As the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives meet in Bournemouth for the annual Summit, keep up to date with all the latest developments here…..
News
Sir Amyas: Push it in government's face
The head of the National Audit Office has urged senior council officers to gather evidence and hold government to account.
Dawes wants devo offers that cannot be refused
The Department of Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) permanent secretary has told council chief executives to present Whitehall with devolution offers it cannot refuse.
Time to act to avoid elections car crash
A council chief executive has issued a call to arms for her colleagues to put forward changes to the ‘knackered’ electoral system.
Rates reforms could put sector in 'straitjacket'
The Society of Local Authority Chief Executive’s finance policy spokesman has suggested chancellor George Osborne’s business rates reforms could put the sector in a ‘straitjacket’.
Clarke calls for unitary revolution
Former Home Secretary Charles Clarke has called for all local authorities to become unitaries.
Rogers fed up with being treated like a child
The president of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) has called for a ‘new psychological contract’ between the sector and Whitehall.
£11bn of extra responsibilities for councils
Local government will have to take on £11bn of additional responsibilities from Whitehall in return for 100% retention of business rates, a senior sector figure has revealed.
SOLACE code needs to have ‘more bite’
A committee will be formed to develop the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives’ (SOLACE) code of ethics after fears it will have ‘no bite’.
Features
Cracking the code
Many believe in the need for an ethical code for officers to follow and, in the wake of SOLACE’s recent unveiling of its own draft ethics code, Dan Peters reports on a poll of 1,000 councillors by The MJ
Ethics: the personal and the public
Barry Quirk says the new code of ethics set out by SOLACE needs to be accepted by all in local government, and that this should be the start of a much wider debate on how to be an effective public sector figure
Reclaiming public leadership
Well-managed decentralisation will offer local areas an opportunity to strengthen their growth, writes Melanie Dawes, in advance of the SOLACE summit
Social innovation as a strategic tool for local government leaders
John René Keller Lauritzen argues that councils must be both brave and open and the only way to learn how is by doing it.
Birth of a new state
The pressure on finances is now a fact of life for the public sector and Andrew Haldenby believes this is the single most important driver towards the ‘new state’
Programme
The SOLACE Summit programme is here.