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Councillors have a vital role to play if communities are to make the most of the opportunities offered by localism, and people from all walks of life should be encouraged to stand at local elections. Councillors are spending less time in council chambers and more time out and about in their communities. In future, they will increasingly need to be on the frontline, working with constituents and external organisations such as GPs, schools, police, local businesses and voluntary organisations to ensure their communities make the most of all the opportunities available to them. The Committee also found that both local and central government had to devolve power and resources to support councillors. The Committee identifies three key practical barriers to people becoming and remaining councillors: Some people are put off by the time commitment involved; Employers do not always take a positive view of staff becoming councillors and may not give them the support or time off required; The levels of allowances paid to Councillors to cover their expenses as few councillors will vote themselves higher allowances even if there is a legitimate reason for doing so, because it provokes so much public controversy - councils should be given the power to transfer decisions about allowances to independent local bodies. The inquiry also raised questions about the support and training that councillors receive. Several innovative models for empowering councillors are also mentioned in the report, such as devolving budgets, giving councillors front line duties and an ability to respond rapidly to local concerns.
By using qualitative research from a number of related projects, the book examines the roles, functions and responsibilities of councillors and the expectations placed upon them by citizens, communities and government.
Sir Michael Lyons was commissioned to consider the case for changes to the present system of local government funding in England and make recommendations, including on the reform of council tax. The remit was extended to cover questions relating to the function of local government and its future role as well as how it is funded, and also to consider the implications of the Barker (ISBN 0118404857), Eddington (ISBN 0118404873) and Leitch (ISBN 0118404865) reports. His overall conclusions are as follows: (1) local government is an essential part of our system of government; (2) central and local government needs to work more closely together as part of a single system, and local people should have a greater say in setting local priorities to enable authorities to manage pressures on public expenditure and improve satisfaction; (3) a mosaic of reforms is needed in the short term to address the most urgent problems, paving the way for more radical reforms in the medium- and longer-term. Recommendations include: automated council tax benefit; an end to capping; revaluation of properties for council tax; new bands with higher bills for those in more expensive properties and lower bills for those in the cheapest; consider reserving a fixed proportion of income tax for local government; longer term options should include local income tax and relocalisation of the business rate. Sir Michael concludes that council tax is not 'broken', but that it is under too much pressure, is seen as unfair, and has some limitations in that it is not a naturally buoyant source of revenue.
Austerity has left local government struggling to meet the demands for local services. In this context, this book asks ‘what are the fundamental principles that should guide decision-making by local councillors and officers?’ It seeks to move the agenda from ‘what works?’ to ‘what should local government do?’ and ‘how will its policies impact on social justice and local democracy?'. Reclaiming local democracy examines the politics of human need and argues that local government should provide a voice for those that lack power. It avoids the dry, familiar debate about what structures and powers local government should have, instead seeking to energise all concerned to re-engage with a political and ethical approach. Written in a persuasive and accessible way, the book examines how local government can develop active citizens and make a difference to the well-being of those in disadvantaged areas – truly 'reclaiming local democracy'. Combining theory and international practice, it will be relevant for councillors, policy officers and activists in the third sector, as well as academics and students in politics and social policy.
From 1 April 2013 local government will have a responsibility to improve the health and wellbeing of local people. Councils are well placed to make the most of a move away from a medical model of health, based on clinical treatment, to a social model, based on health promotion, protection and disease prevention. Central to the new system will be Health and Wellbeing Boards, whose members include councillors, GPs, directors of local services and community groups. They will need to focus on health promotion among all age groups. With few powers and no budget to commission services themselves, they will have to display leadership, build relationships and use their influence locally to turn their health and wellbeing strategies into reality. Health and Wellbeing Boards will be part of a complex new structure, and it is still unclear who will be in charge locally in the event of a health emergency. New arrangements for screening and immunisation services lack a local dimension. These services, along with public health services for children up to five years old and childhood immunisation services, could be devolved to public health staff within local government under Directors of Public Health. The Committee points to weaknesses in the grant formula and the Health Premium and calls on the Government to provide local authorities with community budgets to direct resources at people and places, rather than organisations. The Government also needs to address concerns about local authority and NHS access to each other's data.
The Routledge Handbook of International Local Government conducts a rigorous, innovative and distinctive analysis of local government within a comparative, international context. Examining the subject matter with unrivalled breadth and depth, this handbook shows how different cultures and countries develop different institutions, structures and processes over time, yet that all have some features in common – the most obvious of which is the recognition that some decisions are better made, some services better delivered, and some engagement with the state better organised if there is structured organisational expression of the importance of the local dimension of all these factors . Thematically organised, it includes contributions from international experts with reference to the wider context in terms of geographies, local government modes, recent developments and possible further lines of research. It has a wide academic appeal internationally and will steer a course between the two dimensions of mono-jurisdictional studies and ‘cataloguing’ forms of comparison. The Routledge Handbook of International Local Government will be essential reading and an authoritative reference for scholars, students, researchers and practitioners involved in, and actively concerned about, research on local government.
'There's no such thing as an average or old-fashioned business, just average or old-fashioned ways to do business. In fact, the opportunity to reach for extraordinary may be most pronounced in settings that have been far too ordinary for far too long' Far away from Silicon Valley, in familiar, traditional, even unglamorous fields, ordinary people are unleashing extraordinary advances that amaze customers, energize employees, and create huge economic value. Their secret? They understand that inventing the future doesn't just mean designing mobile apps and developing virtual-reality headsets. In Simply Brilliant, the visionary co-founder of Fast Company William C. Taylor goes behind the scenes at some of the unsung organizations that are revolutionizing their otherwise humdrum fields. These unlikely agents of change range from a parking garage that also serves as a wedding venue, to a military insurance company that puts salespeople through simulated overseas deployment. The message is both simple and subversive: in a time of wrenching disruptions and exhilarating leaps, of unrelenting turmoil and unlimited promise, the future is open to everybody. Simply Brilliant illustrates how breakthrough creativity and breakaway performance can be summoned in all industries, if leaders dare to reimagine what's possible in their fields.
The purpose of the report is to distil experience from this parliament and to assist the new committee in the next parliament. It considers how the Committee approached its work, the way it has used research and how this might be strengthened, and its own assessment of performance against the core tasks set by the Liaison Committee. It then suggests some matters the new committee might consider examining in the next Parliament. These include both 'unfinished business', topics the Committee looked at over the Parliament to which the successors might wish to return, and new developments, which the Committee considers will emerge as major issues over the next five years.
Community Budgets are demonstrating their potential to deliver cheaper, more integrated and more effective public services. They are at risk, however, of being replaced after a few years if key issues are not resolved. If this opportunity is missed, the Committee warns that local services could come under unsustainable pressure in the face of increased demand and reduced budgets. This in turn may result in more spending later on judicial and emergency health and welfare interventions. The Government should send a clear message that it will assist every local authority wishing to introduce Community Budgets and to set out the specific assistance it will provide them with. Furthermore, the programme of pilots must not be allowed to slow progress towards wider implementation. If they are to succeed, public service providers and local authorities must realise investment in Community Budgets will bring them benefits. Local authorities, their partners, and central government should, therefore, develop a framework for agreements on how the benefits of investment are to be shared. On the Troubled Families Programme, the Committee is supportive of the work being done but highlights the need for greater focus on how work with these families will continue after the programme ends in 2016. Noting that the resources available have not increased in proportion to the number of families added to the programme in June, DCLG needs to monitor carefully progress and provide more resources to local authorities if necessary
Theorizes the experiences of women in wartime, and specifically of African women during Zimbabwe's anti-colonial struggle. A Zimbabwe-specific study, focusing on the lives of women in a small locale (Chiweshe) during the anti-colonial insurgency, this book is also a challenge to established and still current modes of thought and research orientationswhich over-simplify the complex realities women face in the full range of violent conflicts, both past and present. By contextualizing the voices of women of Chiweshe, not only is an important and under-developed aspect of Zimbabwean and African history revealed, but a new approach to comprehending the highly-tensioned lives of women in war is presented, which is characterized here as Gendered Localised Resistance. This is examined through the prism of life in the Protected Villages in Chiweshe experienced in everyday social relations, revolutionary roles, and food security. It traces how women forged strategies of survival and resistance in the middle of guerrilla warfare pitted between the forces of the state and the revolutionary resistance movements. The book can be read as a unique and richly detailed account of the lives of women during the Zimbabwe civil war and liberation struggle; as a wider argument about how researchers can approach and incorporate lived experience into accounts of larger dynamics (war/revolution); and as a substantial and important contribution to feminist historiography and writings on women and war. Eleanor O' Gorman is Senior Associate at the Gender Studies Centre and a Research Associate at the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge; an independent consultant who has advised the UN, the UK Government (DFID and FCO), the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the European Commission, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Zimbabwe: Weaver Press