It didn't take long for the question of local government reorganisation to rear its ugly head again. But whereas the speculation has, in the past, been confined to political commentators and has been brushed away by the powers that be, this time reorganisation is a real possibility because the source was no less than local government Minister Brian Gibbons.
The threat of reorganisation this time is because of poor performance. But if Dr Gibbons looks a little closer he will see that there is no obvious connection between size and performance - some of the best performing authorities on some measures are the smallest (and some of the worst are the largest). And performance varies WITHIN authorities - some authorities who are good at, say, waste recycling are very poor at other things e.g. processing housing benefit claims. So it's not at all certain that a shake-up would improve matters, but it would inevitably cost millions.
What we do need is a thorough review of the PURPOSE of local government. I can't see, for example, any rationale for having 22 authorities process housing benefit claims. However I do see good reasons for having local organisations to consider planning applications. There is no number that is magically right - it all depends what you want the authorities to do.
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6 comments:
Reorganisation of the health service and now possibly local government shows just how bankrupt of ideas the parties in Government in Cardiff Bay are.
As the Health Economist Siobhan McClelland said on Sharp End last week all reorganisation in the Health Service does is focus managers minds on whether they are going ot keep their jobs instead of focusing on patient care and im sure it will do the same thing in local authorities.
Common sense Victoria.Decide what you need the LAs to do and then fit the model to the need.I agree some functions would be better overarching and some need to be much more local.
People also may have forgotten how many councils we did have before reorganisation.
Do you think someone has told Ministers that this sort of policy wins votes
I agree with anon - why all the obsession on structures? Surely time is better spent focussing on whether the relevant functions are producing the right outcomes for the people of Wales....
Hello Anonymous - if you think that the parties are bankrupt of ideas why not help to develop new ones by joining the Bevan Foundation? A visit to http://www.bevanfoundation.org/6.html will tell you more.
Hi Victoria
thanks for the offer, there are plenty of ideas out there already my problem is the lack of political will and leadership to listen to alternatives and implement them that gets to me.
I thought your 2007 - 2011 report was excellent and had some really innovative ideas in it, but alas it was ignored but all the parties for the Assembly elections. I am cynical but if Labour wont listen to the Bevan Foundation, what hope is there for us in Wales?
Glad you liked it! The problem we have is getting our ideas to a wide audience - we are only three part time staff, we get little if any media coverage, so we need members to a. spread the word about what we do and b. help to keep us going and, in my dreams, even expand!
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