Comment
Our latest blogs, long-reads, videos and podcasts about all-things community power, local government, public services, and more.
Advanced Search/Filter +
The Brexit board gives local government a seat on the floor
The announcement that made headlines in an otherwise low-key speech from MHCLG Secretary of State James Brokenshire at this year’s LGA Conference concerned the establishment of a board to...
By Charlotte Morgan, Policy Researcher, NLGN
5th July, 2018
Brokenshire must go public on council funding
This article first appeared on The Local Government Chronicle website on 2nd July 2018 Let’s face it, the bar is not exactly high. As long as James Brokenshire manages...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
3rd July, 2018
Does being a leader need to be a full time job?
As the local government clans gather in Birmingham this week, let me offer a view counter to the apparent increasing trend for local political leaders to work full-time in...
By Dame Jane Roberts, NLGN Chair, Research Fellow in Public Leadership, The Open University Business School
2nd July, 2018
Leaving Care, Leaving Well: how can outcomes be improved?
11,000 young people leave care every year, including foster and residential placements, and start their transition to adulthood. For many, this is a difficult journey. Not only do young...
By Hannah Jump, Social Finance
20th June, 2018
The social impact of devolution must not be overlooked
There is nothing new about English devolution being couched in economic terms, particularly as the UK Government has pinned the devolution agenda in England firmly to the spatial framework...
By Charlotte Morgan, Policy Researcher, NLGN
19th June, 2018
The ageing story is growing old
A quarter of millennials think it’s normal for older people to be unhappy or depressed, and two thirds don’t have a friendship with an age gap of 30 years...
By Sarah Lawson, Policy Researcher, NLGN
18th June, 2018
The public services “quadruple whammy”
This post first appeared in The Local Government Chronicle on 12th June 2018. Welcome to the Quadruple Whammy: the confluence of factors rearing into view that could push local...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
13th June, 2018
Trust – a vital ingredient in successful public-private partnerships?
Dave Sheridan, Divisional CEO of ENGIE UK, explains why trust is fundamental to being successful custodians of public services. The recent demise of Carillion, and the public debate thereafter,...
By Dave Sheridan, Divisional CEO, ENGIE UK
7th June, 2018
How do we ensure places are geared towards our good health?
On 23rd March 2018, NLGN, supported by The Ramblers, convened a roundtable on public health, held in Salford and attended by partners from across Greater Manchester. This blog launches...
By Molly Jarritt, External Affairs Officer, NLGN
5th June, 2018
Spending Review: Time to unite, time to think bigger
This is a critical year for local government. The Spending Review, the social care green paper and decisions on funding the NHS are all individually important, but collectively they...
By Tony Smith
1st June, 2018
Local Government squabbling will blow chances of better deal
This article first appeared on the Local Government Chronicle website on 30th May 2018 You don’t need to trawl the archives of The New York Times to know that...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
30th May, 2018
Rethinking Public-Private Partnerships
Attention is increasingly focussing on how public services are delivered and what roles the public and private sectors should have. Budgetary pressures, an ageing society and the looming fallout...
By Trinley Walker, Senior Policy Researcher, NLGN
30th May, 2018
Numbers and Knowledge
Whitehall and Local Government often seem fixated on numbers, metrics and targets, as a trigger for focus and action, show to residents, and to satisfy inspectorates as to just...
By Merran McRae, Chief Executive, Wakefield Council
25th May, 2018
Tackling social isolation requires intergenerational response
Whilst recent events have placed emphasis on generational differences– particularly between millennials and older baby-boomers – intergenerational Homeshare schemes are addressing a problem that cuts across the perceived generational...
By Erica Belcher, Research Intern, NLGN
23rd May, 2018
The problem with prevention
Prevention has become a bit of a buzzword. As public services struggle to meet demand alongside widespread funding cuts, increasingly people are recognising the need to focus on the...
By Sarah Lawson, Policy Researcher, NLGN
22nd May, 2018
We need to start talking about fiscal devolution…
This week Seattle’s City Council voted unanimously to levy a new tax on large businesses to help address the city’s homelessness problems. Through negotiation and consensus-building, a democratically-elected local...
By Jessica Studdert, Deputy Director
18th May, 2018
The Do’s and Don’ts of Being Secretary of State at MHCLG
This article first appeared on the Local Government Chronicle on 11th May 2018 Dear James, welcome to the strangest job in Whitehall. You are now leading a sector that...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
14th May, 2018
Councillors must urgently speak with one loud voice to protect children in their care
This was first published in the Local Government Chronicle on 8th May 2018 After the celebration of victory comes an eye-opening and somewhat shocking week for new councillors elected...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
9th May, 2018
How can co-production transform services?
NLGN is today launching our latest Innovation Briefing, exclusively for our members. This focusses on how local authorities are using co-production to transform their services and make sure they...
8th May, 2018
Why staff are eyes and ears of our communities
We know our staff are our biggest asset and at a time of limited resources we need to ensure we are utilising their full potential. We deploy operational staff...
By Paul Barton, Director of Environment, Wigan Council
30th April, 2018
It’s time for the Government to stop ignoring councils on Brexit
The UK Government has consistently maintained that there is ongoing dialogue with local government on Brexit. However, there are growing question marks over the extent to which this ‘dialogue’...
By Charlotte Morgan, Policy Researcher, NLGN
26th April, 2018
The BNP may have gone but communities are more vulnerable to unforeseen sparks
This article first appeared in the LGC on 17 April 2018 The news that the British National Party no longer has any representation in local government following the resignation...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
18th April, 2018
Is Extra Funding for the NHS the Right Call?
How should we regard the NHS as it celebrates its 70th year? A much-loved elderly aunt who offers nothing but care and support to an increasingly demanding family despite...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN. First appeared in LGC
29th March, 2018
Council tax disparity – a cause for concern?
Yesterday (28 March), the Government released Council Tax statistics for 2018/19. It won’t surprise you to know that the majority of local authorities have taken advantage of the additional...
By Dan Bates, pixelfinancial
29th March, 2018
What’s the sexiest job in local government?
I know what you’re thinking. Where to start, right? The sector is full of glamour. There’s the high-flying chief executive, at the pinnacle of a local government career –...
By Jessica Studdert, Deputy Director, NLGN
2nd March, 2018
Mainstreaming Social Value in Councils
Social value in commissioning and procurement is important because it considers the role of spending on services to improve economic, social, and environmental wellbeing in an area. These often...
By Pawda Tjoa, Senior Researcher, NLGN
28th February, 2018
Making a difference with social value
The Public Services (Social Value) Act was designed to encourage those commissioning public services to think beyond short-term financial costs, to how they could use their contracts to drive...
By Sarah Fraser, Head of the Willmott Dixon Foundation
29th January, 2018
What’s the point of Croydon?
It’s interesting finding out what others think of your workplace. I searched for “Croydon” to try to get a sense of an outsider’s perspective. Recently, it was about how...
By Julian Ellerby, Director of Strategy and Partnerships, London Borough of Croydon
11th January, 2018
The NHS at 70: We need to look beyond the symptoms of this patient in distress
The “NHS at breaking point” media furore has become a fixture on our winter calendar as regular as Christmas and New Year. Hospitals at full capacity, patients experiencing substandard...
By Jessica Studdert, Deputy Director, NLGN
3rd January, 2018
Share the Health: Extending the reach of public health to economic development
It’s hard to find a part of local government that doesn’t affect our health in some way. From support for children and parents, to the maintenance of local parks...
By Lucy Terry, Senior Researcher
4th December, 2017
Overcoming barriers to inclusive growth in practice
Last week’s Budget confirmed more grim economic news. Downgraded forecasts predict sluggish growth into the 2020s and productivity remains stagnant, and with it living standards which have now plateaued...
By Jessica Studdert, Deputy Director, NLGN
29th November, 2017
What does the Industrial Strategy: Building a Britain fit for the future mean for local government?
Reading the Industrial Strategy: Building a Britain fit for the future, published this morning, was no mean feat. From tackling the ageing population to transforming cities, its breadth is...
By Molly Jarritt, NLGN
27th November, 2017
An agenda-shifting Budget – if a little underwhelming
This was first published in the MJ This was the moment a British government finally got serious about the most pressing social problem facing the UK: our dysfunctional housing...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN
22nd November, 2017
Budget 2017: The only certainty for local government is continued uncertainty
This article was first published in Civil Service World. The Budget was a mixed bag for local government. Councils face financial uncertainty after 2020, with grant funding still reducing,...
By Jessica Studdert, Deputy Director, NLGN
22nd November, 2017
The Public Sector Reform Recipe for Success
In 2012, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that Wigan Council was the third worst affected council by austerity in the UK. We realised that we couldn’t continue to...
By Donna Hall
13th November, 2017
The devolution drive has become devolution drift. This must change if we’re really to take back control after Brexit
The prospect of “taking back control” motivated many who voted to Leave in the EU Referendum. Whether it was the institutions of Brussels, the policies of the EU or...
By Jessica Studdert, Deputy Director, Published in Conservative Home
11th November, 2017
Brexit • Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Politics
Why is the demand for Children’s Services rising?
This blog is the first in a new series which will attempt to highlight key trends that may help identify the causes behind the continued rise in the demand...
By Pawda Tjoa, Senior Researcher, NLGN
13th October, 2017
Are we prepared for the looming tech revolution?
Elysium is a big star sci-fi action movie from 2013, which even its director admitted was pretty mediocre. But in among the one-dimensional characters and gore-filled explosions there is...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN Published in The MJ
13th September, 2017
Government must invest in early help as it does in infrastructure
The pressure on the chancellor to ease austerity is intensifying by the day, with increasingly noisy calls for a more doveish approach from within his own party. This nervousness...
By Adam Lent and Robert Pollock, Director, Social Finance, published in LGC
6th September, 2017
Should local government be concerned about recent trend change in its reserves balance?
In 2013, Eric Pickles accused local government of ‘hypocrisy’ for ‘pleading poverty when they have trebled their cash reserves over the last decade’.1 But last week, DCLG released data...
By Pawda Tjoa, Senior Researcher, NLGN
31st August, 2017
ELIMINATING HEPATITIS C: A MOVE TOWARDS PLACE-BASED HEALTH DELIVERY IN THE UK
In the UK, we’ve been talking for some time now about place-based ‘systems of care’. These are born out of collaboration with other NHS organisations and services to address...
By Stuart Smith, Head of Drug & Alcohol Services, The Hepatitis C Trust
28th July, 2017
How can Britain rebuild its civil society?
“How can we continue to secure the dignity, wellbeing and happiness of people after nearly a decade of cuts?” pondered the Chief Executive of one London council at a...
By Abigail Gilbert, published in CityMetric
18th July, 2017
Charities • Community Power • Third sector and civil society
Sajid Javid can rebuild his relationship with local government but it will take more than words
Last night he was shouting obscenities up at the bedroom window. Now, after a cold night on the doorstep, he’s saying he loves us and is begging for forgiveness...
By Adam Lent, Director, New Local Government Network
14th July, 2017
How collaboration can boost productivity in public services
Mainly due to budget cuts over the past seven years, councils have become more efficient in how they work. But a new approach is needed in order to boost...
By Lucy Terry, Senior Researcher
11th July, 2017
Why I swapped the global for the local
This week, Richard Nelmes joined the NLGN team as Head of Network, following almost a decade at the United Nations Association. The United Nations is a global body of...
By Richard Nelmes, Head of Network, NLGN
20th June, 2017
Three priorities for Sajid Javid
Having first assumed his role as communities secretary and local government last year as the aftershocks of the Brexit vote reverberated, Sajid Javid’s reappointment last week came at no...
By Jessica Studdert, Deputy Director, Published in LGC
19th June, 2017
National Carers Week: Identifying Young Carers
This blog is for Carers Week, an annual campaign to raise awareness of carers, the challenges they face, and the contribution they make to society. There is no doubt...
By Shahnaz Yasmin, Events Officer
16th June, 2017
What does the DUP’s manifesto mean for local government?
Many of us knew little about the DUP until Friday morning, but now it looks as if they will be instrumental in forming a functioning government. Now is a...
By Emma Rosen, Research Assistant, NLGN
13th June, 2017
What does the election result mean for councils?
Whatever their party allegiance, I suspect councillors and officers everywhere will be scratching their heads about what this unexpected outcome means for local government. On one hand, this result...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN, Published in LGC
9th June, 2017
Political uncertainty must not mean backsliding on social care reform
Theresa May is not the only potential casualty of this election. The social care issue has taken a pretty severe political beating as well. After May promised not to...
By Adam Lent, Director, NLGN, Published in The MJ
9th June, 2017
Health and social care • Political Systems • Politics • Social Care