Homelessness is a growing issue for local authorities – both rough sleeping and helping those in precarious housing situations. Since 2010, rough sleeping in England has increased by 168 per cent and the number of households in temporary accommodation reached 78,930 at the end of 2017 – a 60 per cent increase since 2011. In […]
Yesterday (28 March), the Government released Council Tax statistics for 2018/19. It won’t surprise you to know that the majority of local authorities have taken advantage of the additional percentage point increase, from 2% to 3%, in the Council Tax referendum limit. Three quarters of all authorities have increased the main part of their Council […]
How should we regard the NHS as it celebrates its 70th year? A much-loved elderly aunt who offers nothing but care and support to an increasingly demanding family despite being rather down on her financial luck? Or something more like the septuagenarian occupant of the White House: an over-fed attention seeker who constantly disrupts any […]
Just in case he was thinking of launching a new wave of council reorganisation, it might be a good idea for Sajid Javid to examine the Finnish education system. Regularly at or near the top of the OECD’s annual ranking of education performance, the country has become a mecca for those seeking pedagogic wisdom. But […]
Local government is undergoing a cultural renaissance. In many councils the culture is shifting away from a top down style of management to one of openness, collaboration, and self-determination. This fundamental culture shift is a key opportunity for women. It is a chance to assess whether the qualities we normally value in leadership are the […]
It is 217 years to gender parity according to the World Economic Forum – 47 more than last year. To have a chance of closing the gap more quickly, we need to think differently about supporting women and families to balance home life commitments whilst still progressing successful careers. ‘Sandwich carers’ or the ‘sandwich generation’ […]
I know what you’re thinking. Where to start, right? The sector is full of glamour. There’s the high-flying chief executive, at the pinnacle of a local government career – a figurehead of the staff, working closely with politicians, negotiating hard with civil servants – that’s all pretty cool stuff. Or there are the whizzy strategists, […]
Social value in commissioning and procurement is important because it considers the role of spending on services to improve economic, social, and environmental wellbeing in an area. These often have long-term benefits to local communities but are not widely considered in typical procurement processes, because almost by definition they relate to outcomes that tend to […]
