Punching back
Agent 151 is a senior local authority finance director and S151 officer. The agent writes exclusively for Room151 and is licensed to speak candidly. If you take a pair of[…]
Yearly Archive: 2020
RBKC & Wandsworth feel knock-on effect of UK rating
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has had its credit outlook revised to negative by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. The revision came because the UK as a whole[…]
Local authority groups slam settlement
The local government finance settlement, announced yesterday, has attracted angry criticism from the LGA and the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers, among others. Local Government Association[…]
A Christmas Carol
Ebenezer Scrooge, the Section 151 Officer at Marley District Council, was huddled in his dark and dusty office on Christmas Eve, putting the final touches to next year’s budget. “Hmmm,[…]
Climate change and economic growth
Travelling to work this morning through a thick fog, I was reminded how focused we are on a day to day basis, on weather and climate – and yet despite[…]
Shared services help save £250m
Shared services agreements have increased by 61% in the UK over the last year, according to figures from the Local Government Association. At least 337 councils have agreements to share[…]
Ben Lucas on turning the state upside down
Ben Lucas is the director of the Royal Society of Arts 2020 Public Services Trust and a trustee of the New Local Government Network. He was previously adviser to Jack[…]
Treasurer’s reflections – Q4: Revenue strikes again!
My first reflection this year concentrated on the HRA self-financing debt settlement – treasury staff at many local authorities had spent considerable time in 2011 investigating the myriad financing opportunities[…]
Essex adopts payment-by-results funding
Essex County Council has raised £3.1m for the initial stage of its Social Impact Bond and is now looking at five other areas to be funded in the same way.[…]
Thinking about the Fed
Despite the announcement of ‘QE3’ by Mr Bernanke, the total assets of the Federal Reserve bank (FRB) have only increased by around $40bn since end August and within these assets,[…]
