Local elections will shape the future of local government. But can we be sure that local government has a future at all?

Local government has been under attack for decades, says a pessimistic report from the Public Management and Policy Association, a think-tank. Political power at a local level has been seriously eroded by the centralising policies of successive governments, says Professor George Jones, Emeritus Professor of Government at the London School of Economics, in his report, The Future of Local Government: has it one?

Despite talk of devolution, Whitehall's “mania” for tightening control of resources has led to confusion, apathy and waste in local areas, overriding democracy, the report argues.

“[Government] departments tend to see local government as a mechanism to implement their wishes,” he says.

Assessors wreathed in secrecy

Research assessment exercises are now so secretive that academics are using the Freedom of Information Act to view assessors' reports

Background

• Has local government a future?

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Council leadership has been replaced by a network of bodies delivering services because the government does not trust local authorities to do what it thinks should be done.

“When they claim that they support decentralisation it is...to their own...special purpose institutions for hospitals, education, policing, community safety and social services.”

Professor Jones calls for a new constitutional settlement to “enshrine” the role of local government and define its relationship with central.

New powers for local authorities would be necessary if existing restraints could be removed, he says. “The way ahead for strengthening local government...is not by keeping the centre in the driving seat.”

www.cipfa.org.uk/pmpa

Not managing to manage

Yet more negativity in public sector management - although it depends on who you listen to. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has urged the public sector to review its people management and has called on Gordon Brown to step up reforms, Personnel Today (April 29) reports.

State-funded employers need to be more flexible, more efficient, give better training and communicate better with staff, it says. “As people's expectations of public services change, so too must public service employment practices,” says Neil Bentley, CBI director of public services. Absences are a costly 30 per cent higher than in the private sector, a problem that could be reduced though HR reforms.

Not so fast, says the Public Sector People Managers' Association (PPMA). While it recognises the high absence rate, people management in the sector is top quality, it argues. “We are excellent at managing people... We recognise that people are our best resource,” says Carol Mills, the PPMA national lead on wellbeing.

Not everyone is so confident. Suffolk County Council has been criticised for bringing in £350-a-day investigators to tackle bullying, deemed too specialist to be handled by its HR department, says Personnel Today. “This seems an unnecessarily expensive way to investigate bullying allegations,” says Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayers' Alliance. “Why does it not have anyone capable of doing this in-house?”

Bulldog spirit is not enough

Crisis? What crisis?

Public sector organisations are too complacent, leaving them ill-prepared for crisis, reports The MJ (May 1). Many rely increasingly on the “bulldog spirit” of staff, rather than proper planning, according to a report from BT Global Services.

Eight out of ten employees think their employer relies more on the dedication of staff than organised plans to deal with possible disasters such as flooding, fire, or IT failure. “While the spirit and determination of public sector employees has to be commended...[managers] are not doing enough to plan for disaster management,” says Mark Quartermaine, of BT.

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