Edition 2: Confidence the economy, society and environment

Our Leadership Index reveals council Chief Executives and Leaders hold low confidence that they have adequate resources and powers to deliver statutory services.

NLGN’s Leadership Index provides insights into the level of confidence on key issues affecting local government, based on the perception of council Leaders, Mayors and Chief Executives.

Our first survey found that council chiefs across the UK have low confidence levels that local authorities have adequate powers and resources to deliver statutory services. When asked to rate their confidence levels from 0 to 100 – with 0 being not at all confident and 100 being very confident – council chiefs rated their confidence in their capacity to meet adult and children’s social care needs at only 41 and 43 respectively.

Our survey also revealed very high regional differences in confidence on a range of other issues. Confidence in having the resources and powers to meet housing need ranged from 48 in London to 73 in the North East. Ratings of confidence to deliver health and wellbeing for their local area ranged from 46 in West Midlands to 75 in Yorkshire and the Humber.

The Leadership Index survey comprises 15 recurring questions which address three key themes: economy, society and environment. The final section comprises two topical questions about the impact of current events on local government. The topic explored in our first survey in January 2018 was on the issue of Brexit and the results of that part of the survey (part 1) can be viewed HERE.

The full results of the survey can be downloaded HERE.

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