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Council chiefs call for 'red-tape bonfire' to help fund vital services
Needless centrally-imposed red tape is costing councils
£4.5 billion a year which they need to fund vital services,
town hall chiefs said today.
The Local Government Association called on ministers to axe the
bureaucracy as authorities braced themselves for more
recession-enforced belt tightening.
Its research found every household was paying at least £11 a
year more than needed on "data burdens", such as performance
indicators.
Streamlining those processes would save £400 million, with
another £250 million slashed from running costs by handing
back more responsibilities to councils.
The LGA, which represents more than 350 councils in England, said
£1.5 billion could be saved by slashing the running costs of
seven Whitehall departments which councils deal with.
Central government staff numbers had soared by 21% over the past
decade with permanent staff at Communities and Local Government
rising 10% last year alone.
A further £1 billion could be found by ending "unnecessary
policy activity", £900 million by giving councils more choice
over spending and £430 million by cutting the admin bills of
quangos.
The LGA said such savings could protect 300,000 school places,
175,000 personal care packages and 36,000 miles of road
resurfacing.
Chairman Margaret Eaton said: "Billions of pounds of taxpayers'
money is being spent on needless bureaucracy. We need a bonfire of
red tape so that taxpayers' money can be freed up to protect
frontline services.
"Things need to be done better and cheaper."
Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Julia Goldsworthy said: "This report
confirms what Liberal Democrats have long believed, that putting
more responsibility in the hands of local people makes for better
decisions and saves money."
A Government spokesman said: "The Government is committed to doing
things 'better and cheaper', which is why the Civil Service has
made efficiency savings of £26.5 billion over the past five
years and is on course to deliver a further £30 billion by
2011.
"The Government has already given councils significant freedoms and
flexibilities. It has created greater financial stability through
three-year settlements, removed the strings attached to £5.7
billion of funding for next year, streamlined the local performance
framework massively reducing the number of targets from around
1,200 to under 200, and established a smarter inspection
regime."
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Jerry
Commented 11 weeks ago
Let's hope that all the political parties adopt the LGAs cost-cutting measures as a minimum, and lets' hope the government find sufficient moral backbone to resist the urge to keep increasing their off-balance-sheet borrowing binge. More hidden debt is not the answer.
Using Enron tactics is the surest way to wreck the country's finances completely, heaping massive cost and risk on our children. We're told that our Enronesque borrowing already extends to £59 billion of PFI schemes plus £54 billion hidden as Housing Association debt, and it seems that the Treasury now wish to boost that with a raft of further council housing stock transfers and an £18 billion cash grab, secured against the rest of the nation's housing stock. The intention is to raise rents, producing a double whammy for taxpayers (and our national debt)as the housing benefits bill rises with rents.
As interest rates rise, our true national debt is set to hit £2 trillion, so the idea of sticking £18 billion more on our kids' credit card as 'the solution' is nothing less than a sick joke.
Perhaps it is time to replace the hoardes of career politicians and unaffordable public servants whose thinking has got us into this mess, before any more damage is done.