So, Her Majesty told us yesterday that her counsellors will be launching another round of devolution. It won’t happen of course unless Boris Johnson marches back into Downing Street with something like a workable majority. But it shows that there is still appetite in Westminster for a policy that appeared to have lost its sheen. […]
No one can doubt the sincerity of Dame Sally Davies’s parting shot as Chief Medical Officer. Her report on child obesity crackles with frustration and fear at the horrendous cost of the problem to individuals, families and the wider country. But her proposed solution reveals much that is wrong with our healthcare system and the […]
There is no need for another blog to articulate the complete chaos that the British politics system finds itself in at the present time. As of today, the government teeters on through a newly reconvened, non-prorogued Parliament, careering headlong to its October 31st ‘do or die’ deadline for Brexit. But who knows what tomorrow will […]
The number of children in care has never been so high, rising by 4% over the last year alone and by 2025, the funding gap for children’s services is expected to rise to £3.1bn. In 2017-18, nine out of 10 councils were already overspending and this continued, despite the injection of an additional £542m in […]
Last week’s Spending Review announcement provided something of a proverbial crutch for children’s services, but offered few reassurances for the medium to long-term sustainability of what many see as the most important state function of them all. Failing to invest in young people and families who need support is just storing up more costly problems […]
The number of looked after children has reached a thirty-year high, with spending in this area accounting for over half of spending on children’s services in 2018-19. Despite the injection of an additional £542 million in 2018-19, councils continue to overspend. The scale of the challenge facing children’s services is such that it cannot be […]
Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings have got MPs exactly where they want them: defending Parliament. They may cast this right now as a battle between an executive that wants to deliver on the referendum result and a legislature that wants to stymie it but soon the rhetoric will morph. It will become a fight between […]
Levels of violent youth crime on our streets have never been so high. Over the last four years, the number of these offences has increased by 34%. This is also reflected in the New Local Government Network’s latest Leadership Index survey, with over 60% of our 207 respondents – who were council chiefs, leaders and […]
