With Brexit steering the Treasury’s aim for a three-year Spending Review off the road, Whitehall’s strong grip on council finance leaves authorities impotent, writes Richard Harbord. For my birthday this[…]
Richard Harbord looks at the large amount of central government measures affecting councils due over the next 13 months. Time is running out, the current uncertainty damaging, and the prospects[…]
Realpolitik means the local government sector shouldn’t hold its breath waiting for central government to help it out of its financial predicament, says Richard Harbord. Life is very unfair! The[…]
There won’t be many still working in local government who will remember the beginnings of outsourcing in 1980. It was one of the first moves of the new Thatcher government[…]
Governance is about the way in which various parts of government organisations work together in a seamless way. Good governance ensures they work together to ensure that the best possible[…]
Despite all the hype, the major political parties were satisfied with elections that did little to change the status quo. It also means little likelihood of policy change, writes Richard[…]
The chancellor Philip Hammond attempted to put some optimism in his latest statement but, says Richard Harbord, there was little to lift the gloom for council finances. This was Philip[…]
Section 114s were introduced to beef up the powers of the s151 officers. But they can be a “career limiting move” and potentially indicate a failure of “cooperative working” inside[…]
It’s nothing short of miraculous that some local authorities remained ‘sustainable’ in 2017, writes Richard Harbord who looks back on a year that saw an increase in officer investigations and[…]
Local authorities up and down the country should be finalising budgets that offer a clear route to the future. That would be the case, argues Richard Harbord, if it wasn’t[…]
