Councils call for the abolition of six core Whitehall departments
There’s a lot to this. It will never happen – still it shows some interesting radical thinking. The article tells us (and clearly rural is one of the issues in the mind of those proposing it as it involves Defra):
England’s councils are calling for a radical overhaul of the way central government works with local authorities — including the abolition of six core Whitehall departments — in a bid to protect local communities from the impact of funding cuts.
Speaking in Manchester at the annual conference of councillors across all parties, Sir Merrick Cockell, chair of the Local Government Association (LGA) warned that unless urgent changes were made to the way councils are managed and funded by the government, 56 risked financial collapse.
The revelation followed further cuts to public expenditure in last week’s spending review, which asked councils to save another 10% despite already coping with cuts of more than a third to their core budgets.
“There is another way — a better way — to operate, but it needs central government to listen to us carefully. They need to listen to us as a trusted partner, not an office junior,” Sir Merrick said. “We’re the ones with the track record… we have the skills, ideas and ambition to turn around public services in this country. Most importantly, we have the legitimacy.”
The LGA’s 10-point plan for change includes merging six big Whitehall offices — the departments of communities and local government, energy and climate change, culture, media and sport, farming and rural affairs, transport and parts of the Home Office — to create a single England Office to eliminate the conflicting department decisions which hold councils back.