The Local Government Group has made a last-minute plea to the Treasury to scrap all ring-fenced funding and reporting burdens, as councils prepare for an austere Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) next week.
In a letter sent to chancellor, George Osborne, and communities secretary, Eric Pickles, LGA chair, Baroness Margaret Eaton, also warns the departments of health and education's failure to loosen their grip on public health and ‘early years' budgets could ruin plans to save billions of pounds through ‘placed-based' spending. The letter, seen by The MJ, highlights Smith Square's view that while Mr Pickles has settled the CLG's post-CSR budget with Mr Osborne, exactly how – and under what conditions – local government's financial settlement from Whitehall is handed to councils remains up for grabs.
