The week in public services — 8th February 2018
(Disclaimer: this is a proof-of-concept that team Performance Tracker @instituteforgov are working on — a non-comprehensive overview of what’s going on in public services. In the new year, we will have a go at weekly updates, on a Tuesday.)
Did we miss something important? Let us know!
Local services
Late last week, Northamptonshire County Council announced that it had invoked a section 114 notice, effectively banning new spending by the council. An independent inspector has been appointed to assess Northamptonshire’s finances, but the BBC published a useful overview of the situation. The Guardian, in an editorial, laid the blame squarely on spending cuts — and also argued that ‘the government’s vice-like grip on local government spending that drives councillors to take big risks that they perhaps do not fully understand.’ (They also cited Performance Tracker’s work on neighbourhood services)
More broadly, Emily reflected on how the Northamptonshire situation is symptomatic of problems with how spending decisions are made in Whitehall.
But Northants hasn’t been the only local services story in the last week: the Local Government Finance Settlement was published yesterday. Responding, the LGA emphasised the need for central government to give local authorities full control of business rates, in the context of increasing demand for services such as homelessness support.
And this morning, the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) has published its annual State of Local Government finance survey, finding that 95% of English councils plan to increase council tax this year. At the same time, two-thirds of councils believe they will have to use their reserves — and services are likely to see some reduction in activity.
Young people
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) issued a warning about teacher retention, noting problems filling teaching vacancies, and falling numbers of secondary school teachers — just as the secondary population is due to rise in coming years. The Government should have foreseen this issue, argues the PAC — and a “meaningful intervention” from Government is now needed.
Late last year, Ofsted published the Inspection of Local Authorities (ILACS) framework for judging children’s services. Eleanor Schooling, in a blog, set out some of the key elements of the new approach. Among the main points: the current Ofsted grade that a service has will determine the type of inspection that it receives — and the kind of support that it gets between inspections. So, for example, a local authority rated good or better will be inspected for a week every three years; while a local authority judged to require improvement will receive a fortnight-long inspection every three years. More here.
Law and order
Police numbers — and whether crime rates are actually going up or down— dominated Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, as the Commons approved the Police Grant Report (which sets out each force’s funding from central government for the year — more in this useful briefing by the House of Commons Library).
Adult social care
The National Audit Office (NAO) warns today that workforce pressures risk adult social care becoming a ‘Cinderella service’, with workers that feel undervalued. Their research found a turnover rate of 27.8% across all care staff in 2016/17, as well as high vacancy rates — at the same time as demand is increasing. Their key recommendation? Government should develop a new national workforce strategy.
