communities rely on.

The LGA’s shared services map confirms that councils are working successfully together to save money. Shared services are no longer just the realm of the most innovative councils, but rather standard practice for councils to improve services, increase resilience and save money in times of significant change – cementing councils’ reputation as the most efficient part of the public sector.

We’ve come to a point where best practice must move beyond councils’ boundaries and start permeating the public sector. There is much to be learned about how to deliver more efficient and effective services through greater collaboration, and councils are ready and waiting to share their knowledge.

The LGA’s updated shared services map can be seen at www.local.gov.uk/our-support/ efficiency-and-income-generation/shared-services/shared-services-map. If your shared service is not currently included, you can update your council’s entry using this link.

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With LG Inform Plus you can: • view 1,600+ data items, covering 58 million people, from birth rates to employment patterns, health to housing • check 568 individual council service standards from 125 different service areas • find out what your council must and can do with 6,000 Powers and Duties links to current legislation • save money by using the service’s 1,500 Records Retention schedules which lists information for over 100 different service areas • Access 5,000+ data items, via our data feed, for your reports, apps and systems.

LG Inform Plus provides the detailed information you need to make informed decisions and with its report writer, an easy way to present this.

Take a closer look: www.local.gov.uk/about-lginformplus Improving services through information

comment Shisha smoking: a challenge for public health Cllr Heather Acton is Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health at Westminster City Council

It’s been 10 years since the introduction of the smoking ban and most people now recognise that having public spaces free of harmful smoke is sensible.

Regulation always needs to respond to reality, however, and, as we see different forms of smoking become popular, we need to think about how local government and regulatory bodies should react. In Westminster, 13 per cent of residents are smokers – a marked decrease over the last five years. Part of this reduction is down to the continued work of information campaigns and ‘stop smoking’ services, but the prevention of indoor smoking in public places has also played a significant role.

However, there is one form of harmful smoking that has seen a considerable increase in popularity and availability within our city. In 2010, Westminster had 60 premises offering shisha pipe-smoking facilities, but we now have more than 130. Shisha smoking is a challenge for public health as there is much misunderstanding of the risks involved.

Many smokers believe shisha smoking is less harmful than other types of smoking and that water filters out harmful chemicals. There’s also a lack of awareness about the addictive nature of shisha smoking and the connected health risks around sharing pipes.

This is worrying, particularly given shisha smoking’s rising popularity among younger people. Businesses can also be confused – or plead ignorance – around the regulation of shisha smoking, leading to unregulated activity.

August 2017

“We need more tools to support responsible shisha businesses and help make all businesses compliant”

To help make sure people can make informed choices and to reduce the disruption that unregulated shisha premises can cause to local areas, at Westminster we’ve identified three priorities. First, a communication and engagement strategy to inform businesses of their responsibilities – including those associated with new tobacco legislation brought in last year.

Second, the promotion of shisha public health messages, in a range of languages and channels, so that everyone is aware of the risks.

Third, we need to work with our partners to lobby government to make shisha a licensable activity. This would give us more tools to support responsible businesses and help make all businesses compliant.

Some 10 years on from the smoking ban, local government is still working hard as a sector to reduce the harms associated with smoking, whatever type of smoking is involved.

Our ‘One Deep Breath’ research gave us a better understanding of the local context. It showed that shisha cafes could provide focal points for social gathering, with 43 per cent of people smoking with friends. A lack of awareness about the health harms of shisha smoking remains the biggest challenge in cessation, so we need to find new ways to get this message across.

If you are interested in collaborating to ensure that the public health risks of smoking shisha are properly understood and communicated, please email me at hacton@westminster.gov.uk

The LGA is interested to hear of any work you are doing in this area.

Please email greg.burns@local.gov.uk

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group leaders’ comments Build on our foundation of integrity

“There is a risk that the value of local government is forgotten, so all of us need to speak up at every opportunity”

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he vibrancy of 1,400 people exchanging ideas for better local governance is phenomenal and our group members were well represented at this year’s LGA annual conference, right through the three days.

Our members took centre stage on a number of occasions and spoke well in meetings and events. Communities Secretary Sajid Javid’s speech was less well received and more work is clearly needed here.

Contributions from former Independent MP Martin Bell; Martin Surl, Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire; Lord Victor Adebowale, one of our VicePresidents; and Leanne Wood AM, Leader of Plaid Cymru, showed how our voice is being heard nationally.

Just before the conference, we held group elections and I would like to thank you very much for your support. We are now re-establishing our group executive, regional teams and board representatives for the forthcoming year.

It is easy to be gloomy and there are tough times ahead, including the £5.8 billion gap in funding by 2020. There is a risk that the value of local government is forgotten if we are not careful, so all of us need to speak up at every opportunity.

The LGA has three key areas of work now: getting things right following the Grenfell Tower disaster; funding our services, in competition with the DUP it would seem; and getting the best from Brexit.

Cllr Marianne Overton MBE is Leader of the LGA’s Independent Group

So what next for our group?

Let’s build on our foundation of integrity, focused on listening and working for residents.

Let’s increase skills, knowledge and recruitment to our groups. Let’s increase our media coverage. Let’s enhance group executive and regional support across England and Wales. Let’s enhance connections with Parliament and with parish councils.

We know about connections and relationships – it is what we’re good at and it is what gets us elected.

I hope you will join with me on this journey.

Yes, we dare to be different, but let’s work together to get the best for you, for our councils and for our residents. I look forward to working closely with you in the forthcoming year.

chairman’s comment

What is right in local government

Lord Porter is Chairman of the LGA

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e heard from many speakers at the LGA’s annual conference, on many different subjects. But there was one speech that got everyone talking – and it wasn’t mine.

It is clear that councillors from all parties disagreed with Communities Secretary Sajid Javid’s comments about local government since the Grenfell Tower disaster.

They know they have strong bonds with their communities, and I know you are doing amazing things for your residents.

Councils from across London have offered help and support following the fire, and the LGA continues to have

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staff embedded in the Department for Communities and Local Government to help with the wider repercussions and work arising from this awful tragedy.

Cllr Peter John, Leader of Southwark Council, Cllr Richard Watts, Leader of Islington Council, and Cllr Sue Murphy, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, as well as Mohammed Kozbar, Chairman of Finsbury Park Mosque, spoke movingly at the LGA’s conference of their work with residents following the terrorist outrages in their areas – and the support they have received from the wider local government family and neighbouring communities.

And day in, day out, I know we all endeavour to do the best we can to

serve our local residents – it’s why we became councillors.

So we will have to continue to defend the sector, and carry on having robust and honest conversations with the Secretary of State.

However, we need to ensure he fights our corner in government, as he did when he helped get us the extra £2 billion for social care. We won’t get anywhere trading blows, and Sajid has adopted a more conciliatory tone in subsequent speeches, which is to be welcomed.

Some of his comments were ill-judged and the good bits of his speech were overshadowed, but I know his heart is in the right place and he is proud – as I always am – to represent and defend you.

“Councillors have strong bonds with their communities and I know you are doing amazing things for your residents” www.local.gov.uk

Cllr David Simmonds CBE is Leader of the LGA’s Conservative Group

Cllr Howard Sykes MBE is Leader of the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group

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

Key priorities for the future

Fight for the funding we need

Councils’ crucial support role

“I am a passionate believer in the positive difference that we as councillors can make to the lives of our communities”

“We have a Secretary of State who seems utterly clueless to the consequences of the cuts imposed on councils”

“As we have a hung parliament, a key set of LGA ‘asks’ is crucial”

H

aving been involved with the LGA for many years in a variety of different roles, I am honoured to have been elected as the new LGA Conservative Group Leader.

Conservative local government has a wealth of talent to draw on and I am looking forward to working with my colleagues on the group executive, and our board members, to ensure that the voice of our councillors is clearly heard within the LGA. In the limited space available here, I would list my key priorities for the coming year as being to build on the LGA’s recent success to ensure that the funding of adult social care is put on a sustainable long-term footing; to ensure that Brexit results in powers being repatriated, where applicable, to communities rather than to Whitehall; and to work with the Government to get more homes built and more people into home ownership.

In relation to these issues and many others, I am a passionate believer in the positive difference that we as councillors can make to the lives of our communities.

As we enter the holiday period, I hope that first readers will have an opportunity to enjoy some rest time over the coming weeks ahead of the party conference season and the start of what will no doubt be another busy and eventful political year.

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GA conference this year should have been a celebration of the achievements we have made in our first 20 years, but the mood was understandably sombre following recent terrorist attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire.

A powerful plenary saw leading councillors from Manchester and London share experiences from their councils’ response, and insights on preventing such tragedies ever happening again.

Sadly, this was in direct contrast with the insulting speech from Communities Secretary Sajid Javid. Instead of offering support, Javid used the failings of one flagship Tory council to talk down all councils. I said it went down “like a bucket of cold sick” and, having spoken to colleagues across all party divides, that may actually have been one of the kinder descriptions.

The serious point is that we now have a Secretary of State who seems utterly clueless to the consequences of the cuts imposed on councils, and who is reckless with words even in the aftermath of a national tragedy.

We will continue to seek meaningful dialogue with the Government, and fight for the funding we desperately need. But if it isn’t forthcoming, the new Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary, Andrew Gwynne MP, had a direct message: “Step aside, because if you are not willing to do it, I am.”

Hear, hear!

I

take over the leadership of the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group in interesting political times.

I would like to start by thanking all Liberal Democrat councillors who both took part and voted in the recent group elections. I also wish to pay tribute to Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson for all his hard work as our Group Leader and ViceChair of the LGA for the last six years.

I am looking forward to working with the rest of the LGA team, our councillors across the country and colleagues in both Houses of Parliament.

The recent LGA conference was great to catch up with colleagues after a busy election period and to hear from our guest speaker, Alistair Carmichael MP and Chief Whip.

It was good to see the LGA launch its ‘Growing places’ report. As we have a hung parliament, a key set of ‘asks’ such as this is crucial.

But, most importantly, our conference remembered the horrific events of the recent terrorist attacks and the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire. All our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, families and friends.

There were many examples at the conference of how local government, working with the emergency services and residents, can play a crucial role in supporting people and their families.

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

August 2017

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Everyone designs Design Council have been supporting the transformation of public services using design for nearly 20 years. Our target area this year is public health.

We might think a designer is the graphic designer inside the communications department or perhaps the architect designing a new community centre, but design is a process, a way of thinking, and we can all be designers. Design Council is a leader in design thinking. Double Diamond, our robust and evidencebased design process, has been adopted globally by companies such as Google

“We have been using design thinking to tackle challenges such as homelessness, care home service provision and adult social care”

Ellie Runcie is Director of Growth and Innovation at Design Council

and other leading organisations to tackle complex challenges.

Increasingly, we have been using the Double Diamond and design thinking in the public sector to tackle challenges such as homelessness, care home service provision and adult social care. More than 100 local authorities have been supported

by Design Council including Mendip District Council, which transformed how it provides community services with the design of a new housing and complex needs framework, and Haringey Council, which is looking to redesign its approach to support children leaving care.

What we have found through our programme is a drive to redesign existing

services. Adopting design thinking has enabled local authority teams to step back and redesign problems. If we just focus on the service change, we are likely to get caught up in organisational structures that are not focused on people. Design thinking is people focused and is crucial to bringing about real change for service users and residents.

This year we are focusing on supporting authorities to address key challenges in public health. Funded by the LGA, councils can apply to be part of a 16-week accelerated learning programme, focused on applying design tools and techniques to tackle public health challenges.

We are delighted to be partnering with the LGA again and look forward to getting started with new teams across the country.

Applications are now open for the next Design in the Public Sector programme.

For more information, please visit www.designcouncil.org.uk/DIPS

Know your patch

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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 LGInform_ad_first_v02.indd | first comment 28L16-71

1

17/03/2016 11:48

www.local.gov.uk

parliament Debating new legislation The Queen’s Speech is one of the centrepieces of the Westminster calendar.

In her speech announcing the opening of the new parliamentary session, the Queen addresses MPs, Peers and dignitaries, setting out the Bills her Government plans to take through the Commons and the Lords.

The speech is important as it demonstrates that the Government can command the support of a majority of MPs to allow it to pass legislation and govern the country. This year’s was unusual as it announced a two-year parliamentary session, rather than the usual one.

There was also a ‘confidence and supply’ agreement between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to give the Government the majority needed to get its legislative programme agreed by the Commons.

While there were some notable omissions from this year’s Queen’s Speech, such as the Local Government Finance Bill (see first 613), the measures announced still

“MPs from across the political divide spoke of the reduction in funding their councils have faced since 2010” August 2017

generated plenty of debate. As the speech was discussed, several MPs and Peers raised points that will be familiar to local government and demonstrated that the LGA and councils are being heard in Parliament.

MPs from across the political divide spoke of the reduction in funding their councils have faced since 2010: almost all praised local government’s resilience. In the Lords, former LGA Chairman Baroness Eaton set out her belief in councils’ ability to provide continuity through Brexit, delivering local leadership and economic growth.

Clive Betts MP, Chair of the Communities and Local Government Committee, led calls for government to clarify its position on businesses rates devolution. In the Lords, LGA Vice-President Lord Beecham questioned how a phased introduction of devolved business rates would work. Local Government Minister Marcus Jones MP assured MPs that the Government is still “absolutely committed” to the idea.

Funding for social care also featured in the debates. Many Peers said they were

unconvinced by the Government’s plans to consult on adult social care, pointing at a lack of urgency, while some on the Government benches gave a cautious welcome to the promise of a Green Paper. MPs, including the new Shadow Communities Secretary, Andrew Gwynne, pointed to the LGA’s calls for action to plug the funding gap.

Giving children the best start in life is something that both national and local politicians attach great importance to. Conservative MPs such as Tim Loughton welcomed the consultation on schools funding, while urging Education Secretary Justine Greening MP to reach a “meaningful settlement” quickly. The Labour frontbench also used the debates to call for action to address the growing demands on children’s social care services.

Once the debates concluded, MPs voted by 323 to 309 to approve the Queen’s Speech. Having won this crucial vote, the Government is now starting to publish its new legislation in Parliament.

We know that Brexit and the Repeal Bill will be a major focus for this parliamentary session, and it is an opportunity for us to make the case for double devolution to councils. The Government also aims to bring forward plans on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), housing, adult social care, schools funding and skills.

These will be key opportunities for the LGA and councils to make the case for the changes local government needs to continue to build successful local economies that work for all our residents, and to provide the services we all value.

We will update first readers on our lobbying on behalf of local government over the coming months.

For more on the LGA’s work in Parliament, please visit www.local.gov.uk/parliament

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councillor Helping residents in distress Dealing with difficult – and sometimes distressing – issues faced by local residents can often be one of the hardest challenges for a councillor.

Residents dealing with housing, social care or health issues may well come to you as their community leader and representative, for advice and support. These often complex and detailed issues are likely to have an impact on family relationships, or may result from underlying relationship difficulties, as well as financial or health challenges.

Learning to deal with a range of concerns – from parking issues to neighbourhood disputes, overcrowded housing to education – may lead to the pressure on you building up. Councillors often feel out of their depth as to how they can help, especially if it is a problem which has no immediate solution.

The tendency to ‘shy away’ from dealing with these problems is understandable, as is the wish to dissuade residents from

discussing them. However if these concerns are not addressed properly they can have a serious impact on the emotional and physical wellbeing of the people living in your area.

Managing professional and personal boundaries within the time you have available can be a challenge for any councillor. The LGA workbook, ‘Supporting constituents with complex issues’, takes a look at how you can best approach these difficult but often vital conversations, through good listening, support and signposting skills used by practitioners, and the use of a simple three-stage intervention model.

Brief Encounters® is a working model that provides guidelines and boundaries for listening to problems without becoming overwhelmed, and encourages people to seek and assist with finding their own solutions. It can be used by anyone who believes in and understands the value of really listening to residents, and who is confident in their listening skills.

Councillors who find themselves in a difficult position can use good listening skills to communicate that they value that resident and what they have to say – see the case study below.

‘Supporting constituents with complex problems’ is available free at www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/supporting-constituents-c-2ea.pdf.

It is now supported by a new e-learning module available at https://lms.learningnexus. co.uk/ivy_lms/idxlms.htm. If you have not used the e-learning modules previously, please contact elearning@local.gov.uk for a username and password.

Case study: tough call As the local councillor, I had a call from a young woman about the transfer of a tenancy agreement.

She suggested that it would not be possible for her to have the tenancy of the house in which she lived as her name was not on the agreement and her husband, in whose name it was, had left her for someone else. She was raising the spectre of eviction and being out on the streets with her children.

I made a number of enquiries with the housing authorities and they assured me that no eviction was planned and that she could indeed have the tenancy transferred into her name. However, both parties would be needed to sign off the

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old agreement, and then a new one could be established. She had told them that she would not come in to their office to sign the agreement at the same time as her estranged husband as she did not want to meet him again.

After another call to her and some discussion, I arranged with her to attend the office before her husband, so she did not meet him. Then he followed to do his signing at a later appointment.

The real problem was not a possible eviction, but a breakdown of the relationship between the two parties and it was good to know that the solution was an easy one to arrange and not the extreme problem first raised with me.

www.local.gov.uk

elections Smaller parties fall back

“It is left to the Liberal Democrats to challenge the Conservative/Labour duopoly in England”

Turnout 21.6%

East Cambridgeshire, Soham North CON HELD 34.7% over Lib Dem Turnout 17.8% Eastleigh, Hedge End Grange Park LIB DEM HELD 29.8% over Con Turnout 20.1%

Middlesbrough, Park End & Beckfield IND HELD 22.9% over Lab Turnout 15.1% seat, they polled more than 10 per cent of the vote in just two constituencies at the General Election, compared with 16 in 2015.

They did finish second in two by-elections held in wards where they have a record of being competitive; in the five other contests where they had a candidate they nowhere polled more than 80 votes. There seems little chance of the party reaching 200 councillors nationwide any time soon.

In these circumstances, it is left to the Liberal Democrats alone to try to challenge the Conservative/Labour party political duopoly in England. Their comeback seemed to be going well until the General Election was called, but they now face starting the climb all over again.

We will consider their prospects of doing so next month as their new leader prepares for his first conference. Currently, though, the party can claim less than 10 per cent of English councillors compared with 82 per cent for the ‘big two’, and has majority control in just one London borough and seven district councils.

Finally, an electoral quirk for those interested in such things. The ‘by-election’ in Powys Yscir was caused by no nominations being received for the contest originally scheduled for 4 May. Although candidates were returned unopposed in 88 of the 852 wards in Wales on that day, this was the sole instance of no-one at all coming forward.

For more information on these and other recent by-elections, please visit www.local.gov.uk/first

August 2017

Durham, Dawdon LAB HELD 4.5% over Res

Middlesbrough, Ayresome LAB HELD 23.3% over Con Turnout 16.7%

Professors Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher are Directors of Plymouth University’s Elections Centre

The 16 local by-elections held since the General Election have yielded little in the way of drama, with an exchange of seats between the Conservatives and Independents the only movement.

In another way, however, the ‘new’ politics was all too evident. UKIP managed to field a candidate for just two of the vacancies compared with nine out of 16 contestations the last time the seats were fought. In each case, the party polled a humiliating 1.2 per cent share of the vote – amounting to just 42 votes in all.

It now seems almost certain that UKIP will lose half of its remaining 300 or so councillors at next May’s local elections and find itself reduced to the status of bystanders, even in previously heartland councils like Basildon, Great Yarmouth, and Thurrock.

Caroline Lucas’s triumphant re-election in Brighton Pavilion on 8 June – she polled more than half of all votes cast there – rather served to overshadow that the Greens, too, have fallen back. Leaving aside Lucas and the Speaker’s

local by-elections

North Warwickshire, Coleshill South CON HELD 20.2% over Lab Turnout 32.4% Powys, Yscir CON GAIN FROM IND 3.8% over Ind

Turnout 63.5%

Sheffield, Nether Edge & Sharrow LAB HELD 2.2% over Green Turnout 37.3% South Gloucestershire, Winterbourne CON HELD 14.2% over Lab Turnout 29.1% South Oxfordshire, Didcot South LAB HELD 7.1% over Con Turnout 18.8% South Oxfordshire, Didcot West CON HELD 3.6% over Lab Turnout 17.6% Stockton-On-Tees, Yarm CON HELD 21.6% over Ind Turnout 30.8% Three Rivers, Chorleywood South & Maple Cross LIB DEM HELD 37.1% over Con Turnout 37.7% Waltham Forest, William Morris LAB HELD 49.8% over Green Turnout 30.5% West Lancashire, Derby IND GAIN FROM CON 6.6% over Lab Turnout 31.2%

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#ncasc17

GOLD SPONSOR

Share good practice, network with colleagues and progress issues of national policy for children and adult services at this year’s NCAS Conference.

With a mix of of ministerial addresses, plenaries, sub-plenaries and workshops, this conference is vital to elected members, directors of children’s and adult services, directors of public health, senior managers, policy makers as well as organisations with responsibilities for children and adults in the statutory, voluntary and private sectors. Alongside the conference will be an exhibition of suppliers and providers of relevant services as well as a lively Speakers’ Corner.

Speakers include: Emma Bennett, Director of Children’s Services, City of Wolverhampton Council Niall Dickson, Chief Executive, NHS Confederation Alastair Gibbons, Executive Director for Children’s Services, Birmingham City Council

John O’Brien, Secretary to the Inquiry, IICSA Lisa Pascoe, Deputy Director, Social Care, Ofsted Helen Riley, Deputy Chief Executive and Director for Families and Communities, Staffordshire County Council

Heléna Herklots, Chief Executive, Carers UK

Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive, Public Health England

Jeremy Hughes CBE, Chief Executive, Alzheimer’s Society

Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Inspector, Adult Social Care, Care Quality Commission

Clive Jones, Director of Children’s and Adult Services, Telford & Wrekin Council

Margaret Willcox, President, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)

Alison Michalska, President, Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS)

Book your place at www.local.gov.uk/events