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  • Themes

Devolution Revolution: The next steps to deliver outcomes

Central Government need to be much clearer about what they want from devolution and much more willing to create the conditions to achieve it. This is the key finding...

13th July, 2016

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Smarter, Not Harder: How devolution can make places more productive

Cities across the UK must be given control over a third of corporation tax to help them fix the country’s underperformance on productivity, a new report by think tank...

6th July, 2016

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Leaders who collaborate, collaborators who lead

In spring of 2016, NLGN and Veredus held two discussion events on the theme of collaborative leadership. The participants were council chief executives: the first event representing some northern...

10th May, 2016

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Devolution in Practice

In early 2016 NLGN partnership with Weightmans, held a roundtable in Leeds to discuss the status and progress of devolution deals. Leaders and Chief Executives were brought together from combined...

6th May, 2016

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All Together Now: WHOLE SYSTEMS COMMISSIONING FOR COUNCILS AND THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR

This report takes a “whole systems” approach to ensure services are working in an integrated way wrapped around people. Getting this right will require greater collaboration between commissioners and...

28th April, 2016

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Funding Arts and Culture in a Time of Austerity

In partnership with: “Find a way to keep faith with arts and culture” Arts Council Chair urges local authorities as arts and culture funding falls Sir Peter Bazalgette urged...

13th April, 2016

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Get Well Soon: Reimagining Place-Based Health

This final report moves the debate into practical territory by focussing on actions rather than structures, and the wider resources of places rather than the organisational boundaries of institutions.

17th March, 2016

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Picking up Signs, Not Pieces

Supported by: In collaboration with Action for Children, NLGN hosted three roundtable discussions on the role of local government in supporting parents. The first two discussions were held with...

10th December, 2015

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Fire Works: A Collaborative Way Forward for the Fire and Rescue Service

The fire and rescue service (FRS) has a critical choice to make about its future. Severe budget cuts in the Revenue Support Grant and limitations on council tax income...

30th July, 2015

Children’s Services: Roundtable write-up

NLGN hosted a roundtable in partnership with Prospects in March 2015 to discuss changing delivery models for children’s and youth services. This paper outlines the key themes from this...

14th July, 2015

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Demystifying Data: The Data Revolution and What it Means for Local Government

data is not just a financial asset, but equally that it is the key that unlocks council’s ability to fully integrate and transform the services they offer local people...

23rd April, 2015

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A Design for Life: How Councils and Housing Associations can Collaborate for Impact

Local authorities, housing associations and the health sector are natural partners. There is significant overlap between the people they work with and the challenges they face. This report examines...

24th March, 2015

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Healthy Dialogues: Event Write-up

It is now eighteen months on from the transfer of public health from the NHS to local authorities, and one year on from the publication of the NLGN report...

27th January, 2015

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CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH

In November 2014, NLGN hosted a roundtable discussion in partnership with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and MindEd to consider how local government can prioritise...

22nd January, 2015

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Smart Budgeting: Integrating Financial and Strategic Planning for Outcomes

Councils should adopt “smarter” approaches to budgeting which make sure the strategic value of every pound goes towards meeting outcomes. They should no longer simply follow the patterns of...

1st December, 2014

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As Tiers Go By: A collaborative future for counties and districts

This research shows that the spectre of unitary status is still holding back the potential for local collaboration, as local partners focus on the potential for nationally imposed reorganisation...

29th October, 2014

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The Council and the Common: Local government in 2020

This paper aims to provide a snapshot of how councils are preparing for the future. Based on interviews with senior officials from across the country, it provides a high...

2nd October, 2014

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The DIY Ethic: Business models for community integration

This research outlines a clear pathway to an integrated future for public services. A new report from NLGN has outlined business models that councils can adopt to...

17th September, 2014

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Working Together: SUPPORTING SMEs TO WIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

In May 2014, NLGN held a roundtable discussion bringing together local government and SMEs to discuss opportunities and barriers to working together. This paper outlines the key themes that...

12th August, 2014

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On with the Show: Supporting Local Arts and Culture

Local authority funding for the arts and culture has fallen by 19 per cent* in the last 3 years and organisations around the country are feeling the effects. Local...

24th July, 2014

Right Tier, Right Now

The future of two tier local government is one of most vexed questions facing the sector as a whole. It is quite clear that the current division of labour...

2nd July, 2014

Combined Efforts: The Future Governance of England’s Cities

This collection provides an overview of what this new spirit of collaboration has achieved thus far, and looks ahead to how the new combined authorities could develop in coming...

12th June, 2014

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EFFECTIVE COMMISSIONING: AN NLGN WHITE PAPER

Better commissioning is a critical part of the future for local government. As councils redefine themselves for a new era of high demand and tight budgets, the quality of...

27th May, 2014

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Break on Through: Overcoming Barriers to Integration

This report focuses on what local areas can do themselves to transform, and how central government can support this. What we really need is radical change of relationships at...

6th May, 2014

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Smart People, Smart Places: Realising Digital Local Government

Digital technology provides local authorities with huge opportunities to transform the services that they provide and the way they interact with communities. In a time when councils have to...

19th March, 2014

Healthy Dialogues: Embedding health in local government

This report looks at the challenges, difficulties and solutions that public health teams have experienced during, and since, the transfer. It also examines the extent to which public health...

12th December, 2013

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Localism 2015: Where next for the political parties?

In order to start a conversation between local and national leaders in advance of the manifesto writing process, NLGN have produced a collection of political essays from council leaders...

17th September, 2013

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Future Councillors: Where next for local politics?

What will the councillors of the future look like? This paper starts with a short futures exercise which explores the styles of political leadership that are likely to emerge...

16th July, 2013

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The History Boys: Lessons from local government’s past

This collection brings together four essays on the history of local government. Bermondsey, Birmingham, Liverpool and London provide the stage and politicians from each of the major political parties...

3rd July, 2013

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LGA Conference Journal: If I could change one thing in local government…

We invited a selection of NLGN members to contribute their thinking. Deliberately we chose a question to focus the mind. To zero in on a single alteration that one...

2nd July, 2013

Towards a Healthy Democracy: An NLGN essay collection

The return of public health to local government is probably the biggest single transfer of new responsibilities for decades. Many in the sector are justifiably excited by the change...

22nd May, 2013

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Gaming the Cuts: Anyborough in 2018

A new report shows that Leisure and education services across the country face the axe as councils struggle to deliver cuts that could amount to 50% of their real...

16th April, 2013

The Road Not Taken: New Ways of Working for District Councils

District councils need to step into the role of place leaders if barriers to sustainable growth are to be overcome across the UK. NLGN’s new report, The Road Not...

7th March, 2013

Great Expectations: The next steps for a new generation

Young people face a widening ‘expectation gap’ as their dreams of a stable career, home and family become ever more unattainable, localism think tank NLGN warns today in its...

23rd January, 2013

Commissioning Dialogues

A new report from NLGN and CBI reveals that conversations between councils and independent providers of public services are stuck in low gear. This creates a risk that councils...

10th December, 2012

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The Next Generation: The values, attitudes and behaviours of Britain’s future citizens

NLGN, with the support of Zurich Municipal, set out to investigate the risks to the next generation that the economic downturn has generated. While the immediate impact of the...

26th October, 2012

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More Light, More Power: Reimagining public asset management

The Treasury’s limited view of the value of public assets is crippling local authorities’ ability to drive local growth and meet deficit targets. A new NLGN report, has found...

20th September, 2012

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Healthy Places: Councils leading on public health

The government’s radical public health reforms could stall unless new Health and Wellbeing Boards are given greater legislative clout, localism think tank NLGN warns today. To succeed, the new...

15th May, 2012

Grow Your Own: Skills and infrastructure for local economic growth

NLGN’s report – Grow Your Own: Skills and Infrastructure for Local Economic Growth, kindly supported by BT and Kent Country Council – argues local government must seize a new...

16th April, 2012

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Anticipating the Future Citizen

The new age of austerity risks creating a reclusive society characterised by public affluence and private squalor, localism think tank NLGN warns today. In a provocation paper setting out...

29th February, 2012

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Retail Therapy: Local capital finance and the retail bond market

English councils are prepared to use retail bonds to pay for crucial improvements to schools and highways – but only if the price is right. New research from localism...

21st February, 2012

Delivering Distinctiveness: The future for district councils

NLGN has launched Delivering Distinctiveness a new essay collection edited by Daniel Goodwin, Chief Executive of St Albans City and District Council. The publication explores the future for district...

14th December, 2011

Capital Futures: Local capital finance options in an age of recovery

Councils could save vital school and highway projects by looking to a new market in municipal bonds, according to research from localism think tank NLGN. The new Capital Futures...

7th December, 2011

Commissioning Care in the 21st Century

The new NLGN report, jointly commissioned by the ALDS Forum and the LDC, Commissioning Care in the 21st Century, argues that the only way to ensure that personalised services...

22nd November, 2011

The Devil in the Detail: Designing the right incentives for local economic growth

The Devil in the Detail: Designing the right incentives for local economic growth, a new white paper issued this week by NLGN, presents a timely response to the recent...

11th November, 2011

The Next Question: The future of local leadership

Local Government Minister Bob Neill MP, writing in a new essay collection from NLGN, states that government will be looking to local leaders to help deliver its decentralisation agenda....

12th September, 2011

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Future Councils: Life after the spending cuts

Local councils of the future may undergo a process of ‘Californication’ as they respond to budget cuts, new analysis predicts. A report published today by localism think tank the...

7th September, 2011

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Going Dutch: Local Government and Fuel Poverty

A new White Paper from NLGN suggests that by following a model of bulk purchasing from energy providers recently launched in The Netherlands, councils can create significant savings for...

21st July, 2011

Realising Community Wealth: Local Government and the Big Society

A new report from localism think tank the New Local Government Network (NLGN) will this week show which areas of the country are most ready to benefit and most...

29th June, 2011

Localist Capital Finance: The challenges ahead

In a new research paper, NLGN warns that the decision to increase the cost to councils of borrowing from government could threaten local authorities’ ability to boost local economic...

18th May, 2011

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