Local growth proposals

The government published a White Paper, Local Growth: Realising every place’s potential, on 28 October, setting out the government’s role in empowering locally driven growth, encouraging business investment and promoting economic development.

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As part of its strategy, the government gave the go ahead to the first 24 local enterprise partnerships, amid concerns that the short bidding period and mixed messages from Business Secretary Vince Cable and the CLG's Eric Pickles have left parts of the country, without a partnership.

Amongst the roles suggested for LEPs in the white paper is "strategic housing delivery, including pooling and aligning funding streams to support this".

Ministers also declared the £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund open for business. The fund will support the creation of private sector jobs and will particularly support communities currently dependent on the public sector. The 24 LEPs will be encouraged to bid for support from the fund. The fund could also potentially fund housing renewal activity - the housing market renewal pathfinder programme is to end once existing committed schemes are completed.

However, critics have pointed out that the Regional Growth fund, to be spread over three years, is the equivalent to the amount Regional Development Authorities were receiving each year.

The White Paper also confirms proposals for:

• a New Homes Bonus from April 2011 which will match fund the additional council tax raised for new homes for the following six years. £200m has been set aside to fully fund the scheme in 2011-12. A consultation paper on is promised ‘shortly’.

• a reformed planning system which will "give communities and neighbourhoods more power over decisions, increase investor certainty and help international businesses locate, move within or stay in the UK"

• Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which will enable local authorities to borrow against future increases in business rate revenues

and promises to look at proposals for local authorities to keep the business rates they collect locally, reducing central redistribution.

Can sharing save Scottish services?

Based on recommendations from former NHS chief Sir John Arbuthnott in 2009, eight Scottish councils in the Clyde Valley – responsible for a third of the country's population – have agreed to prioritise sharing services in waste management, social transport, health and social care and support services in a move estimated to save up to £70m over five years.

However, the projected savings account for just 0.25% of the councils' budgets, and they expect to face cuts of 12% over the next three years.

A meeting of council leaders is planned for 26 November, after which they will take back proposals to their own authorities for formal agreement.

The Clyde Valley councils are not the only ones in Scotland to be looking at shared services; Midlothian and East Lothian councils talking about merging their education and social work departments. However, no councils in Scotland are currently looking at sharing provision of housing services, as far as we know.

Prime Minister rules out U-turn on HB

Prime Minister David Cameron ruled out speculation that the government was considering amending its plans for a cap on housing benefits, following widespread concern that the proposals could displace many poorer people in cities.

At Prime Minister's Questions Cameron insisted the Government was sticking to its plans:

"We're going forward with all the proposals in the Budget and the Spending Review."

London Tory MPs had demanded concessions for London, and Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes has threatened a backbench rebellion unless the plans are changed.

In an evidence session to the Work and Pensions Committee last week, Nigel Minto, head of sustainable communities at London Councils told the committee that some central London boroughs have been block booking private sector accommodation in towns such as Hastings, Watford, Slough, Reading and Luton.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was accused by Rhondda's Labour MP Chris Bryant on Tuesday of promoting welfare reform proposals that would force 200,000 people out of major metropolitan areas in what Bryant called social engineering and sociological cleansing.

According to the Guardian's parliamentary sketch writer Simon Hoggart, this caused Mr Clegg to lose his rag - "teddy chucking time" - as he objected to the use of the term cleansing, before going on to defend the proposals.

"Does the hon. Gentleman really think it is wrong that the state should not subsidise people to the tune of more than £21,000, when people cannot afford to live privately in those areas? I do not think so."

This came after a flurry of press discussion - the Guardian's Polly Toynbee had used an even harsher metaphor when she spoke of the Tories' "final solution for the poor", whilst the Daily Mail warned that "families in well-heeled suburbs have been warned to brace themselves for an influx of thousands of benefits claimants."

Future of NROSH

Hidden in the supplementary papers that accompanied the CSR came news about the future of NROSH, the National Register of Social Housing.

Page 19 of the Spending Review press notices says:

"Government will reform the National Register of Social Housing as part of work to disband the Tenant Services Authority. This will reduce costs to the taxpayer and reporting requirements on social landlords."

CSR - the sector response

We covered the initial response to the CSR in an earlier article. Here we have pulled together links and comments from some of the briefings produced by the sector. We'll keep updating it, so let us know if there's anything we've missed!

The Chartered Institute of Housing issued a detailed and authoritative briefing on the impact of the Comprehensive Spending Review on social housing.

The Local Government Group's website has a page devoted to the CSR, including an on the day briefing and a speech made the following day by Chairman of the Local Government Association Baroness Margaret Eaton, in which she said:

"Our estimate is up to 100,000 jobs in local authorities will go.
That’s one in ten of the workforce."

"We’ll be asking the rest of the public sector to work with us.... We have to pull together and pool our money together to get the biggest bang for our buck."

The LG Group briefing noted that local government has had some of the biggest cuts in the public sector. A real terms reductions of 28% in local authority budgets over the next four years is significantly front-loaded and will lead to cuts at the front line.

London Councils' briefing notes that councils in London have received total initial in-year funding cuts of £354.5m – meaning that London is carrying 30% of the national cuts.

It notes that cuts over the four year period will be significantly front-loaded, and its modelling suggests a reduction in revenue funding of around £1.5bn (in 2010-11 prices) for London councils by 2014-15. This would equate to approximately 27% of London authorities’ grants, excluding schools and police funding.

A separate, more detailed, briefing on housing issues is promised, but London Councils’ Executive Member for Housing, Mayor Sir Steve Bullock has already said:

“The government has now put in place the ingredients for a swiftly escalating housing crisis across the capital – one that will touch the lives of the majority of Londoners and place council budgets under severe pressure.” 

The HCA has said it expects to reveal further details of its programmes and potential investment models by the middle of November.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors is deeply concerned about the economic impact of reductions in capital spending, saying that:

"Government is gambling with the economy by reducing Communities and Local Government capital spending by 74% over the next four years. This will have a significant effect on housing supply, especially social housing, which is already at historically low levels. As well as reducing the number of affordable homes this could have a wider impact on the housing market where continued low supply will create affordability issues, particularly for first time buyers."

RICS gives a cautious welcome to the new Green Deal scheme and the commitment to increased funding for renewable energy infrastructure, though it questions whether the sums allocated are sufficient.

The Centre for Housing and Support looked at the impact of the June budget and the CSR on housing-related support services. It points out that the Supporting People funding has been cut in the CSR by 11.5%, to £6.5 billion, and predicts that, as the SP budget is not ring-fenced and because local government longer has to account for how its expenditure is supporting the most vulnerable, councils will make bigger cuts to housing-related support in order to fund other at risk services.

The National Housing Federation (NHF) has issued an updated response to the Government's Spending Review proposals, saying that no ‘real new social homes’ will be delivered during the next spending period, beyond those already in the pipeline, and this will lead to thousands more tenants being trapped on benefits.

Latest plans for shared council services

Leaders of a trio of Conservative-controlled London councils have announced plans to form a 'super-council' to merge services, potentially saving between £50m and £100m a year.

Under the proposal, each authority would retain its political identity with its own elected leaders and councillors. A spokesman for Hammersmith & Fulham told Public Finance that each council retained the right to choose the level of services for its residents and set its own level of council tax.

Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham, all of which currently manage their housing stock through separate arms-length management organisations, believe that merging services is the only way to try and avoid cuts to frontline services following the toughest public spending squeeze on local government in living-memory.

Their joint statement said "Our plans may be the first of their kind, but sharing of services in this way can no longer be viewed as a radical concept. It will soon become the norm for local authorities looking for innovative ways to keep costs down while delivering high quality front line services."

The plans were welcomed by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles who told the BBC:

"These councils are leading the way in local government and voters will expect others to get on board and follow suit.

"This is exactly the sort of innovation that will help councils to protect hard-working families and the most vulnerable.

"By sharing back-office services, they'll be able to protect the front line - and even improve the choice and services that's on offer to local residents."

The initiative bolsters government claims that the cuts it is imposing on local government can be absorbed without affecting front-line services. Pickles told the Bradford Telegraph and Argos:

“We expect councils to cut deep into their administration. We are saying that the days in which you can expect to enjoy your own chief executives, your own top officers and separate departments are over. There is too much duplication.

“If you are seriously telling me that local councils can’t take out just over seven per cent of their costs a year, in the way in which the private sector has taken out much larger sums, then I can’t take that seriously.”

The Local Government Association say this was the first proposal with initial agreement to potentially share all services. However, other councils seem to be planning similar or more modest initiatives:

• Babergh and Mid Suffolk councils are considering a total merger or sharing services.
• West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council  have agreed to share officers and services. 
• Nottingham City Council and Leicestershire County Council are to share human resources, payroll and finance services to save £1 million a year.
• The 10 member councils of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities have estimated that they can achieve between 10 and 20 per cent of the savings the need to find through joint working.
• Several councils, including Islington and Camden are planning to share chief executives or senior management teams.
• Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Thanet councils plan to set up a new ALMO, the East Kent Shared Housing Landlords Services, which would manage the homes of 20,000 tenants.
• The London Borough of Newham took on management of ICT services for the neighbouring borough of Havering three years ago, and the arrangement has saved £1m.
• District and county leaders in Essex are exploring the option of moving from 13 chief executives to a single chief and about 6 or so managing directors - political structures would be unchanged.
• Darlington and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Councils share Finance, HR and ICT services in the Xentrall partnership, established in 2008 and on track to deliver £7.4m savings in 10 years

This blog entry from the APSE website posted in November 2009 gives a number of examples of councils co-operating on individual services to generate savings, whilst the LG Improvement and Development website carries guidance and case studies on shared services.

Nott Decent campaign visits No 10

We have been sent a story from HouseMark member Nottingham City Homes about its tenants' fight for the continuation of Decent Homes funding.

The campaign is called "Nott Decent" and it has gathered momentum over the last few weeks, culminating with the presentation of a petition to 10 Downing Street on the day of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

There has been great support for the campaign, especially from local MPs and the local newspaper, the Nottingham Post. You can follow the story on Nottingham City Homes's blog The Bulletin.

The Coalition Government's Spending Review has not abandoned the Decent Homes Programme. A Parliamentary Answer in September stated that "ALMOs have estimated that around £2 billion is required to complete their Decent Homes investment programmes". Section 2.33 of the CSR says, '...investment via the Decent Homes programme will continue to improve the existing social housing stock.'

Housing Minister Grant Shapps's letter of 20 October on the settlement for government housing expenditure says "We will invest over £2 billion of capital funding to help towards completing the Decent Homes programme, enough to more than halve the backlog over the spending review period, and reform the Housing Revenue Account."

The funding is allocated over the 4 years CSR period. Nottingham tenants will be waiting to learn if their promised improvements can go ahead at the rate originally expected.

CLG takes the greatest cuts

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles led the way with the Spending Review cuts:

• to departmental administrative budgets, with CLG cutting 42%. Most departments are cutting by 33% except Work and Pensions (35%), Culture and Media (41%), and Business (40%).
• to departmental “programme & administration” budgets CLG spending falls by 51%. The third biggest real terms cut was Defra (29%), and second was international development (33%).

George Osborne said the four year cuts were guided by fairness, reform and growth. The 19% average cuts to departmental budgets were less severe than the 25% expected - thanks to an extra £7bn in savings from the welfare budget, the chancellor told Parliament.

Reaction to the Spending Review
The National Housing Federation slammed the Government’s decision to cut the affordable house building budget by 60%.

The NHF – along with Shelter and the Chartered Institute of Housing – is establishing a Housing Futures’ Commission to look at the impact of the austerity programme, possible changes to the allocations systems and tenure, the mortgage market review and other issues that affect the delivery of a functioning housing market.

Responding to the Chancellor’s announcements on the reductions to social housing budget, the Chartered Institute of Housing warned that cuts to public investment in housing over four years could see some of the most vulnerable people shouldering a disproportionate burden of the government’s deficit reduction measure.

The BBC has published a round-up of reaction to the Spending Review.

The Guardian has published a couple of spending review case studies:

• the single mother in social housing
• the pensioner with few savings

So 'Where Are The Cuts?' - you can help build up a map of where and what these are by reporting the cuts you're aware of.

Affordable Housing
The government wants to make social housing more responsive, flexible and fair so that more people can access social housing in ways that better reflect their needs.

The measures include:

• delivery of up to 150,000 new affordable homes in England over the next four years by investing £4.5 billion. Based on social landlords being allowed to charge new tenants a weekly rent at between social and market rates for as long as individual circumstances require it.

• £2 billion investment for the Decent Homes programme. Together this means government will invest over £6.5 billion in housing over the Spending Review period.

• confirms the reform of the council housing finance system so local authorities have greater control over their own finances, and can reinvest to meet local housing need.

• continued support for elderly, disabled and vulnerable individuals through the £6 billion Supporting People programme.

• Homelessness Grant has been protected with investment of around £400 million by 2014-15.

• provision for Disabled Facilities Grants will rise with inflation by 2014-15.

• ending programmes, including the Working Neighbourhoods Fund, Growth Area Funding and the Thames Gateway fund in order to rationalise funding streams.

• increasing housing supply by reforming the planning system so it is more efficient, effective and supportive of economic development.

• a New Homes Bonus commencing in April 2011 will reward with match funding those local authorities that build more homes for six years. More details of this programme will be published in a consultation paper in November 2010.

• reforming the National Register of Social Housing as part of work to disband the Tenant Services Authority.

Further details of the Government’s new affordable housing programme and associated reform programme will be published in November 2010.

Farewell TSA

Update 21 October: Peter Marsh has announced today that he will be standing down as Chief Executive Officer of the Tenant Services Authority. Claer Lloyd-Jones, currently Deputy Chief Executive, will take over as acting Chief Executive.

20 October: The government’s Review of Social Housing Regulation, published on 18 October, sets out the key elements of the regulatory framework that will replace the Tenant Services Authority when it is abolished. 

A new HouseMark briefing sets out the main proposals and makes a preliminary assessment of the implications for the social housing sector.

• The TSA regulatory responsibilities will move across to the Homes and Communities Agency.
• Economic regulation of housing associations will remain in very much its present form, but with an explicit new obligation on the regulator to act in a ‘proactive’ manner to achieve greater value for money from landlords.
• Consumer regulation will continue to apply to both housing associations and local authorities, but the role of the regulator will be ‘reactive’ - in future, the HCA will only provide 'back stop’ consumer regulation, as almost the entire responsibility for ‘consumer protection’ (as it is renamed) passes to local level.
• Landlords will be expected to support tenant panels - or equivalent bodies - to give tenants the opportunity to scrutinise the services being offered and to be involved in resolving disputes.
• Consumer protection will focus on tenant complaints.
• The proposals depend on powers to be included in the Localism Bill and are to due to take effect from April 2012.

Pickles removes National Indicators and LAAs

Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, has announced the removal of Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and the National Indicator set, saying that this will negate the need for councils to report on 4,700 Whitehall targets.

Pickles argues that the National Indicator set is a burden on councils, but he conceded that this is, "Not because measurement and targets are always a bad thing."

He went on to say, "...national targets tend to mean that councils are constantly working on things which matter to Whitehall, regardless of what local residents think. I'd much rather councils were tackling local issues. The money being spent on form fillers and bean counters could be far better spent helping elderly people to stay in their homes."

National Indicators will be replaced by an agreed single list of Whitehall data requirements for local government. Regarding LAAs, the CLG sees a future where, '...local areas will be in control of their own delivery targets, answering to residents.' This is firmly in line with the Government's localism agenda.

Inside Housing carries an article about the scrapping of National Indicators, looking at this from a sustainability angle.

Whitehall staffing details published

As part of the transparency agenda, the Government has published for the first time structure charts setting out details of the number and grade of staff working in different teams.

The structure charts show:

• the names, job title and salary for all senior civil servants at director level and above
• the job title of all senior civil servants at deputy director level, along with the number of staff in their team and the breakdown of their grades

It is promised that more data will be added over the next few weeks including the total salary cost of each team reporting to deputy directors, job descriptions for senior roles and team functions.

The Guardian's Data Blog discusses how the data might be usefully analysed and its current shortcomings, while the Daily Mail blamed the "Labour's data protection laws" for the fact that "fatcat civil servants" (those earning more than £58,200) would not be named as originally planned.

Bonfire or barbecue of the Quangos

The Cabinet Office has announced that it intends to abolish 192 quangos. Their functions will either be brought back into government, devolved to local government, moved out of government or abolished altogether. As part of the reforms the government also announced proposals to merge 118 bodies down to 57, and to substantially reform a further 171.

Speaking about the changes, Francis Maude said that this process represented the restoration of political accountability for decisions which affect people’s lives and the way taxpayers’ money is spent.

The government will introduce a Public Bodies Bill that will enable the plans to be implemented. It proposed to reform 481 non-departmental public bodies in total.

The Guardian newspaper has uploaded the Cabinet Office data into a downloadable spreadsheet where you view the reforms by department and find the fate of each quango.

Also, you can navigate round a 'visualisation of the quango cuts'.

Vicki Young, Political correspondent at BBC News provided an apt summary, "Ministers are talking far more about the way these changes will improve accountability and transparency, rather than the contribution they'll make to reducing the budget deficit."

TSA confirmation
We finally received confirmation that the Tenant Services Authority is to be abolished. The role of regulating social housing providers will be taken over by the Homes and Communities Agency. Communities and Local Government intends to outline the future of social housing regulation on Monday, 18 October.

The Cabinet Office announcement states that the consumer regulation function will be ‘slimmed down’ but independent economic regulation will be safeguarded.

The Chartered Institute of Housing and the National Housing Federation have responded to the confirmation that the TSA is abolished.

Here we go again...

The CBI says opening up social housing to greater competition could lead to better quality homes for tenants and considerable savings for taxpayers, as well delivering other social and economic benefits.

In a new report ‘Improving homes, improving lives: using competition for better social housing’, the UK business group claims that £1.5bn could be saved in England alone by allowing local councils and housing associations to choose the best provider of services, whether they are from the private, voluntary or charity sectors.

Referring to the findings of the Public Services Industry Review by Dr DeAnne Julius that reported to the Department for Business Innovation & Skills in 2008, the CBI argues that competition and contestability are instrumental in achieving cost savings, quality improvements and innovation. The benefits, it claims, accrue whether private, public or third-sector firms win the bid.

The report includes case studies illustrating positive outcomes achieved by outsourced contracts, although curiously two of the four chosen examples relate to new build and housing repairs contracts (fields where outsourcing is commonplace) rather than housing management.

Susan Anderson, CBI Director of Public Services & Skills, said:

“With no requirement to go to the market to see if another provider can deliver better services for the same or lower cost, many housing managers simply opt for the status quo. Without competition, tenants and taxpayers may be losing out.”

In order to encourage greater private-sector involvement in the provision of social housing, the CBI is calling on the Government to:

• Create a competitive market for social housing management services, with in-house providers competing against bidders from other sectors to deliver services
• Allow housing management contracts of at least 10 years in order to attract investment from providers and enable economies of scale to be achieved
• Eliminate barriers to market entry such as higher VAT rates for private providers
• Use best-practice case studies to show commissioners how to apply TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations) correctly to ensure staff can transfer smoothly from the public to private sectors
• Design contracts that can track the impact that housing providers make on other parts of the public sector, such as contributing to better education or safer communities, and use an outcomes-based system to reward good results.

Big Society - will it create a better society?

A 'big society' round up....

A better society?
Francis Maude, minister for the Cabinet Office, paymaster general and MP for Horsham has written an article for the New Statement in which he says 'Big society is better society'.

The article provides a précis of the government's reasoning for a 'big society' and outlines the work that is currently underway. He explains that this work is based on three strands:

1. Social action - heart of 'big society': looking for a stronger culture of volunteerism and philanthropy (a summer volunteer programme for all 16 year olds is being discussed).
2. Public service reform - supporting staff to form mutuals and co-ops to deliver public services: become a 'public sector entrepreneur'.
3. Community empowerment - otherwise known as 'localism': make it possible for people to take over local facilities that are run down or threatened with closure, and give communities the right to call referendums on local issues.

He finishes the article by saying "There's a new zeitgeist that together we just may be able to crystallise. The prize is huge for everyone if we do."

Francis Maude is chairing the government committee on the big society. Ministers from departments whose remits affect the voluntary sector met for their first meeting at the end of July 2010.

Big Society report
The nef (new economics foundation - an independent think-and-do tank) looked at 'ten big questions about big society' in a report published in June 2010. nef welcomes the broad vision but recognises that everything depends on how the vision is translated into policy and practice.

The report outlines what it sees is 'big society' under ten key questions and then investigates ten ways in which to make the best of the 'big society'.

Approach to big society
A special advisor, Nat Wei, is designing the government's approach to building the Big Society. See an earlier blog: Colouring in the big society.

The Big Society Network led by Martyn Rose and Paul Twivy and supported by Number 10, aims to create a new relationship between Citizens and Government in which both are genuine partners in getting things done. In 2009 Martyn Rose co-founded the Big Society policy initiative with Nat Wei.

The government's thinking on 'big society' can be found on the CLG's website. Minister for Decentralisation, Greg Clark, described three elements being essential to creating the big Society: "The first is about what the state can do for us. The second is about what we can do for ourselves. And the third is about what we can do for others.

Update 15 October:

Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society has unveiled the government's 'big society' strategy: Building a Stronger Civil Society.

Mentioned in the strategy:

1. The Office for Civil Society is working with strategic partners and the LGA to facilitate local events that will debate and share best practice in relation to managing cuts.
2. The government is developing the Partnership Improvement Programme to grow the social investment market and so make it easier for social entrepreneurs to access the capital they need.
3. The government is setting up an independent, wholesale Big Society Bank to grow the social investment market and so make it easier for social entrepreneurs to access the capital they need.
4. Lord Hodgson is to chair a taskforce that will recommend specific ideas to reduce the bureaucracy and red tape for charities, social enterprises and voluntary organisations.
5. The government will work with partners to establish a ‘community fund’ to enable local grass roots organisations to access sources of funding by making it easier for consumers to donate to local good causes through restaurants, shops and other retailers.

A consultation document has been published alongside the strategy. The government is seeking views by 6 January 2011 on "how infrastructure organisations can best be improved to help develop new skills, partnerships and organisational models so that frontline organisations can seize the opportunities that lie ahead."

Update 15 October:

Ian Birrell, speechwriter for David Cameron during the 2010 election campaign, wrote an informative article in the Guardian newspaper on the 'Big Society'.

Green review of public sector efficiency

The much heralded public efficiency review from Top Shop boss Sir Philip Green was published today, although many of the findings had already featured in the weekend press.

Sir Philip Green was appointed by the Prime Minister in August to review Government efficiency. His focus was the procurement of goods and services like IT, travel, print and office supplies, and the management of the Government’s property portfolio.

He found poor quality data on where and how Government spends its money, and no centralised approach to procurement, leading to departments paying widely varying prices for the same items. He told Sky News:

“The only reason the Government can operate like this and we can't is that they've got a printing press that prints money and we don't.”

One example of good practice was in energy procurement, where the purchase of 75% of Government electricity and gas requirements has been centralised in an expert team, resulting in cumulative savings of £500m. However, it took 4 years to achieve and centralising the remaining 25% could bring additional savings.

The government was also failing to use its leverage its scale to achieve savings from suppliers.

The widespread use of procurement cards was criticised for preventing the monitoring and efficient procurement of low value goods and services.

Colouring in the big society

Baron Nat Wei is a special advisor to the government on the big society.

Nat is designing the approach to building the Big Society and engaging with civil society groups, alongside Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society.

His recent blog post outlines, in theory, how this might happen. Whilst providing a lot of ideas for the long term, it doesn't really advise local authorities how to cope with the cuts kicking in next year.

Read Nat Wei's public linkedin profile here.

Service sharing

The 10 member councils of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) have estimated that they will need to save £578m over the next three years to government spending cuts.

The AGMA has estimated that it can achieve  between 10 and 20 per cent of the savings – up to £116m – through joint working. The councils will look at collaborating on all areas of work including buying goods and merging parts of services, including in high-cost areas such as adult social care, children’s services, and IT. Councils will be free to decide if they want to sign up, and for which services.

Lord Peter Smith, chairman of AGMA, said: “Is it better to do things 10 times over or do it once, and save on administrative costs but still deliver the same service to the public?

“I think that’s what they will expect us to do and that’s what we will do.”

Abolition of Audit Commission may cost as much as it saves

A letter from the Audit Commission chief executive, Eugene Sullivan, to the permanent secretary in the CLG and to the National Audit Office, seen by the Guardian, warns that abolition of the Commission will leave nearly £500m in liabilities.

"Costs include £75m in redundancy packages and £15m in contracts for rented properties. There is also an estimated £400m in pensions liabilities. The letter, warns that it could even be under a legal obligation to raise its fees charged to local authorities to conduct audits to cover the costs of closing down.

"The annual budget for the commission is £200m, but the letter says that has already been reduced to £46m by 2014. If the winding-up costs are not mitigated, it could be 10 years before the government sees any significant savings from the closing down of the commission."

The Guardian article details several other quangos earmarked for closure that will leave huge financial liabilities, including £1.5bn from the nine regional development agencies.

Beauty and the Beast?

Caroline Flint

Former housing ministers will feature heavily in Ed Milliband's shadow cabinet, with Caroline Flint (Jan-Oct 2008) appointed shadow communities and local government secretary to take on Eric Pickles.

Flint has been MP for Don Valley since 1997.

Yvette Cooper (Jun 2005-Jan 2008) topped the poll, and will be shadow Foreign Secretary, whilst John Healey (Jun 2009-May 2010), who came second in the poll, will take the health portfolio.

Update 11 October:

Alison Seabeck

Alison Seabeck, MP for Plymouth Moor View, has been appointed as shadow housing minister. Seabeck, was a parliamentary advisor to Nick Raynsford focusing on housing, planning, local government and the regions for 12 years before entering Parliament in 2005 and is now his partner.

Update 13 October

Jack Dromey

Jack Dromey, MP for Birmingham Erdington since the 2010 election and formerly Deputy General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union will be responsible for big society, housing and regeneration, building regulations, race equality and community cohesion. Dromey is married to Harriet Harman, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.

Other members of the shadow Communities and Local Government Team are:

• Barbara Keeley, Worsley and Eccles South
• Chris Williamson, Derby North

Capital funding may be reduced for HAs

According to Inside Housing, Grant Shapps has called into question the future of capital funding for housing associations.

The article says, 'Sources close to the Communities and Local Government department have suggested that housing associations will be told to make much stronger use of their reserves as the social housing investment programme is cut back in the spending review.'

There is a further suggestion that many housing associations are already budgeting on the basis of a future with reduced capital finance.

So far the news has been quiet regarding Mr Shapps' comments at the Conservative Party conference, and this is a broad hint that housing finance will feature in the autumn spending review.

TSA Review findings out 18 October

HouseMark has learned that the findings of the TSA review will be delivered by Grant Shapps to a round table of housing sector representatives hosted by the CIH on the afternoon of Thursday 18 October.

The report will be launched and copies available after the meeting.

Cap in hand

In his speech to the Conservative conference where press attention focused on plans to reform child benefit, Chancellor George Osborne announced the government will introduce a cap on the total amount of benefit payments a family can receive.

The Chancellor said that no family should get more from living on benefits than the average family gets from going out to work. ‘If this welfare state is going to gain the trust of the British people, it needs to reflect the British sense of fair play.’

The cap will apply to the combined income from income-replacement benefits such as jobseekers allowance, means-tested benefits such as housing benefit, and other allowances such as child benefit. One-off benefits such as Social Fund Loans and non-cash benefits such as Free School Meals will not be affected. Households with a disabled resident or a war widow will be exempt from the cap.

Public Finance reports that, until the single Universal Credit benefit is introduced, local authorities will have to make the cap work. They will be asked to assess the total benefit income of all new and existing housing benefit claimants and reduce housing benefit accordingly to ensure claimants receive no more than the cap.

The Guardian points out that affected households (those whose total income from welfare exceeds £500 a week) will lose an average of £93 each week. A tiny number might lose as much as £300.

The same report claims that Conservative sources have admitted the aim is to push poor, workless families out of inner London and force down rents in the private rented sector – the key driver of the ballooning housing benefit bill.

Chartered Institute of Housing director of policy and practice Richard Capie comments on the move in the paper's Joe Public blog.

ASB: Residents and police to work together

The Home Secretary Theresa May has revealed reforms designed to make the police force more accountable to residents. Speaking at the Conservative Party conference on 5 October Ms May said:

"We hear about victims who call the police on dozens of occasions but aren't taken seriously and in many cases are ignored altogether. So as part of our reforms to anti-social behaviour powers, we will give victims and communities the right to force the authorities to take action where they fail to do so."

According to the Home Office, officers will be told to treat vandalism and low-level thuggery as a crime, rather than antisocial behaviour. Ms May said, "the term 'antisocial behaviour' doesn't adequately describe these sorts of offences and should instead be called 'crime and disorder".

IDS signals 'universal credit' system

Most of us know that benefit reforms are high on the coalition's agenda, but now Iain Duncan Smith has unveiled his plans for a system of 'universal credit' to replace existing benefits.

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham's Symphony Hall IDS said, 'Our implementation of the credit alongside the comprehensive work programme will make sure that everyone out of work will be given the greatest support to find work and every financial incentive to stay in work, because work will pay...'

People on benefit will be slowly moved onto the new system over the next two Parliaments. The move will begin in 2013, and full details will be set out in a white paper to be published this autumn.

Some commentary from 24dash housing.

Healey bites back

Shadow housing minister John Healey's speech to the Labour Party Conference on 30 September slammed the Government's new homes bonus scheme saying that it would result in "cuts to many hard-pressed council budgets".

Healey told the conference that that in five months he'd not found a single change in policy by the new government that he could support.

Of the new homes bonus he said:

"They’re right to want to a strong incentive system for councils and communities ready to see new homes built in their area.

But this isn’t it.

There’s no new money. And the government will take a top-slice cut across the grant to all local government to cover the cost.

This scheme robs some councils to pay the rest.

So I’m publishing a detailed analysis of their plans today, which shows:

It will cause chaos in the council tax system, and more cuts to many hard-pressed council budgets.

It blows a huge hole in George Osborne’s promise to freeze council tax.

And our big towns and cities will be hardest hit, as they will have to see many more new homes built every year in their area to "break even" under the new system."

 Meanwhile, Inside Housing reports that Healey, who is standing for the Shadow Cabinet, has his eyes on the communities and local government porfolio, currently held by Mr Denham; shadow work and pensions secretary; or chief secretary to the Treasury.

HRA to be scrapped

The coalition has sworn to scrap the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), handing local authorities the responsibility of handling their own finances, in exchange for taking a share of 'historic housing debt.'

Grant Shapps said the HRA is ‘no longer fit for purpose’, and scrapping it is more aligned to the Government's transparency agenda.

Details will be announced as part of the autumn Spending Review on 20 October, and will be introduced as part of the Localism Bill.

24dash offers further news coverage.

Eric Pickles' pravda pogrom

The CLG has published a consultation that fleshes out Eric Pickles' comments earlier this year about the role of lobbyists and local authority newsletters.

Its seven principles state that publicity by local authorities should:-

• be lawful
• be cost effective
• be objective
• be even-handed
• be appropriate
• have regard to equality and diversity
• be issued with care during periods of heightened sensitivity
  

It looks like the proposals would limit tenant newsletters by LAs to one per quarter - but only if they opt to follow the code - they only have to 'have regard' to it.

It will be interesting to see whether the consultation will be rolled out to social landlords - if so, tenant newsletters and annual reports might look rather different.

Benefit reforms to proceed as planned

According to Inside Housing, Iain Duncan Smith has won his battle to reform the benefits system, ensuring that money for housing costs will be paid direct to tenants.

The DWP has not finalised this arrangement yet, but Inside Housing seems to be on the cutting edge of emerging policy...

Mr Duncan Smith set out his initial vision for a reformed benefits system in a paper called '21st Century Welfare'.

David Hall of Tribal said, 'The impact on housing benefit collection by social landlords is clear as currently housing benefit goes direct to them.'

Social landlords run the risk of losing income in the event that tenants do not prioritise paying their rent, and it's likely that providers will need to find innovative ways to maintain their finances. Perhaps that's where we come in?

HCA to adopt economic regulatory role

There are early signs that the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) will take over the TSA's economic regulatory work.

Communities and Local Government (CLG) launched a review of social housing regulation in June, and according to Inside Housing the CLG's review panel, 'recommended [that] an independent committee inside the HCA [should] carry out the financial regulatory functions of the TSA.'

'An official announcement on the future of the TSA will be made before the comprehensive spending review on 20 October.'

There are no further details at the time of writing, but more will emerge over the coming weeks.