local authority settlement 2015/16

Local Authority settlement

First, the Local Government Settlement needs to be looked at in the context of the Westminster cuts to public expenditure.

 

By 2015-16, the Welsh budget will be £1.5bn lower in real terms than in 2010-11 and the amount available for capital investment will be 30% lower than it was at its peak in 2009-10. 

The long period of sustained reduction has had an impact on all services, even those that have been relatively protected. The fear is that, in future years, if the Tory Lib Dem coalition continues in Westminster, things will only get worse.

 

The Tories in the 1980s and 1990s engaged in an attack on local government but the scale of the reductions now are far greater than then

 

Whilst I cannot predict with any accuracy what each local authority in Wales will do I can predict what will happen somewhere across Wales

 

Council tax will increase and in many cases by nearly 5%.

Charges for Council services, where they have local discretion, will be increased.

 

Charges will be brought in for services currently free

 

Non statutory services will be closed

 

Discretionary provision will disappear, the 2 and 3 mile limits for school transport will be strictly enforced

 

public toilets will close or the county and county borough councils will try and pass responsibility to community councils

 

Branch libraries will either close or be passed to volunteers to run

 

Opening hours of leisure facilities will reduce

 

Sports pitches will be passed on to local teams to manage

 

Day centres will close

 

Local Authorities will look to pass costs on to health boards

 

People will be paying more for poorer services

 

Opposition Councillors in every Local Authority, aided by Assembly members, will criticize the cuts and support the demonstrations in opposition to them

 

There will be those who see the solution to tens of million of pounds in cuts is the reduction in the number of councillors or in councillors allowances.

 

If all the councillors in Wales were unpaid it would not meet a quarter of the planned cuts in Swansea alone

 

Probably the worst thing that will happen is that all authorities will become similar.

 

Today RCT has amongst the best nursery provision in Britain a continuation of mid Glamorgan’s policy

 

Swansea Council has an excellent record on culture and the arts

 

Education and Social services will take an increasing proportion of the council budgets.

How will these cuts affect health

Local government provides a variety of services that contribute to the health and well being. For instance, if local authorities are unable to provide timely social care packages for those leaving hospital then bed blocking will occur. If Local Authorities do not intervene with home care provision soon enough then that will inevitably increase the risk of hospitalisation.

 As budgets become stretched then slowing down assessment and the production of a care package for hospital discharge could be the only way of staying within budget.

In order for some people to be discharged from hospital adaptations to their homes are often needed. The disability facilities grant is managed and funded by local authorities.

 Yet if there is insufficient funding available for the work to be done then the patient often cannot be released from hospital despite having no medical need to stay there.

Environmental health workers check food safety in premises where food is prepared. If there are less of them then obviously visits will take place less often and the chance of food poisoning such as salmonella will increase.

Of course, all these are statutory services. But if they are fully protected then the discretionary services would be hit disproportionately hard.

Councils can reduce expenditure on road maintenance and street lighting but doing so increases the chance of accidents occurring and will add to the pressure on accident and emergency departments.

In a country where lack of exercise and unhealthy lifestyles are contributing to an obesity epidemic the last thing that the health of the nation needs is the closure of leisure facilities or a huge increase in their cost.

 Local authority run leisure centres and swimming pools provide an opportunity for people to engage in exercise at a reasonable cost. It will not improve health and fitness if they are either closed or prices are increased to such an extent that they exclude a large proportion of the public.

There are of course efficiency savings and invest to save opportunities such as more 3g and 4g pitches to allow greater use of sports facilities.

Local authorities should be looking to use either the Welsh Government’s invest to save initiative, or their own reserves in order to reduce on going expenditure by investing to save.

Local authorities can collaborate more to save money, especially with back office functions such as payroll. But the savings likely to be achieved will be around the edges.

If we continue to substantially reduce spending in fields other than the health service there will be big trade offs and health could be the loser. Health is not only about treating the ill and injured but also about ensuring preventative initiatives are in place.

 Local government is a major provider of preventative services. Large cuts in local government expenditure and a reduced provision of services could damage the overall health of the nation. We must remember that to keep Wales healthy local government has a major role to play