Category: Articles
The Women’s Equality Party manifesto was published late on Friday, and unlike other party manifestos, has been expressly drafted with the intention for other parties to adopt its policies. While […]
16th May, 2017
The issues crying out for solutions in this election remain woefully unaddressed. For years the UK has struggled with a rapidly ageing population, an unbalanced economy and a mess of […]
16th May, 2017
The links between problems like homelessness, substance misuse, mental ill health, violence,domestic abuse and extreme poverty often go unrecognised by services and systems mostly designed to deal with one issue […]
10th May, 2017
After years in the offing, the election of the first wave of new metro-mayors means this once theoretical tier of governance has now become a group of six actual human […]
5th May, 2017
We need to talk about fiscal devolution. Fiscal devolution is an issue that national politicians won’t touch even with someone else’s bargepole. So scared are they of the electorate getting […]
28th April, 2017
Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Finance • Local government finance
Since Theresa May took over as Prime Minister, local councils have increasingly understood that their future now resides in their own hands. The devolution agenda, once driven by the former […]
24th April, 2017
Finance • Local government finance • Politics • Public Services
Yesterday NLGN hosted a roundtable with senior local government executives and a handful of academics to discuss ‘place based policy’ after Brexit. The starting point of the discussion was work […]
21st April, 2017
One entirely unforeseen consequence of last year’s referendum was the brakes being put on the devolution locomotive. Despite Government protestations to the contrary, May and Hammond have shown little of […]
19th April, 2017
Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Political Systems
Like it or not this will be the Brexit Election: a strange sort of quasi-referendum on the decision made in a previous referendum and everything that has happened since. But […]
18th April, 2017
Devolution • Devolution and reorganisation • Political Systems
NLGN’s recent Place-based Health conference brought together many experts in local and national healthcare to discuss the need to move away from reactive health services, towards holistic, place-based systems – […]
6th April, 2017
We recently published our report on improving the productivity of councils, with a focus on collaboration. It’s been an interesting time to look at productivity in local government. Councils are […]
30th March, 2017
The letter has been sent. The deed is done. But today is really just the beginning. Whether you are watching today’s events begrudging, jubilantly, with denial, or even boredom it […]
29th March, 2017
In recent years, the word ‘place’ has become a bit of a buzzword in the local government sector. Terms like ‘place-leadership’, ‘place-branding’ and ‘place-building’ are now ubiquitous in strategy documents […]
27th March, 2017
At Essex County Council we are passionate about making a positive contribution to the lives of Essex residents and businesses. It is what we exist for. The qualities of the […]
23rd March, 2017
Local government faces a funding gap of £5.8 billion by 2019/20. At the launch of NLGN’s latest research report Tomorrow’s Places, Theo Blackwell, Councillor at LB Camden, stated “Technology will […]
22nd March, 2017
Most councils indulge in partnerships, but how many actually achieve what they were set up to do? As a county council, our oldest partnership is with our unitary city and […]
16th March, 2017
On International Women’s Day this year, we celebrated the role of women in the local government workforce, and the importance of diversity in policy-making. We made three short films full […]
16th March, 2017
I know someone who’s renowned for his scepticism. The only problem is, he’s now so sceptical that he doesn’t feel able to trust anything. People who post videos on YouTube […]
15th March, 2017
“Too many areas of policy covered by local government are male dominated – infrastructure, highways, planning… the most important thing is to put women in positions of responsibility in those […]
14th March, 2017
Cities are largely designed by men, and for men. There is nothing unusual in this – we instinctively design, plan and make policy that reflects our own experiences and biases. […]
10th March, 2017
The Chancellor’s first Budget, and the first following the UK’s decision to leave the EU, needed to shore up the domestic economy, particularly against structural challenges of weak productivity and […]
8th March, 2017
Finance • Local government finance • Policy • Politics • Public Services
It is true that instead of being a hierarchical old boys’ club in the same way as many industries, local government has become significantly more open and approachable, reducing hierarchy […]
8th March, 2017
Disruptive, cognitive technology will be a major driver of change in our economy over the next decade, as Artificial Intelligence becomes more accessible to UK organisations, very quickly. This has […]
28th February, 2017
Yesterday’s NLGN Annual Conference came with a painful sting in the tail. The day was dominated by talk of creativity and collaboration – bursting with ideas about how technology, new […]
22nd February, 2017
Budgeting • Finance • Local government finance • Public Services
Firstly, I would like to thank the City of London Corporation for hosting our conference in the fantastic surroundings of the Guildhall. I also want to offer very special thanks […]
21st February, 2017
Few would deny the need for change, or even what needs to happen to improve our care system. From reaction to prevention, services to systems and institutions, to people and […]
14th February, 2017
What happens to council leaders after they leave their leadership role? How do they adjust? Do they stay in politics? What employment do they find? I suspect that you have […]
10th February, 2017
If solving the housing crisis was a simple case of fixing legislation or introducing incentives for builders, the housing crisis would have been fixed ages ago, or never reached this magnitude at all.
10th February, 2017
If ever there was an area of healthcare where place-based care could have a major impact on local public health gains it is the identification and treatment of hepatitis C […]
9th February, 2017
This was not a housing white paper that would see the chancellor in a hard hat being gleefully greeted by a happy major house builder. The narrative is markedly different […]
8th February, 2017
England’s health and social care crisis is not only financial – it is a challenge to politics and society too. It represents a crisis of confidence about doing what needs […]
2nd February, 2017
Councils are changing. Prompted by the funding cuts of the last decade, they have had to transform. No longer just seen as service deliverers, they are becoming collaborators, place leaders, […]
1st February, 2017
For many years national politicians have avoided the question of ‘British Identity’ as connected to a set of values or principles. Instead, ‘we’ have known ourselves through economic terms, comparative […]
1st February, 2017
Homelessness receives a lot of media and policy attention this time of year, as the effects of sleeping rough are all too apparent. As it gets colder, and floods and […]
25th January, 2017
Local government officials and to a degree local politicians are often praised for their realism. For example, in the light of sustained spending cuts local government since 2010 local government […]
24th January, 2017
It’s a chilly January day, and the government has just broken with its previous laissez-faire approach and announced a bold, interventionist plan to boost the UK’s economy at a time […]
24th January, 2017
Having announced the fact of the Industrial Strategy almost as soon as she assumed office, this week we finally got the first proper detail of the centrepiece of the May […]
23rd January, 2017
Councils are changing. No longer just seen as service deliverers, they are collaborators and place leaders, commissioning councils, commercial councils and co-operative councils. But while the purpose and priorities of […]
18th January, 2017
Local authorities are indispensable in our current crisis and are therefore under enormous pressure. They manage the public services that people are increasingly reliant on, support the most vulnerable people […]
1st January, 1970
Local authorities are indispensable in our current crisis and are therefore under enormous pressure. They manage the public services that people are increasingly reliant on, support the most vulnerable people […]
1st January, 1970
Some may remember when the phrase ‘commissioning’ entered the local government lexicon. It meant something different to almost everyone; yet it evolved into a way of working rather than a […]
1st January, 1970
English devolution is back in the spotlight. As the Government prepares to publish a White Paper to set out its “offer for enhanced devolution across England”, we at NLGN have […]
1st January, 1970
Councils operate in an increasingly complex and challenging environment. The pressure to deliver and innovate simultaneously is more intense than ever. NLGN has been working with councils for over 20 […]
1st January, 1970