Public health
Halting knife crime is a multi-agency endeavour
Rachel Dickinson says much greater investment is needed in children and young people if we are to make a difference to levels of knife crime - and treating serious youth violence as a public health issue makes absolute sense.
Don’t play the hokey-cokey with health
Local government has turned public health around despite funding cuts. Now it not the time to think about returning the service to the NHS, argues Nathan Elvery.
If empowered, councils can achieve much more on public health
Rather than seeking to downgrade the role of public health within local authorities we should be seeking to enhance it, says Nathan Elvery.
Wales launches 'resident-focused' council tax reforms
Council tax debtors in Wales will no longer be at risk of imprisonment as part of a new initiative to encourage councils to take a more ‘resident-focused’ approach to debt.
Consultation floats new legal duty in violence crackdown
A new legal duty to support a multi-agency approach to preventing and tackling serious violence could be introduced.
Prevention in its own right
Jim McManus lays out an analysis and narrative that puts councils at the core of the preventative vision.
The trouble with social policy ‘evidence’
In making the case for more cash to improve public health based on its ‘evidence of what works’, the Local Government Association 'has been simplistic and selective in its statistics', according to Richard Stokoe.
Putting heads together to deliver healthy places
The Local Government Association Challenge 2019 is underway. Lizzie Nugent and Penny Galvin describe how the team grappled with the task before them in the first round at Cherwell DC.
Rebooting the relationship
The transfer of public health responsibilities to councils has been a success, say sector experts interviewed for an independent report commissioned by the County Councils’ Network. But health stakeholders are not so positive.
Hold on to public health
Shifting public health functions to councils has led to ‘clear progress and tangible success,’ says Cllr David Williams - and he warns it would be a retrograde step if NHS England took back some elements of commissioning.
Councils are a good investment
The Local Government Association's #CouncilsCan campaign aimed at influencing the 2019 Spending Review has begun by highlighting the threat to popular - but non-statutory - services if the £8bn funding black hole is not tackled, says Lord Porter.
Where are we on health?
One big shift in the NHS Long Term Plan, even if not generously funded, is the full-on embracing of social prescribing, says Dan Corry. He believes it has the potential to have a big impact on people’s health.
Durham risks losing a 'staggering' £19m in public health cash
Durham Council would lose out more than any other local authority if the revised Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA) formula is used to redistribute public health cash, says Amanda Healy.
Taking back some public health commissioning from councils would be a 'retrograde step'
With 'clear progress and tangible success' on public health delivery in local government, the suggestion that NHS England could take back some elements of public health commissioning would be a retrograde step, says David Williams.
Rebooting the relationship
Directors of public health believe the impact of the transfer of public health responsibilities to councils in 2013 has been a positive one in county areas, according to a new report commissioned by the County Councils' Network.
Counties in NHS grab warning
Councils have warned the NHS not to grab back responsibility for key public health services.
Eleven heads in Herts are better than one for public health
A strong partnership of 11 local authorities in Hertfordshire including the public health department in the county council has together delivered more than 213 public health projects, says Ciceley Scarborough.
Council cuts threaten NHS plan
Cuts in council social care and public health budgets threaten the viability of the ambitious NHS Long Term Plan, care chiefs have warned.
Where do councils fit into the NHS plan?
Last week’s publication of the NHS Long Term Plan signals a fundamental shift towards community-based services and a focus on reducing health inequalities. Michael Burton looks at its implications for local government
NHS long term plan only offers part of the solution
Chairman of the LGA's Community Wellbeing Board Ian Hudspeth says until social care is fully funded and public health budget cuts reversed, pumping funding into the NHS continues to be the same as 'pouring water into a sink with no plug in it'.