Leicestershire County Council and Nottingham City Council have signed an innovative partnership deal that will save more than £2 million per year. The two authorities have agreed to pool administrative functions, including human resources, payroll and finance services, in the first step of a new East Midlands Shared Services centre, which could attract other authorities. […]
Some fascinating data on the Daily Telegraph's website comparing councils on a number of matters including their spending on foreign travel. The survey was carried out by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and is due to be covered on tonight's Channel Four News. Freedom of Information requests showed councils have spent more than £500 million in the […]
The Leader of Swansea's Conservatives Councillor René Kinzett has discovered that the City Council is forking out £140,000 every year on the wages of trade union officials. Under a deal reached in 1996, the then Labour-run Swansea Council agreed to fund 16 members of staff, paid for by the local taxpayer, but working for the […]
Laurie Thraves, Policy Manager at the Local Government Information Unit, says councils sharing services is inevitable Sharing services between councils was a bit of niche interest that only got Poindexters like me animated until recently. Not now. The issue is turning into a bit of a hot potato. On the one hand, there’s the group […]
Jill Sherman has a report The Times (£) this morning about Norfolk County Council's plans for £150 million of savings over four years. I think it is three years but that is a pretty meaningless figure as it is the savings per year that is relevant – not adding up the savings from several years […]
Plans by Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster councils for shared services does not mean we would have a Super Council with the same Council Tax and provision of services in the three boroughs. There would still distinction – different priorities, variety, experiment. But it would mean three slimmer councils with shared costs […]
David Wedge and Colin Hilton offer some tips on avoiding the pitfalls. The recent announcement that Suffolk County Council will outsource most of its services has again highlighted the controversy surrounding this issue. Whilst most of this is well rehearsed territory with arguments by union leaders and other opponents reminiscent of the days of compulsory […]
Saving admin costs through councils jointly delivering services is becoming more widespread. But the initiative of my council, Hammersmith and Fulham with Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea is pretty radical. The announcement is leading the Radio 4 Today programme bulletins. Savings could be between £50 million and £100 million a year. It does still allow […]
Cllr Phil Taylor, a Conservative councillor on Ealing, says talk of 30% cuts is misleading Last night on the BBC’s News at Ten they used this graphic over Nick Robinson saying: So dear taxpayer the Government has decided on … a 26% cut for councils leading to fewer services, … And so on he went […]
There is a report in The Times (£) this morning that the Chief Secretary to the Treasury is lifting the ring fencing requirements on £7 billion worth of central Government funding to Town Halls. This is very welcome both in terms of the advance of local democracy and also in allowing the money to be […]
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, "Public Chum Number One", came Hammersmith Town Hall this morning and announced the abolition of Local Area Agreements. This is a very welcome easing on the bureaucratic burdens on Town Halls. It was item two on our "105 Town Hall regulations that should be scrapped." Another important theme of this morning's […]
Climate Change Officers, Political Advisors, Diversity Officers and European Officers cost taxpayers £41 million a year. The TaxPayers' Alliance today reveals new research on the cost of unnecessary staff at local councils. These non-frontline workers are doing jobs that could be cut, without putting frontline services at risk. Their report reveals for the first time a […]
The BBC online offers some top tips on saving money from a Birmingham fringe meeting with Cllrs David Burbage, Stephen Greenhalgh and Edward Lister. Among them: Don't run arts centres. Stick to what councils are good at doing, advised Edward Lister, such as keeping the streets clean and maintaining infrastructure. Don't run arts centres or […]
When Julie Hilling, the Labour MP for Bolton West, asked David Cameron about grants to voluntary sector from her Labour-run Council he told her: "We should say to every single council in the country: ‘When it comes to looking at and trimming your budgets, don't do the easy thing, which is to cut money to […]
Radical plans from Suffolk County Council to reduce its billion pound costs by 30% by embracing privatisation and becoming an "enabling authority." The Guardian reports: Ultimately only a few hundred people could remain directly employed by the council, primarily in contract management. At present, the council employs around 27,000 people, 15,000 of whom work in […]