Mo Baines
Investment in neighbourhood services could be a crucial vote winner
'As we limp towards another General Election, we have yet to hear any comprehensive plans from across the political spectrum on how they would address the crisis in funding for neighbourhood services,' says Mo Baines.
Hollowed out local government sets off a downward spiral
'It is time to move the debate on from platitudes and tinkering with year-to-year budgets to the wholesale reform of the financial powers available to local government', says Mo Baines.
Councils moved through crisis with warmth and grace
Local government’s regulatory decision-making framework may often be perceived by those outside of its service as cumbersome, but look at the alternative, says Mo Baines.
It is time for local government to call out unworkable pseudo-market systems
Writing on the RAAC debacle, Mo Baines says not so long ago the public estate was managed by local public servants with local knowledge, but there is now 'a dizzying number of providers'.
Offering a toolkit for levelling up
A new report from APSE offers some stark findings on levelling up - and some solutions, says Mo Baines
Is it time for insourcing by default?
Is it time for a new era of public service value? Mo Baines looks at the value of insourcing and service integration.
Officers' skills will be tested post-elections
Mo Baines says 'as most horse-trading nears to an end, in those councils left with no overall control – and new administrations commencing in those with clear-cut results – the skills of chief and senior officers will be put to the test'.
Oflog is likely to keep meeting serious opposition
The fear within the Oflog proposals is that this will become just another box-ticking exercise - or worse a return to using data as the stick with which to beat councils, says Mo Baines.
Give councils the core role in local public accounts committees
If the aims of the Public Procurement Bill are to become a reality, isn't it time to give local councils a genuine role in holding all local public service providers to account, asks Mo Baines.
Can Rishi be a ‘zero hero’?
The upcoming Autumn Statement will give new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a golden chance to sow the seeds for a strong future green economy, as Mo Baines explains
A Queen’s Speech without jewels
Councils are at the forefront of demand when people pushed into poverty seek their support, writes Mo Baines. But she says the Queen’s Speech failed to embrace the role of councils by offering practical measures that would help residents.
Social value must not be a tick box exercise
Mo Baines says councils should not simply apply the principles of the Social Value Act to outsourced contracts, but ‘engage in the spirit and intention of the Act, which is to get the very best outcomes from public money’.
Gove's suggestion on non-statutory services won't work
Michael Gove recently said councils could drop some non-statutory services – but these are the essential operating platform for their statutory cousins, says Mo Baines.
Good Cop or Bad Cop?
Financial predators may already be circling in answer to the question of where local government’s funding for climate action will come from, say Paul O’Brien and Mo Baines.
