As chief executives, cabinets and treasurers scrutinise the small print of the CSR this week, what interpretation should they assume? Should they agree with LGA chair, Sir Simon Milton, that this is the worst local government settlement for a decade? Or should they take the Nick Raynsford view, as outlined in The MJ this week (p11), that ‘it still provides for modest growth.' Modest, at 1% above inflation, is certainly the word for it, but councils have little alternative but to live with what they have got, rather than what they would like. Efficiency savings, now 3% a year and cashable, are regarded as one means of adjusting to the era of hairshirt budgets, aided by £150m for councils for ‘business transformation.' But the new mantra for local government is innovation, or rather the perceived lack of it. Last week, The MJ ran an account of a debate dinner attended by chief executives in which Audit Commission chair, Michael O'Higgins, urged councils to be innovative. There were, he said, too many councils unwilling to copy good practice from each other, a failing he termed ‘not invented here syndrome'as in, ‘if it's not invented by us, then we're not interested.' In The MJ this week, Mr Raynsford, managing to be on message with the Government while also supportive of town halls, also says there needs to be more innovation as a way round tight budgets. As he says: ‘In my view, the worst-possible approach will be to try to adopt a "business as usual" response.' He believes the ‘scope for innovation and performance improvement is enormous'. But the past five years, especially since the CPA was launched, has seen a myriad of improvement agencies and advisers, whether from the Government, private consultants, the IDeA, the LGA, or SOLACE. One can hardly move for improvement programmes, conferences and studies. Indeed, in her address to the SOLACE conference last week, Hazel Blears hinted she was looking at whether there might actually be too many overlapping improvement bodies. So, the question that must be addressed is: Has local government barely scraped the surface of innovation, despite all this help, or is it already well down the road? Answers on a postcard… Michael Burton Editor, The MJ
