• Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • LATIF
  • Conferences
  • Dashboard
  • Edit My Profile
  • Log In
  • Logout
  • Register
  • Edit this post

Room 151

  • 151 BRIEF

    What's New?

  • John Turnbull elected president of the SLT

    May 12, 2022

  • Pension pool identifies biodiversity as a priority

    May 11, 2022

  • TfL latest to face credit-rating downgrade by Moody’s

    May 10, 2022

  • Government proposes ‘fairer, more accurate’ business rates system

    May 10, 2022

  • Queen’s Speech confirms planning reforms

    May 10, 2022

  • 18,000 affordable houses lost through ‘permitted development’

    May 9, 2022

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • David Green
    • Agent 151
    • Dan Bates
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
  • Interviews
  • Briefs

Centralism – the new localism

0
  • by Agent 151
  • in Agent 151 · Blogs · Recent Posts · Resources
  • — 31 Oct, 2013

Agent 151 is a senior local authority finance director and S151 officer writing exclusively for Room151. 

The local government press is groaning with examples of how this government, led no doubt to some degree by the wisdom of civil servants, is busy centralising.  This of course is localism in action, according to the spin, but let’s have a look at the reality in some current examples.

The Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office are now the “only show in town” for monitoring council finances, according to PAC Chair Margaret Hodge.  She said the PAC would be doing “deep dives” into some councils’ finances, and expressed concern that the watchdog role was not adequately resourced following the abolition of the Audit Commission.  Stand by for growth in NAO resources to hold councils to account!  Whatever happened to those armchair auditors Mr Pickles assured us could do the job?

Staying with the PAC for a moment, the Treasury’s top civil servant told the PAC recently that local authority chief executives were, in his opinion, paid too much.  His solution to this?  The Treasury should set town hall chief executives’ pay.

Meanwhile, ministers have stiffened their resolve to take control of council pension funds.  It appears that they are persuaded that bigger is better and that there are major savings to be made from merging funds down to no more than six or seven for the whole country.  Indeed, they decided not to wait for the results of a call for evidence before issuing a tender for a cost benefit analysis of three options. There is little hard evidence to support the case for structural reform, and the move will sever the link between the democratic accountability of councils for local spending and their pension costs; a link that may not be entirely transparent but at least attempts to make someone accountable!  Cynics will suggest that ministers have been seduced by the suggestion that such an arrangement will make more pensions cash available to fund infrastructure investment.  Frankly, the idea that there is a shortage of investors in infrastructure at the right rate of return is just plain silly, as indeed is the idea that public pension funds should be made to subsidise commercially unviable infrastructure projects.

Public sector procurement should be standardised according to the Cabinet Office, which has been consulting on proposals to make it easier for small firms to win a greater share of government contracts. SOLACE has responded by pointing out that this is something that councils do already very well, thank you.  Analysis shows that about half of councils’ spending goes to SMEs, whilst only 12% of central government spending does. Is the proposed legislation really necessary?

Meanwhile, the DWP is forcing through its Single Fraud Investigation Service, which will take over housing benefit fraud investigation from councils.  This will leave councils with a capacity gap in fraud investigation and worse still ensure that benefit fraud is investigated entirely separately to other types of fraud being perpetrated by the same fraudster (housing tenancy, council tax support etc).  This is a good result for fraudsters, but not the best answer for the country as a whole.

It seems there is a mindset in central government that simply cannot grasp the concept that government at a local level can be more effective and efficient than central provision.  Central government departments are hungry for more and more control, and are simply thumbing their noses at the public service reform that is being attempted.  Essex County Council’s Leader has recently said that his council had “hit a brick wall” with its community budget pilot due to lack of co-operation from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills regarding devolving skills provision.  Another pilot at Kent CC ran into similar problems with DWP’s skills team.

We are already, according to Tony Travers, the most centralised western democracy.  It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the forces of centralism are still gaining ground.  It’s time for ministers to show that they, and not the civil servants, are running the country.  There are more cuts in funding and more difficult decisions ahead for central and local government.  Let’s stop the squabbling and start working together to strike the right balance between central and local control and, in doing so, balance the books.

Share

You may also like...

  • Richard Harbord: What will happen with business rates? 30th Nov, 2021
  • Complexity of treasury governance challenges for members and officers 13th Sep, 2021
  • LGPS & COP26: The expected, the needed and the opportunities 26th Oct, 2021
  • Room151’s 10th Anniversary: A treasury decade that saw borrowing double and investments transformed 25th Nov, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Register to become a Room151 user

  • Latest tweets

    Room151 1 day ago

    ‘Urgent consultation’ issued in response to continuing audit delays: CIPFA and the Local Authority Scotland Accounts Advisory Committee (LASAAC) have announced another “urgent consultation” to consider proposals to address the latest issue that has led… dlvr.it/SQJ0kV pic.twitter.com/s6vw0bnGXO

    Room151 2 days ago

    Bags of capacity – now to housing delivery: HRAs have been freed up and councils are starting to invest, but some remain cautious, writes Steve Partridge. He suggests that a minimum of £10bn of additional borrowing could be[...] dlvr.it/SQDvxk pic.twitter.com/yZmoWzHv6U

    Room151 2 days ago

    Bags of capacity – now to housing delivery room151.co.uk/treasury/bags-…

    Room151 3 days ago

    To Michael Gove: a modest proposal: Conrad Hall has written an open letter to the levelling up secretary suggesting an unusual (and tongue-in-cheek) proposal to help councils predict next year’s government grant. Dear Secretary of State,[...] dlvr.it/SQ9GpX pic.twitter.com/mSX1xgeL8a

    Room151 3 days ago

    Queen’s Speech: an ambitious plan hampered by omissions: Richard Harbord examines the impact of the government’s legislative proposals on councils, and concludes that local authorities expect and need more from central government. However you view the… dlvr.it/SQ8hmP pic.twitter.com/BsnziyNPIO

    Room151 4 days ago

    Insights and inspiration from LGPS leaders past and present: Four current and former LGPS leaders have recently given powerful and insightful interviews as part of the Fiftyfaces podcast, which showcases inspiring investors and their stories. Hosted by… dlvr.it/SQ53lC pic.twitter.com/IRYMFPxdA2

    Room151 5 days ago

    Rate rise represents ‘fastest increase in borrowing costs in 25 years’: Partner Content: CCLA Investment Management’s Robert Evans analyses the rationale for the Bank of England’s latest rise in the Official Bank Rate and assesses the likely outcome of… dlvr.it/SQ33k3 pic.twitter.com/A81yiS1UgN

    Room151 5 days ago

    The Liability Benchmark, very much unloved at the recent Room151 treasury briefing, receives a much more positive assessment from Jackie Shute. There’s ‘no better tool for treasury portfolio management’, she says. #localgov #finance room151.co.uk/treasury/in-pr…

    Room151 5 days ago

    In praise of the Liability Benchmark: Jackie Shute responds to recent criticisms of the framework used to plan the future borrowing requirements of a local authority. I’m not suggesting that this debate will have the same[...] dlvr.it/SQ2cGf pic.twitter.com/4rqXTpHC9A

  • Categories

    • 151 News
    • Agent 151
    • Audit
    • Blogs
    • Business rates
    • Chris Buss
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • Council tax
    • Dan Bates
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Development
    • Education
    • Forum
    • Funding
    • Governance
    • Graham Liddell
    • Housing
    • Ian O'Donnell
    • Infrastructure
    • Interviews
    • Jackie Shute
    • James Bevan
    • Jobs
    • Levelling up
    • LGPS
    • Mark Finnegan
    • Net Zero
    • Private markets
    • Recent Posts
    • Regulation
    • Resources
    • Responsible investing
    • Richard Harbord
    • Risk management
    • Social care
    • Stephen Fitzgerald
    • Stephen Sheen
    • Steve Bishop
    • Technical
    • Transport
    • Treasury
    • Uncategorized
    • William Bourne
  • Archives

    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
  • Previous story Herefordshire CT referendum, Business rates collection, Peterborough network, Brum CEO search
  • Next story Looking back and looking forth: the week in treasury

© Copyright 2022 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.

0 shares