Like nature, politics abhors a vacuum. As Ed Miliband is finding, appearing to be doing very little is a sure way of being accused of lacking leadership. The important part of a politician’s job spec is to engage in frenetic activity.
Coalition ministers have certainly been putting this into practice. The last few months have seen a dizzying succession of policy announcements, White Papers and Whitehall restructuring. The Tory conference fringe last month was a hotbed of packed workshops and eager ministerial speakers as the policy pointy-heads feverishly mapped out their plans for the New Age.
So it is perhaps unsurprising that in this bedlam of activity policy has sometimes been made on the hoof or without sufficient thought to the law of unintended consequences (LUC). Last week’s ‘leak’ of plans to fund schools through a new quango caused such an uproar ministers had to backtrack. Over at the CLG, changes to social housing tenancies have quietly contained a get-out clause in case the policy leads to LUC. The abolition of the Audit Commission is going to have huge ramifications for the council audit function.
And ministers are now taking another look at the way council grant cuts have been front-loaded into the first year, hinting that when the settlement appears in a fortnight there could well be flexibilities to spread the pain. Under the Spending Review plans, the gentlest year for cuts is in 2013/14 at 0.8% – nothing to do with county elections of course – compared with a tough 8.4% (and the rest) next year.
There are of course councils who believe it is better to get the pain over and done with rather than drag it out. But it is also clear that swingeing cuts will be on the cards with services slashed, libraries closed, street lights turned off etc and ministers can see themselves on the receiving end of public opprobrium.
Some may call this rethink it a U-turn, others a sensible reappraisal of a complex brief. It is certainly better to make changes before rather than after new policies have been enshrined in law. But hyperactive ministers may also want to ensure that in their eagerness to be pro-active they do not store up problems for themselves in the future when the chickens come home to roost.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Merging members as well as officers
Local government is not usually a source of rampant controversy in Westminster, except when it comes to reorganisation, which has a brutal history for Conservatives. It scarred MPs and ministers in the early 1990s and it reopened old sores a decade-and-a-half later when Labour planned for the nine new English unitaries, operating from April 2009.
With county Tory leaders keen to see new unitary counties against the policy of Conservative Central Office – which had a protective arm round its district foot soldiers – the scene was set for severe behind-the-scenes arm-twisting. In the end, the Tory front bench could not avoid the creation of unitary counties, but its members were adamantly against any more reorganisation and, indeed, blocked plans in Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk days after forming the coalition last May.
But there are indications that this policy is evolving. First, Conservative ministers are not, in principle, opposed to councils merging and, indeed, they positively encourage it because of the savings generated. Second, mergers are gathering momentum out of sheer economic need and no longer are they confined to cash-strapped districts but spreading to London boroughs. Third, the local government political landscape will start turning red from next spring, and there will be less incentive for the coalition to be quite so bothered about having fewer councils. And fourth, it is difficult to argue that councils should merge managements and services yet retain all the elected members with all their costs.
Some districts are already looking at full member mergers or reducing numbers – as is a unitary such as Telford and Wrekin – so it is unsurprising that the Boundary Commission has now registered this changed scenario and is consulting on how to enable councils to reduce the number of members, if they so wish. Critics will argue this means a diminished democratic capacity, but with some shire districts having the same number of members as London boroughs this is a moot point.
So long as the councils retain their outward-facing identities it is unlikely the public, if consulted during a referendum, will object. It is an inevitable consequence of management mergers.
With county Tory leaders keen to see new unitary counties against the policy of Conservative Central Office – which had a protective arm round its district foot soldiers – the scene was set for severe behind-the-scenes arm-twisting. In the end, the Tory front bench could not avoid the creation of unitary counties, but its members were adamantly against any more reorganisation and, indeed, blocked plans in Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk days after forming the coalition last May.
But there are indications that this policy is evolving. First, Conservative ministers are not, in principle, opposed to councils merging and, indeed, they positively encourage it because of the savings generated. Second, mergers are gathering momentum out of sheer economic need and no longer are they confined to cash-strapped districts but spreading to London boroughs. Third, the local government political landscape will start turning red from next spring, and there will be less incentive for the coalition to be quite so bothered about having fewer councils. And fourth, it is difficult to argue that councils should merge managements and services yet retain all the elected members with all their costs.
Some districts are already looking at full member mergers or reducing numbers – as is a unitary such as Telford and Wrekin – so it is unsurprising that the Boundary Commission has now registered this changed scenario and is consulting on how to enable councils to reduce the number of members, if they so wish. Critics will argue this means a diminished democratic capacity, but with some shire districts having the same number of members as London boroughs this is a moot point.
So long as the councils retain their outward-facing identities it is unlikely the public, if consulted during a referendum, will object. It is an inevitable consequence of management mergers.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Increasing fees is not the answer
It is only half true that the real recession in local government will only bite next year.
For those councils, especially districts, relying for part of their income from fees and charges, the private sector recession which struck in late 2007 saw a sharp downturn in residents’ spending. Westminster City, for example, estimated a drop of £50m in parking charges alone.
The property collapse meant a slump in planning applications and land search income. Cash-strapped residents cut back on swimming or gym use. One district chief executive told me two days after the CSR last month: ‘Two-thirds of my district’s income is in fees and charges, and we were badly hit by the recession.’
The economy remains fragile, the housing market has declined again, disposable income is squeezed by static wages, price rises in petrol, food, energy and clothing, and public spending cuts are giving people the jitters. In short, there is no evidence that residents are any more inclined to shell out more for local services.
So, the survey reported on page one finding that a more than two-thirds of council chiefs expect to see rises in local charges with one-third expecting them to be substantial reveals either naivity about consumer spending or desperation. Unless you are a monopoly, it is difficult to put up prices when there is already price-resistance. Consumers do not have to go swimming, attend adult education classes or park cars in the high street, and nor are they moving house. Jacking-up charges to the point where users simply walk away will only lead councils down the road of withdrawing altogether from such services, leaving pools, gyms and libraries for the private sector to provide or not at all. Maybe then it will dawn on the public that local services they have taken for granted have ceased to exist.
Increasing fees to bring in other income is, like salami-slicing services, only a short-term solution. Councils, aided by new powers of competence, will need to be entrepreneurial, if they are to meet the downturn.
For those councils, especially districts, relying for part of their income from fees and charges, the private sector recession which struck in late 2007 saw a sharp downturn in residents’ spending. Westminster City, for example, estimated a drop of £50m in parking charges alone.
The property collapse meant a slump in planning applications and land search income. Cash-strapped residents cut back on swimming or gym use. One district chief executive told me two days after the CSR last month: ‘Two-thirds of my district’s income is in fees and charges, and we were badly hit by the recession.’
The economy remains fragile, the housing market has declined again, disposable income is squeezed by static wages, price rises in petrol, food, energy and clothing, and public spending cuts are giving people the jitters. In short, there is no evidence that residents are any more inclined to shell out more for local services.
So, the survey reported on page one finding that a more than two-thirds of council chiefs expect to see rises in local charges with one-third expecting them to be substantial reveals either naivity about consumer spending or desperation. Unless you are a monopoly, it is difficult to put up prices when there is already price-resistance. Consumers do not have to go swimming, attend adult education classes or park cars in the high street, and nor are they moving house. Jacking-up charges to the point where users simply walk away will only lead councils down the road of withdrawing altogether from such services, leaving pools, gyms and libraries for the private sector to provide or not at all. Maybe then it will dawn on the public that local services they have taken for granted have ceased to exist.
Increasing fees to bring in other income is, like salami-slicing services, only a short-term solution. Councils, aided by new powers of competence, will need to be entrepreneurial, if they are to meet the downturn.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
The huge agenda for care services
This week’s national children and adult services conference in Manchester has been a sell-out, with a message on its website saying no more bookings could be taken – a rare achievement indeed at a time when most public sector association conferences have been struggling with declining delegate numbers.
But, it is not hard to see why such an event should be so popular. Turmoil, upheaval and plain fear stalk the corridors of upper-tier councils when it comes to children and adult care. Most county councils are little more than organisations helping children and vulnerable adults, and to them, as well as unitaries and Mets, both these services represent the budgets most out of control and causing their managements the greatest concern. Ever since the Baby Peter case, the number of children taken back into care has risen, along with the costs. Adult care costs are on an upward curve.
The prospect of more academies and free schools has rattled education authorities, which fear for their very existence as their schools opt out altogether. Against that, the recent and unexpected health White Paper promises huge new opportunities in public health and adult care for councils. And the £2bn for care announced in the CSR was one of the rare items of extra spending, a recognition at least by the coalition that this problem has to be addressed now.
As if this was not enough to fill a conference agenda for a month, mounting concerns over the impact of the housing benefit capping adds another dimension to the care agenda. There is, of course, major politicking going on about this decision, with Tory-controlled central London councils rowing with Labour outer London boroughs about who should pick up the bill for displaced families.
Aside from the politics, the decision poses another headache for councils such as Haringey, already grappling with escalating children’s service budgets and facing an influx of families from more expensive boroughs. One wonders why the Treasury felt that changes to child benefit could wait until 2013 while housing benefit capping, with potentially greater impact, albeit on a smaller number of families, kicks in next April. And as for council tax benefit… but that will have to wait for another conference.
But, it is not hard to see why such an event should be so popular. Turmoil, upheaval and plain fear stalk the corridors of upper-tier councils when it comes to children and adult care. Most county councils are little more than organisations helping children and vulnerable adults, and to them, as well as unitaries and Mets, both these services represent the budgets most out of control and causing their managements the greatest concern. Ever since the Baby Peter case, the number of children taken back into care has risen, along with the costs. Adult care costs are on an upward curve.
The prospect of more academies and free schools has rattled education authorities, which fear for their very existence as their schools opt out altogether. Against that, the recent and unexpected health White Paper promises huge new opportunities in public health and adult care for councils. And the £2bn for care announced in the CSR was one of the rare items of extra spending, a recognition at least by the coalition that this problem has to be addressed now.
As if this was not enough to fill a conference agenda for a month, mounting concerns over the impact of the housing benefit capping adds another dimension to the care agenda. There is, of course, major politicking going on about this decision, with Tory-controlled central London councils rowing with Labour outer London boroughs about who should pick up the bill for displaced families.
Aside from the politics, the decision poses another headache for councils such as Haringey, already grappling with escalating children’s service budgets and facing an influx of families from more expensive boroughs. One wonders why the Treasury felt that changes to child benefit could wait until 2013 while housing benefit capping, with potentially greater impact, albeit on a smaller number of families, kicks in next April. And as for council tax benefit… but that will have to wait for another conference.
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