Lgafirst563

News and views from the Local Government Association “While this Budget has not brought further cuts for local government, the next two years will be the toughest yet for people who use and rely upon the services which councils provide.”

Sir Merrick Cockell, LGA Chairman, p11

P8 Make do and mend

There is more than £400 million of untapped value from household waste which could be reused P11 The Budget What’s in it for local government?

Fortnightly Issue 563 22 March 2014

P14 Parliament Will funding for Care Bill reforms prove adequate?

P12 Councillor diversity Redressing the gender imbalance in Wales

EDITORIAL

Pension rights Last year the Communities and Local Government Select Committee published its ‘Councillors on the frontline’ report. This highlighted the achievements of councillors in representing their communities, getting projects off the ground and working with partners to improve their areas. It also highlighted some issues that many of us will be familiar with.

Firstly, the role is becoming even more community-based. Councillors are spending more time supporting their constituents and working with external organisations such as GPs, schools, police, local businesses and voluntary organisations. Secondly, recruitment and retention is becoming increasingly difficult, for three reasons: some people are put off by the time commitment; employers are not always supportive; and while people do not become councillors for the money, the commitment involved can be a deterrent when set against a possible loss of earnings and a potentially negative impact on their careers.

It is against this background that the benefits of allowing councillors to join the Local Government Pension Scheme can be seen.

I was therefore very disappointed by DCLG’s confirmation last week that they intend to bar councillors from the scheme despite the vast majority of respondents to their consultation supporting continued access to the scheme.

With the vast majority of responses from the public supporting the scheme remaining open to councillors, and just two supporting the Government’s proposals, it is not as if there is any discernible popular demand for this reform!

DCLG has had a proud record on delivering the localism agenda since 2010 but on this issue ministers have got it wrong. I will continue to lobby on behalf of councillors until the relevant regulations are laid before Parliament.

Cllr Gary Porter is Leader of the LGA’s Conservative Group Editor Karen Thornton Design Liberata Design Advertising Amanda Cowen Write to first, Local Government House, Smith

Square, London SW1P 3HZ T (editorial) 020 7664 3294 T (advertising) 020 7664 3012 email

first@local.gov.uk Photography Photofusion and Ingimage

unless otherwise stated Print BGP Ltd, Bicester Circulation 18,500 (January 2014) 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.

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FIRST NEWS

Flexibility needed on council tax

A compulsory council tax discount which is received by wealthy workingage people living alone in large homes is making it harder for local authorities to protect discounts for struggling families on low incomes.

New LGA analysis shows that it is costing councils more than £200 million a year to give a compulsory discount to people living in properties rated band E and above where there is only one council taxpayer. These are typically bigger and more expensive than the average family home.

At the same time, one in three councils expects it will have to reduce council tax support for families on low incomes because of a major shortfall in government funding for the subsidy.

Government rules stipulate that councils must give a 25 per cent discount for all homes with only one adult liable to pay council tax. The LGA wants councils to have the

flexibility to adjust the discount for working people living alone in large houses (council tax band E and above), while protecting discounts for single people in smaller homes and all pensioners.

Cllr Peter Fleming, Chair of the LGA’s Improvement Board, said: “It is difficult to justify why discounts for wealthy professionals living in large homes are protected while nearby there are low-income families struggling to make ends meet who are having their discounts cut.

“This ‘wealthy bachelor’ discount currently costs councils £200 miilion a year in lost council tax revenue and is subsidising individuals occupying large homes at a time when there is a dire shortage of housing. Giving local areas the option of removing this automatic discount would help protect discounts for struggling families and those who need it most.”

Inside this issue 05 Policy

Stop marketing e-cigs to children

06 Letters

Consultation gobbledygook

07 Opinion

Online election information

08 first feature

Reusing more waste could save £435 million

10 Devolution More powers for English councils

13 Dementia

Supporting people in the community

15 By-elections Good campaigns defeat apathy

Action needed on secondary places Councils are taking extraordinary measures to respond to the shortage of school places, including borrowing millions of pounds to make up for shortfalls in government grants.

However, one in three council areas need to take urgent action at secondary level over the next five years, council leaders have warned.

New LGA analysis of Department for Education figures suggests a third of local authority areas will need a total of 80,716 new secondary places by 2019/20. Unless more places are created, there will be shortfalls in an increasing number of authorities, rising from three this September to 49 in 2019/20.

In December the Government committed £2.35 billion to provide school places up to 2017, but some local authorities still face problems because there is not enough money or not enough space available to build.

The LGA is calling for local authorities to be given a single capital pot, with an indicative five-year allocation, so they can make the best possible use of funding over the

lifetime of the next Parliament. It also wants councils to be given powers to create new schools and work locally to find the best academy provider, if this is the preferred choice, and to be given a greater role in judging and approving free school proposals.

Cllr David Simmonds, Chairman of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “Councils created almost 90,000 additional primary places during the last academic year, but with about 130,000 still needed, we will not rest until there are enough places.

“However, as children move through primary school, securing new secondary places will become a significant issue. By giving the power to create schools back to councils, government could ensure places for children aged four to 18 can be delivered according to local demand, and in line with the local needs of mums and dads and their children.”

The LGA sets out a five-point plan for tackling school place shortages in ‘The council role in school planning’ (see www.local.gov. uk/publications).

Midnight marriage

News in brief Underemployment trap

A third of all young people will be out of work or trapped in underemployment by 2018 unless local areas are given more control over skills and training, the LGA has warned. Of the 2.5 million young people struggling to find enough work across England and Wales, only 340,000 are likely to find more over the next four years, leaving 2.12 million still unemployed or underemployed.

The true scale of youth employment is hidden because government headline figures focus on the unemployed and not young people who are only working part-time hours or are over-qualified for their current job. Cllr Peter Box, Chairman of the LGA’s Economy and Transport Board, said: “It is simply unacceptable that we expect a third of young people to be underemployed in 2018 and it would be a travesty if young people were being left behind when the rest of the economy is growing and benefiting from this.”

Garden city quango

The creation of a “separate, remote quango” to develop a new garden city at Ebbsfleet, Kent, is unnecessary, the LGA has warned. Sir Merrick Cockell, LGA Chairman, said: “Residents will be concerned that such a body, unelected and accountable to central government, could have the power to make local decisions about investment, planning, development and possibly even local transport. These decisions should be taken at the local level by councils working with their residents, LEPs and other local partners.”

Councillor pensions

© Alicia Clarke

Islington couple Peter McGraith and David Cabreza (pictured) will be Britain’s first same-sex couple to get married on the stroke of midnight on Friday 28 March.

The service is believed to be Britain’s first – cheekily pipping nuptials in other boroughs by exchanging the vows and completing the necessary paperwork at midnight. Cllr Richard Watts, Leader of Islington Council, said: “We are excited for Peter and David ahead of their marriage at Islington Town Hall – it’s further recognition of our commitment to making Islington a fairer place.”

Government plans to limit English councillors’ access to the local government pension scheme are a “kick in the teeth”. LGA Chairman Sir Merrick Cockell said: “It is perplexing that ministers who have been busy adding to the workload of councillors by transferring functions from central to local government are now arguing that those same councillors should be classed as volunteers.

Fair remuneration is important so that people from all walks of life can afford to stand for office.

Otherwise, we risk local government becoming the exclusive preserve of a privileged few who have the luxury of time and money to spare. We will be urging the Government to listen to the feedback from its consultation and think again.”

FIRST NEWS

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Healthy schools, healthy citizens:

the council and school’s role in improving health outcomes 28 April 2014, London FREE to LGA members Healthy students are better learners and make healthy communities. Schools have a tremendous opportunity to positively impact on a child’s attitude towards healthy behaviours that can last a lifetime. Evidence shows that students’ health significantly affects their school achievement.

Behaviour change interventions in school are a cost effective way of increasing positive physical and mental health and of reducing health inequalities in later life.

Local authorities have a vital role to play in supporting schools to help them deliver and promote healthy behaviours among children and young people, resulting in better educational and health outcomes.

Confirmed speakers include: • Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England • John Martin, Headteacher, Bacon’s College Academy and Health Lead, London Headteacher Alliance • Joe Hayman, Chief Executive, Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education Association • Eustace de Sousa, Deputy Director Children, Young People and Families, Public Health England • Lucy Bailey, Head of How to Thrive, Hertfordshire County Council

Run by the LGA in partnership with Public Health England, this conference will explore how local authorities, schools and the NHS can effectively work together on their shared goals.

See www.local.gov.uk/events

firstpolicy 1WW centenary

Public health

Smoking substitutes and children E-cigarette advertising which targets children should be banned, the LGA has said. It is concerned that the current haziness surrounding the marketing of the battery-type devices is open to exploitation, but recognises that e-cigarettes and other nicotine delivery systems have public health benefits in helping smokers quit, when responsibly marketed. Cllr Katie Hall, Chair of the LGA’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “It is totally unacceptable for e-cigarette advertisers to target children. We cannot allow these devices to become a first step to long-term regular smoking for a generation of youngsters.

Manufacturers of e-cigarettes are using the same sophisticated tactics long employed to sell regular cigarettes. These involve sweet flavours, social media, and celebrities.”

Welfare Council tax support The localising of council tax support with a 10 per cent funding cut, combined with other welfare benefit changes, means that in some areas incentives to work have weakened rather than strengthened, according to the Commons’ Public Accounts Committee. Cllr Sharon Taylor, Chair of the LGA’s Finance Panel, said: “ The shortfall between the money councils receive to fund council tax support and the money we would need to protect those on low incomes is likely to reach £1 billion by 2016. At the same time, councils are tackling the biggest cuts in living memory and cannot afford to make up the difference. Government should consider giving local authorities the full amount of funding needed to provide council tax support and ensure

that decisions over council tax and discounts are fully localised.”

Children Integrated services The LGA is consulting on a set of shared ambitions for children, as part of its Rewiring Public Services campaign, with the aim of influencing party manifestos for 2015. Cllr David Simmonds, Chairman of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said: “We argued that what people want more than anything else is for services to be built and integrated around the needs of children and their families, not around buildings, institutions and wasteful bureaucracy. Our new consultation aims to build on these proposals, outlining a clear set of shared ambitions for children. The document asks how all parts of the public, private and voluntary sectors can work together with children

and young people, families and the wider community to achieve them.” See www.local.gov.uk/ our-ambition-for-children

Flooding Cash for roads The Government is providing an extra £140 million to help repair roads hit by weather damage. Cllr Mike Jones, Chair of the LGA’s Environment and Housing Board, said: “We do not yet know what the full bill for the cost of this winter’s devastating floods will be, but we expect it to be more than £140 million. Nevertheless, we are pleased the Government has recognised the need to provide funding for these extensive and costly repairs.

There is an even greater need for increased and consistent funding over a number of years for the road network to recover.”

Memorial repairs Councils can apply to the War Memorial Trust for grants towards the conservation and repair of local memorials. The trust administers grants across the UK, and information on eligibility and how to apply are available on its website (www. warmemorials.org). In addition, £5 million is available to help conserve, repair and protect First World War memorials and burial sites across the UK and overseas as part of the Government’s First World War Centenary programme (see www.gov.uk/government/ topical-events/first-world-warcentenary). The Government is working with partners to administer the additional funding.

Scrutiny Councillor survey The Centre for Public Scrutiny’s annual survey takes a comprehensive look at the operation of overview and scrutiny in local government.

Since 2004, CfPS has tracked some of the significant trends in the operation of the function in councils up and down the country. This is not just of academic interest – the information recorded has helped practitioners to explore how they can improve their own scrutiny arrangements, and to understand how others have tackled some of scrutiny’s biggest challenges.

To complete the survey, visit https://www.surveymonkey. com/s/YLW8JDY

first Readership survey A survey of councillors who receive first is due out at the end of this month – so look out for the email, and your chance to shape the content of your magazine. One lucky respondent to the survey will receive a free place at a paidfor LGA event of their choice.

FIRST POLICY

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sound bites Cllr Keith House (Lib Dem, Eastleigh) “Hampshire’s contract for school glue and glitter is worth over £1 million.

Sparkles for all!” www.twitter.com/CllrKeithHouse Cllr Mike O’Brien (Con, Medway) “At @medway_council with young people from Turkey, Portugal, Finland and Medway all debating education, environment and safety issues.

Excellent.” www.twitter.com/CllrMikeOBrien Cllr Lazzaro Pietragnoli (Lab, Camden) “Great news for #camden that the link has been scrapped, but still lots of questions remain about Euston and the #HS2 project in general.” www.twitter.com/lazzarop Cllr Brian Silvester (UKIP, Cheshire East) “#Gov borrow an EXTRA £2bn a WEEK. Gov to subsidise child care for couples on £300,000 per yr. Have they totally left leave of their senses?” www.twitter.com/CllrBSilvester Cllr John Edwards (Lab, Sandwell) “Good visit to @FoleshillFire station in Coventry this morning. Great crew delivering great fire and rescue services @WestMidsFire.” www.twitter.com/JohnEdwards33 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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FIRST COMMENT

letters

STAR LETTER

Consultation gobbledygook My council is currently consulting on its delivery development plan document.

One of the questions reads as follows: “If you answered no to question 4 (1), (2) or (3), please set out what change(s) you consider necessary to make the Delivery Development Plan Document or IDS legally compliant or sound, having regard to the test you have identified at Question 5 above where this relates to soundness...”

Not all of my ward residents have degrees in planning. Or, indeed, degrees in reading gobbledygook like that. Many people will not know what ‘compliant’ or ‘sound’ means in this context. They will want to complain about their village being taken out of

the Green Belt, but most will be put off by questions like that.

When I suggested that a better form of words could have been chosen, I was told that for the statutory consultation we have to ask for specific information and questions based on a model form laid down by the Planning Inspectorate.

Many of my residents have already asked me: “Does the council really want us to comment? They’re not going to change anything, are they?”

I suggest that someone at the Planning Inspectorate be sent on one of the training courses run by the Plain English Campaign.

Cllr Peter Jones (Lib Dem) Chiltern District Council

OPINION

Online election information Salaries for councillors Oxfordshire’s independent panel has scrapped the special responsibility allowances.The Labour Party said if it won control, we would cut councillors’ allowances by 20 per cent.

My personal view is that all councillors, from whatever political group, do as much work as MPs but – like council budgets – get shafted by central government. More cuts to the money councillors receive will mean only the richest and retired will be councillors in the future. In my view, allowances should be scrapped and councillors have a basic salary decided by an independent panel.

Eric Pickles’ erosion of councils’ budgets is bad enough but public apathy is also a danger – you only have to look at voter turnout in local elections. The only way to combat this is to allow people from all walks of life to become councillors.

Cllr Mark Cherry (Lab) Oxfordshire County Council

Planning and health

Your article regarding licensing playing a role in public health (first 560) struck a chord.

When last we spoke about ‘localism’ influencing the decision making for planning applications, I was sceptical about the way the appeal inspectors could be affected by it. I was right: they weren’t influenced by localism one jot – anymore than they will be influenced by the public health songs from local authorities wanting to improve the health of their residents by controlling the number of alcohol outlets.

Every time a ‘good’ idea comes out of Westminster, someone fails to tell all the interested parties and the result is that hopeful confusion turns into sour resignation for yet another government failure to change the way in which we work for the better.

Cllr David Carr (Con) Medway Council

I would like to add my support to Cllr Tony Page on his article about outdated licencing and planning regulations (first 560).

For quite some time I have been frustrated with the present system not allowing the wishes of residents to be taken into account because things that matter to them are not considered ‘material objections’. For far too long, fast food takeaways and alcohol outlets have expanded with the predictable health related problems that follow.

Health officials have made presentations on the effects this is having on society, yet we on licencing and planning committees are hamstrung because the effects on health can’t be taken into consideration when making a decision. I hope legislation can be brought in to allow health to be a reason for refusing applications but fear it may be too late.

Cllr Ron Arundale (Con) Middlesbrough Council

Sector pay

It’s a disgrace that the LGA believes it acceptable to delay a pay offer until long after the 1 April deadline when a pay increase should come into effect.The decline in NJC pay (local government pay scales) in relation to the national minimum wage has been dramatic.

Pay in local government has dropped from 24.2 per cent above the minimum wage to just 2.2 per cent above in 2013. Had the employers not deleted the bottom pay point last October, it would have dropped to a pitiful 0.8 per cent above.

Vital, quality local services cannot be run on national minimum wages and local government employees cannot continue to do more for less.

Settlements have been below inflation in eight of the 16 years since 1997. A decent offer above the minimum wage should be made – now.

Cllr David Gray (Lib Dem) Lewes District Council

What do you think? You can comment on these letters online at www.local.gov.uk/first-letters or submit your own letter for publication by emailing first@local.gov.uk. Letters may be edited and published online

Over the past five years, UK taxpayers have spent about £222 million administering local elections, not including the additional cost to councils of registering voters. That is £4.34 for every vote cast.

While this might represent good value for money, it is disappointing that such a large amount is spent without addressing the urgent need to update a key part of our election infrastructure for the digital age.

Information about local elections is unnecessarily hard to find online. For upcoming elections, information on candidates is published only on council websites, and this only happens when an election is imminent. The information provided is minimal at best.

Some could argue that it is the sole responsibility of the parties to tell people about elections, but that is misguided. Party loyalties have declined, especially among young people. Reading the various leaflets that get pushed through our doors – alongside countless adverts for fast food takeaways – is not the same as accessing a comprehensive, user-friendly source of information setting out the full range of voters’ choices.

The publication of election results is just as bad. Ward-level results are not published by the Electoral Commission, the BBC or any other media outlets, and voters would need to be very familiar with the layout of council websites to find the result of the election they just voted in.

If no party has a majority of seats on your local council, it is very difficult to discover who actually ‘won’ the election. Even council websites will state it is under ‘no overall control’, giving no further information on whether particular parties have formed a coalition or one party has formed a minority administration.

The format of the information matters too.

Some people are very keen to build interactive apps displaying local election results, scraped from council websites. This is not helped by some councils publishing ward results as handwritten declaration forms, scanned in and uploaded. Council websites tend not to be optimised for viewing on mobile devices.

For young voters who tend to move house frequently, online and mobile information is particularly important. When you can do almost anything online except find out who won your local election, something is badly wrong.

Richard Berry is a Researcher at Democratic Audit, an independent research organisation based at the London School of Economics

FIRST COMMENT

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Recycling and reusing everything from furniture to electrical goods would save taxpayers money and create jobs, write Cllrs Mike Jones and Clyde Loakes

Make do and mend Voters and taxpayers have a strong interest in increasing the amount of material from households that is reused and therefore not sent to landfill or for incineration. In addition to the significant environmental benefits and social value reuse can create, there is a strong economic and business case for it too.

Reusing materials reduces the amount that councils have to pay in landfill tax and disposal.

It can also have an economic benefit by expanding the industry and creating jobs along the supply chain, as well as putting pounds in the pockets of charities, businesses and individuals by helping them to realise the resale value of unwanted products.

So the LGA established the Reuse Commission to bring together members of the local government, charity, social enterprise and business sectors, including those with experience of repairing and reusing goods, to advise on ways to work together to make reuse easy, attractive and convenient.

Its work has provided evidence and insights into the opportunities and challenges in meeting this goal, and has been invaluable in supporting the LGA’s conclusions, set out in ‘Routes to reuse: maximising value from reused materials’ (see www.local.gov.uk/publications).

This report estimates there is more than £400 million of untapped value from household waste material, which can be won from increasing the amount we reuse. Accessing this value requires action from us all, and the report sets out some practical steps for taking this forward.

It focuses on the potential for increasing the proportion of household waste that is reused. For example, nearly 615,000 tonnes of material that currently goes to landfill or incineration could instead be repaired, resold or donated.

Diverting this amount of material away from landfill or incineration would save the taxpayer more than £60 million each year, a potential saving on each household’s council tax bill of £3.

The resale value of these goods, and reusable recycled goods, is approximately £375 million. In total we estimate there could be up to £435 million of value available each year through disposal savings and resale value to taxpayers, charities, businesses and consumers.

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FIRST FEATURE

So how do we encourage people to increase the amount they reuse? What motivates consumers to reuse unwanted goods is complex, and some will never buy secondhand. However, making reuse easier and more convenient, and providing assurance about the quality of secondhand goods, especially electrical goods, could make a real difference.

So our proposals include raising awareness of reuse through a national campaign, supported by signposting and communications from local councils; providing a balance of incentives for consumers, such as rewards for reuse and regulation to prevent certain materials being thrown away; and providing warranties for electrical products.

Extending retailer ‘take back’ schemes and encouraging more responsive pick-up and drop-off services can also help. For example, partnerships between private and social landlords and universities to collect unwanted goods at the end of tenancies offer real potential to drive reuse.

Procurement The Treasury should offer a £2,000 reduction on national insurance contributions when voluntary and community sector and commercial reuse organisations employ additional workers, to help them grow.

Public sector commissioners, including councils, should identify reused products in procurement strategies and help demystify the procurement process for reuse organisations.

And a lack of available parts or designs which make repairs difficult and expensive mean some products that should be reusable are not. So the Government should promote the adoption of British Standards for remanufacture and use its Green Investment Bank to support innovative products which ‘design in’ reuse.

Cllr Mike Jones is Chairman of the LGA’s Environment and Housing Board and Cllr Clyde Loakes is Chair of the LGA’s Reuse Commission

CASE STUDIES Oxfordshire County Council:

Bicester Green reuse centre

Working with local partners, Oxfordshire set up a new social enterprise, Bicester Green. A centre for ‘skills, sustainability and second-hand stuff’, Bicester Green opened in 2013 with the aim of diverting waste from landfill.

The centre also provides volunteers with practical work experience and the opportunity to learn new skills, and is a sustainability hub for the area, hosting events and meetings.

During its first six months of operation, 1.3 tonnes of furniture, nearly a tonne of bikes and more than 300 kilograms of electrical items were prevented from becoming waste.

ROUTES TO REUSE Product taken back by retailer for reuse when supplying a new model

Give to friend or family member

Warwickshire County Council’s reuse shops Warwickshire County Council partnered with Warwickshire Community Recycling (WCR) to run two household waste and recycling centres and five reuse shops within the county. The council provided staff to run the sites and reuse shops in return for income from reuse and recycling.

The partnership has reduced the council’s disposal bill by £6.3 million over seven years and has generated more than £250,000 for good causes.

WCR has also recruited and trained 22 volunteers and provides more than 6,000 hours of work experience and accredited training to volunteers, paid staff and apprentices.

Waltham Forest Council’s ‘Furnishing the Future’ partnership The partnership uses reused paint that is remixed and sold at a fraction of the cost of new paint to new tenants as a part of an assisted decoration scheme. This has allowed the budget for redecoration to cover nearly six times as many homes.

In addition to this, housing provider Asham Homes, a member of the partnership, set up a furniture reuse scheme which collects unwanted furniture each time a property is vacated. Reusable items are refurbished and offered for sale at reasonable cost to families on low incomes.

In 2011/12 the project saved approximately 100 tonnes of material from disposal from 316 voided properties and reused an average of 34 per cent.

Sell via a website, through a local paper or at a car boot sale.

Repair the product

WWW. FOR SALE

Donate to charity or local reuse group

REUSE Offer to someone locally via website or notice board

Deposit at household waste and recycling centre

Use a council or charity bulky item collection

FIRST FEATURE

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Councils in England should have more powers devolved to them according to a new review into the state of local government, writes Sir Merrick Cockell

Local democracy The Council of Europe was founded in 1949, at the initiative of Sir Winston Churchill, to build democracy and good governance.

It regularly reports on the state of local and regional democracy in the EU’s member states and a delegation visited twice last year in only the second-ever review of the UK, the first taking place in 1998. Delegation members visited London, Leeds, Edinburgh, and Cardiff over the course of two visits in May and November.

Published last week, the delegation’s report, ‘Local and regional democracy in the United Kingdom’, recommends greater devolution of powers to local government, increased tax-raising powers for councils and a fairer funding settlement for English local authorities.

The report concludes that the ability of councils to provide “essential public services, quality health and social care and effective and adequate community services and facilities, especially to the growing number of older people” is under huge pressure following austerity measures.

It recommends devolution of powers to councils as “the ability of local authorities to discharge their responsibilities sometimes appears to be highly restricted by central government”.

Despite facing significant funding reductions themselves, councils in Wales and Scotland are “better off financially than their English counterparts”, according to the report. The complex formula for distribution of central government funding produces “considerable uncertainty and effects of unequal treatment”.

A diversified base of local revenue is an “urgent necessity” with council tax “limited by central or devolved governments, due to the referendum obligation” while “all rates are decided by government and funding is still dominated by central government grants”.

This report recognises the huge challenge facing public services, with councils having to find £20 billion worth of savings by the end of this current Parliament. The LGA has highlighted the impact this will have on essential services and the Government has listened by not making an additional reduction to local government funding in 2014/15.

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FIRST FEATURE

We feel this review is a fair reflection of the current pressures facing local government. The current model for financing and running local government needs to change and adapt to today’s circumstances and it is important that local and central government works together to address these issues and takes these recommendations forward.

Fairness Devolution of decision-making and tax-raising powers to local areas is needed to help save money and improve services, and English communities need to be given the same significant say over everything from health services to public transport as they do across the border in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Our European counterparts also identified the urgent need for a fair and equitable distribution of public money across the United Kingdom. The 34-year-old Barnett Formula is short-changing English communities by as much as £4.1 billion a year and a needs-based model is needed for a fairer deal.

When the delegation returns to the UK in five years, I hope these vital reforms will be in full force and local government will be looking ahead to the future with renewed hope.

• The Congress of the Council of Europe will be debating ‘Local and regional democracy in the United Kingdom’ next week, see www.coe.int

Sir Merrick Cockell is LGA Chairman

The Chancellor could have done more to unlock the potential of councils to help generate growth, create jobs and build homes, writes Sir Merrick Cockell

Budget briefing The national housing shortage and lack of jobs for young people are two of the most pressing issues facing the country today.

The Chancellor was right to address these issues in this year’s Budget, and extra support announced for home buyers and small builders along with additional funding for apprenticeships are positive steps.

More urgency is needed, however, if the Government is to fully unlock the potential of councils to support the building of affordable housing, deliver economic growth and tackle youth unemployment.

Tough times This means lifting the housing borrowing cap, providing comprehensive funding for repairing potholes and devolving tax and spending powers to English local authorities.

While this Budget has not brought further cuts for local government, the next two years will be the toughest yet for people who use and rely upon services which councils provide. Among other issues, more funding is needed to improve our transport network and to remove any uncertainty around the support for the much needed reforms to the adult social care system.

By next year, council budgets will have been cut by 40 per cent from the start of this Parliament. As the economy improves, people will increasingly start to question why councils are having to reduce and withdraw from providing the services that underpin people’s daily lives.

If we are to avoid an upturn in the economy coinciding with a decline in public services, we need a fundamental reform of the way the public sector works and an honest reappraisal of how public services are provided and paid for in postausterity Britain.

On housing, the Chancellor announced measures to stimulate demand – but it is critical these are balanced with wider efforts to increase the overall supply of housing across all tenures.

Local authorities could add value if involved in targeting increased subsidies for apprenticeships, as they best understand the local economy and have statutory duties to support 16 to 18-yearolds into learning.

Rewards While we welcome more money to tackle potholes, the £200 million announced does not does not go anywhere near far enough, given a £500 million annual funding shortfall.

However, the Government responded to LGA calls for additional investment in flood defences, with £140 million more to repair and restore damaged defences.

The LGA has long called for a freeze in landfill tax and welcomes the announcement that it will effectively be frozen

for 2015/16. This will save householders nearly £60 million, rewarding their and councils’ efforts to reduce landfill by nearly 40 per cent over the last five years.

The overall cap on welfare spending announced by the Chancellor will necessitate tighter discipline on housing costs. Councils and housing partners must therefore have greater freedom to address the undersupply of affordable housing.

We welcome the £50 million in 2015 to 2016 to extend the pupil premium to disadvantaged three and four-yearolds, which should help prepare children for school and encourage providers to increase childcare provision.

The announcement of an acceleration of the troubled families programme is a vote of confidence in councils’ abilities to bring together the work of the whole public sector in their area, and in the community budget approach to public service delivery.

Proposals to speed up the system for dealing with planning challenges are welcome, but blanket national policies on permitted development are unnecessary and fail to take account of significant local differences, and will have unintended consequences for communities.

There was no mention of funding for adult social care and support. This is disappointing given growing concerns around the adequacy of funding for the Care Bill reforms and the system itself.

• This is an edited version of the LGA’s

on-the-day briefing on the Budget. For more information, see www.local.gov.uk or email lee.bruce@local.gov.uk

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A new report highlights continuing under-representation of women, young people and ethnic minorities in the council chambers of Wales – and suggests ways to tackle the issue

Councillor diversity

Each political party in Wales should develop a strategy aimed at ensuring women are nominated in at least 40 per cent of ‘winnable’ council seats up for grabs in the 2017 local elections. Party leaders should also make a public commitment to this target.

So says the Expert Group on Local Diversity, set up by the Welsh Government in May 2013 to review the results of a candidates’ survey carried out after the 2012 elections, and to set out an action plan for encouraging greater diversity in local government.

Survey results The recommendations for political parties are just two of 24 aimed also at the Welsh government, councils, the WLGA, and councillors themselves. Several cover improvements to the survey, while another is that councils should be required to examine survey data for their own area and develop strategies for improving diversity.

Their success would be measured against subsequent candidates’ surveys.

Local authorities should also be obliged to conduct exit interviews with councillors standing down at an election, to assess the reasons for them doing so, with anonymised data collected nationally and published after each election.

‘On balance’, the expert group’s report, also calls for national publicity campaigns and shadowing and mentoring schemes designed to encourage and support more people to stand as councillors, as well as more support from employers. Local councillors should speak to secondary school pupils about their role, and those standing down at elections should mentor their successors.

“There is no council in Wales in which both sexes are equally represented. More often, women make up between 20 and 30 per cent and sometimes less,” notes Professor Laura McAllister, Chair of the expert group, in her foreword to the report.

“The average age of councillors in Wales is around 60 and has remained stubbornly within that range for many years. The number of non-white councillors is miniscule even in areas of Wales with relatively large numbers of ethnic minority citizens.

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“This is not simply a matter of equality principles – important though that is – but the critical need for council chambers to be filled with representatives who have a range of diverse life experiences and different aspirations.

That is unlikely if the profile of local government remains overly uniform.”

Challenges The Welsh LGA has welcomed ‘On balance’, and is looking forward to working with the Welsh Government and all political parties to address the challenges. It wants this work to be part of a long-term system of monitoring and improvement that carries on beyond the 2017 elections.

Cllr Bob Wellington, Leader of the WLGA, said the 2012 survey of councillor candidates, conducted by the Welsh Government, had provided a useful snapshot of those who stood.

“Unfortunately, when placed alongside the WLGA’s previous analysis of candidates, it does show that we still have much work to do to encourage a greater diversity of people to put themselves forward to serve their local communities as councillors,” he added, “Ensuring that politicians and civic leaders are representative of Wales’ increasingly diverse communities is crucial to local democracy. The legitimacy and effectiveness of every local council will be improved when the council chamber echoes with as wide a range of voices and opinions as possible.”

• See www.wales.gov.uk/newsroom and click on ‘Local government’ under ‘News by topic’ to see ‘On balance: diversifying democracy in local government in Wales’, the report of the Expert Group on Diversity in Local Government

• See www.wlga.gov.uk for the Welsh LGA’s response to the report

The focus for dementia care needs to shift from the NHS and council services to supporting people to stay independent in the community, writes Sir Merrick Cockell

Dementia friendly Being diagnosed with dementia can be life-changing, and can mean battling with memory loss, confusion, mood changes and difficulty with day-to-day tasks. It affects around 820,000 people in the UK and there are up to 41,000 people in their 30s, 40s and 50s who are affected.

Traditionally, the focus for dementia care has been NHS treatments and services delivered by local councils. We need to shift this to a focus on how we can enable people who have been diagnosed with dementia to live as full a life as possible, pursue interests and hobbies, remain with family and friends, and within their local communities for as long as they are able.

This means looking at how neighbours, friends and family can support people with dementia so that we can help them stay independent in the community for longer and avoid a move into residential settings before this is needed.

This February, as Chairman of the LGA, I set out my personal commitment to dementia and urged local leaders to do the same. This commitment includes enabling members of staff the time and support to be trained as Dementia Friends and Dementia Friends Champions.

Dementia Friends can be from any background or any age and are intended to help in a practical way such as raising awareness or offering help to someone living with dementia.

Dementia Friends Champions undergo training with the Alzheimer’s Society to enable them to train others in their community who have also volunteered to be a Dementia Friend.

At the LGA, we will also be extending this training at our annual conference in July.

Will you personally join me in signing up to become a Dementia Friend? Each friend receives a one-hour training session to give them the information they need to carry out their role.

Currently, there are 3,000 Dementia Friends, but the aim is to reach 50,000 with the help of local authorities, other partners and charities.

Innovative services With councils sitting at the very core of our communities, I would also encourage you to identify a space at your council premises to hold the training sessions.

This year’s Dementia Awareness Week is taking place between 18 and 24 May. It provides an opportunity for local councils to raise the profile of dementia and highlight the innovative services you are involved in delivering locally.

It also provides an opportunity to further promote the important role that Dementia Friends can play in the lives of people living with dementia, encourage your staff to become involved and for your local council to sign up to or help set up a local dementia alliance. It could also provide the springboard for your council, working with others, to become a dementia friendly community.

Recognising and celebrating the important work that local councils are actively involved in is key, and that is why the LGA is working with the Alzheimer’s Society to create a certificate or logo that councils can display when they’ve trained staff to become Dementia Friends, put on training sessions and have signed up to their local dementia action alliance.

The more people we can get involved, the greater chance we have of enabling people living with dementia to lead fulfilling lives within their communities for as long as possible.

Further information about how your council can get involved with the Dementia Friends programme, sign up to your local dementia action alliance or become a dementia friendly community can be found at www.alzheimers.org.uk

Sir Merrick Cockell is LGA Chairman

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PARTNERS

PARLIAMENT

Workplace Care Bill to become law change champs Flexible working is one of the essential innovations in 21st century working, developing both as a response to the evolving workforce and the growing use of digital technology.

Local government has faced significant workforce challenges over the last few years. With 1.4 million people employed, wages and salaries make up a major cost. Budget cuts are forcing many to take a hard look at how to drive the efficiency of their workforce, while continuing to attract and retain good people, and deliver on their public service duties, particularly in supporting families struggling to raise their living standards.

To help councils innovate in hard times, Timewise, the flexible working experts, are launching the Timewise Council accreditation scheme with Camden Council, the UK’s first local authority to achieve ‘Timewise’ status.

Timewise has worked closely with Camden’s Leader, Cllr Sarah Hayward, to help the council use flexible working to deliver on three goals: to retain and attract vital new staff; to develop more agile and efficient services; and to stimulate more quality flexible jobs in the local economy, rebalancing the labour market in favour of families.

We will talk about the scheme at a roundtable event on 28 March, kindly hosted by the LGA.

At its heart, the programme offers local authorities the opportunity to drive change in flexible working practices, both for their own workforce and across their wider community, in the same way that the London Living Wage demonstrates how local government can affect social change through its role as an employer.

The evidence shows that improving access to quality flexible and part-time jobs is critical in reshaping a jobs market that works for parents and carers, and in doing so both reduces worklessness, and enables businesses to build greater efficiencies and attract and retain a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

Emma Stewart MBE is a Founder and Director of the Timewise Foundation, see www.timewisefoundation.org.uk or call 020 7633 4552 to find out more

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Earlier this month, the Care Bill successfully completed its passage through the House of Commons.

It will now return to the Lords, where peers will agree any final amendments, before becoming law and being implemented from 2015.

The closing stage of any Bill is an exciting time in Westminster as parliamentarians try to make final revisions to the legislation. It is a platform for organisations like the LGA to seek changes where we may still have concerns or to request clarifications on how the legislation will be implemented in practice.

Having worked closely with our parliamentary allies throughout the Bill’s passage, we made a final push to reiterate our concerns about the adequacy of funding for the care system and for implementing the reforms more generally. The LGA worked with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), the Care Support Alliance and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (Solace) to support a cross-party amendment led by former care minister Paul Burstow MP (Lib Dem, Sutton Cheam).

The amendment would have meant the joint care reform programme board, which includes representatives from the LGA, ADASS and the Department for Health, producing an annual report setting out whether it thought there was adequate funding for the reforms.

Having been debated extensively, the proposal was eventually voted on by MPs and defeated by the Government. Despite this opposition, our proposal and commentary on the Bill was broadly supported. In an unusual twist, a number of Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs voted against

the Government to support Paul Burstow’s amendment and our concerns about funding.

The LGA and ADASS also produced a further briefing highlighting our support or opposition to proposed amendments to the Bill being tabled

by MPs. Following our lobbying, an amendment which sought to give the Care Quality Commission (CQC) the power to review local authority commissioning was withdrawn. This was particularly important as the LGA’s programme of sector-led improvement is the way to improve care services, as it encourages the sharing of best practice and fosters a spirit of local innovation.

Elsewhere, a controversial clause on trust special administration, which provides the Secretary of State with powers to correct a failing hospital trust by ordering changes in the make-up of another local hospital’s services, was passed by MPs despite attempts to remove and replace it.

Redesigning the health and social care landscape, which will need to address reconfiguration, is likely to become a key part of the future debate on health and social care.

With the Bill scheduled to receive Royal Assent in April, the LGA will now turn its attention to influencing the regulations that will set out further detail on how the legislation should be implemented, and supporting councils in taking forward the measures. The reassurances we received during the Bill’s passage will be vital aids in helping us secure further support for local government.

•See www.local.gov.uk/ parliament

BY-ELECTIONS ANALYSIS

LAST WORD

Campaigns defeat Strong local campaigns lead to higher turnout among voters.

Of the four councils seats that changed hands recently, all saw above average electoral interest.

By contrast, where outcomes were predictable electoral apathy continued.

Is the glass half-full or half-empty for Conservatives? Three defeats, two at the hands of the Liberal Democrats, are grounds for pessimism.

The Liberal Democrats are in desperate need of some good election news after the party’s poor performance in Nottingham’s Clifton North ward, finishing behind the BusPass Elvis candidate who was even mentioned in Parliament!

Conservative optimists will instead want to focus on the outcome in Ramsbottom (Bury), captured from Labour. The party last won the seat on general election day 2010 and will hope it is a portent for 2015. No-one

should begrudge Robert Hodkinson his victory – in 2011 he was on the wrong side of a coin toss after votes were tied.

UKIP continue to present a problem for all the main parties. In Conservative-held Petersfield Butser (Hampshire), the party retained its second-place position while in Wiltshire’s Ethandune it won almost a fifth of votes contesting for the first time.

In Labour’s safe seats of Heanor West (Amber Valley) and Crewe West (Cheshire East), UKIP won 23 and 27 per cent respectively of the vote share from standing starts.

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

Local by-elections Authority

Ward

Result

Swing % Turnout from/to (since) %

Amber Valley

Heanor West

Lab hold

1% Con to Lab 23.5% (2012)

Ashford

Wye

Ind gain fromCon

9.3% Con to Ash Ind (201

41%

Bury

Ramsbottom

Con gain from Lab

11.8%Lab to Con (2012)

35%

Canterbury

Barham Downs

LD gain from Con

4% Con to LD (2011)

41.4%

Cheshire East

Crewe West

Lab hold

5.1% Con to Lab (2011)

19.1%

East Hampshire

Petersfield Bell Hill

Con hold

n/a

25%

Hampshire

Petersfield Butser

Con hold

1.1% Con to UKIP (2013)

23.8%

Kings Lynn & West Norfolk

Burnham

Con hold

n/a

34%

Knowsley

Longview

Lab hold

n/a

16.5%

Luton

Farley

Lab hold

13.3% Con to Lab (2011)

21.8%

Nottingham

Clifton North

Lab hold

1.8% Con to Lab (2011)

26.5%

Runnymede

Chertsey Meads

Con hold

6.8% Con to UKIP (2012)

28.9%

Shropshire

Ludlow North

LD gain from Con

11.1% Con to LD (2013)

45.8%

South Kesteven

Aveland

Con hold

n/a

26.2%

Wiltshire

Ethandune

Con hold

14% Con to LD (2013)

37%

For more details, see this story at www.local.gov.uk/first-news

Local plan making The Government likes to blame local planning authorities for a shortfall in house building by an almost wilful refusal to grant enough planning permissions.

As was pointed out by the LGA last August, there was then planning permission for some 400,000 homes yet to be built.

Local planning authorities are under increasing pressure to plan for more homes – putting them under ever greater pressure to achieve five years’ supply of housing land on an on-going basis.

The duty to cooperate with neighbouring authorities has become more onerous and objectively assessed need of housing requirements no longer merely informs but dictates the debate.

There is no reason to suppose that the studies of objectively assessed need will prove any more accurate predictors of the future than those that underpinned regional spatial strategies.

There is a yawning gap between the public’s expectations on house numbers and those that local authorities choose. Yet many local authorities are judged not to have gone far enough; only about 20 out of 75 core strategies have been found to be sound since April 2012. This gap is so great as to undermine faith in local democracy.

The answer is for local planning authorities to be free to determine their housing numbers; for there to be no regional plan by proxy.

This could lead to a genuine debate at a local level about the right number and type of houses and provide genuine accountability. Such a move would really empower local authorities and would make local elections more important, thereby reinvigorating local democracy.

Perhaps we could look forward to a majority of people voting in local elections and a greater number of people standing for election too.

There would be no hiding place for councillors. They could no longer hide behind government direction on housing numbers. I would like to think that the social and economic case for housing would be articulated. Too often the nimby ‘comfortably housed’ lobby (using the environment banner) is the only voice that is heard.

You can read a longer version of this article at http://andrewsmith.mycouncillor.org.uk Cllr Andrew Smith (Lib Dem) is Chairman of Chichester District Council’s Planning Committee and a member of its Development Plan Panel

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The LGA’s annual conference is the biggest event in the local government calendar, attracting over 1,200 delegates. With this year’s conference coming at a pivotal time, between the May local elections and the 2015 general election, it is an event not to be missed!

Last year the LGA successfully used its annual conference to set out, through its Rewiring Public Services campaign, a range of propositions that will change the relationship for the better between central and local government, and address the financial issues that are providing serious challenges to the sector.

Since then the LGA has been ensuring that these propositions are heard, understood and adopted by those writing party manifestos.

This conference will look to the priorities of whichever government is formed in May 2015, providing an excellent opportunity for national politicians to hear first-hand the key challenges for the sector and what needs to be done to address them.

This event is essential for council leaders and chief executives, senior officers, lead members and policy makers across all services provided by local authorities.

Speakers already confirmed include: Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Iain Duncan Smith MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Simon Stevens, Chief Executive Designate, NHS England Ben Page, Managing Director, Ipsos MORI Ed Cox, Director, IPPR North