Title

The scale of the cuts may not come as too big a shock to local government, but long term, it faces stark strategic choices, say Simon Parker and Andrew Warren. History teaches us that when the pressure is on, change takes off. So says the historian, Ian Morris, in his epic new analysis of global social development. The Government is now putting this idea to the test. The Spending Review is being positioned as more than just a package of cuts. It is intended to drive a broader change in UK society, away from high-spending government and towards a thriving civil society, coupled with private sector-led growth. The coalition hopes that the public sector which emerges will not just be smaller, but radically different. The evidence indicates that growing more social capital in the UK's communities could have positive effects on everything, from crime levels to educational attainment, while simultaneously improving people's wellbeing The scale of the cuts is unlikely to shock many in local government – councils have been preparing for the worst for some time, and many have already started reassessing the way they operate, in readiness. But beyond the obvious short-term challenge that the Spending Review represents, councils face a critical strategic choice – cut costs and deliver fewer services, or use the budget as a catalyst to embark on a journey of change which might transform the way public services in this country are delivered. NLGN's Scanning financial horizons' research painted a clear picture of how local government would address the immediate challenge this presented. The first place most councils will look for savings is in their back offices. There are gains to be made within individual councils, but many authorities hope to make bigger savings by commissioning a new generation of shared services arrangements. Local government will also be looking for new ways to deliver cultural and environmental services, which stand to take a large share of the cuts. Many councils will seek to transfer leisure centres, museums and libraries over to the community, or to turn them into self-financing mutuals. Some may look for ways to share their refuse collection and street cleaning with other councils, perhaps offering a menu of services and costs to each neighbourhood, and allowing some to pay extra. These changes will be difficult, but on their own, they will not be enough to address the structural issues now faced by local government. Transformation is perhaps an overused word, but it is precisely what councils must now do. Even before the recession, our current public service settlement was under increasing pressure. The remorseless force of demography has continued to push up health and social care costs, in particular, while costly social issues such as obesity remain stubbornly resistant to government action. We are seeing some councils innovate to address these issues. Most have been building collaborative relationships with other parts of the public sector, the business community and the voluntary sector for some time. This kind of thinking now needs to go further, through greater use of area-based budgeting and commissioning to redesign services around the needs of citizens. Even councils which are not pilots can do a lot in their own right to pool budgets in areas such as crime reduction and worklessness. One of the biggest opportunities for long-term savings lies in collaborating with citizens themselves to draw on the hidden wealth of neighbourhoods – the free time, social capital and community spirit that are as much a resource as cash. The evidence indicates that growing more social capital in the UK's communities could have positive effects on everything, from crime levels to educational attainment, while simultaneously improving people's wellbeing. NLGN's emerging analysis of how these resources are distributed suggests that many deprived areas have surprisingly high reservoirs of social activism. This might be partly because people need free time to volunteer – it is notable that areas with high numbers of people on out-of-work benefits tend to also have slightly higher levels of volunteering. Local government needs to grasp a new role as the steward of these resources – finding new ways to manage them, grow them and point them in the right direction, without seeking to control them. Renegotiating the contract between citizen and state in this way will be a difficult and long-term process, requiring political bravery and managerial skill. It will raise difficult questions about accountability, oversight and risk, and it will demand widespread public consent. This only serves to underline the importance of engaging local residents in a debate about how to weather the coming cuts. Having uncomfortable conversations today is the best way of avoiding politically-impossible decisions tomorrow. So, beyond the initial pain signalled by last week's announcements lie much bigger questions about how we want localities to look in 2015, and what kind of councils will be needed to support them. Local authorities in London and the South East have grabbed the lion's share of the headlines, with promises to become ‘easyCouncils', co-operative councils and, according to one rumour, even ‘naked' councils, but they are not alone in thinking radically about the future. Local government is entering a profoundly-challenging period that will fundamentally alter the way councils are organised and the way public services are provided. Regardless of the model, everyone needs to start thinking about future management and delivery models right now. The answers lie closer to home than we might think. Simon Parker is director of the New Local Government Network, and Andrew Warren is managing director, public sector for Vertex

Title

WHITEHALL

The stark choices ahead

SUBSCRIBE TO CONTINUE READING