law, less ordinary - legal opinions from Browne Jacobson » Emergency Budget

Education spending may be cut by 25%

Hannah — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:15:24 +0000

In the Emergency Budget, the Chancellor, George Osborne, said that education spending could fall by 25% over the next four years.

Whilst the Coalition had promised to protect front line spending on schools for one year, teaching unions are already opposing the ‘back office’ cuts, which they say will still have a detrimental effect on childrens’ education. Furthermore, in light of imminent cuts, it is difficult to see how the Government will make its flagship policies a reality.

It remains to be seen whether the Government will have sufficient funding to pay for all ‘outstanding’ schools to become academies and allow parents and teachers to establish hundreds of their own ‘free schools’.

Posted by Mark Blois
0115 976 6087
mblois@brownejacobson.com

And then there was light!

Hannah — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:35:24 +0000

There is widespread recognition that local authorities need to be at the forefront of the implementation of community sustainability measures to save energy, reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change.

Too many organisations seem to be re-inventing the wheel concentrating on policies without showing demonstrable improvements in environmental performance.

The austerity period now to be endured means that for the first time there is increased pressure upon the effective achievement of sustainability measures.

Innovative local authorities will adopt a Total Place approach to identifying new resources by examining their current assets and capital to design effective sustainability measures which can be introduced in their area.

However, few local authorities have embraced the need to implement community sustainability measures to date. Now that the focus on providing public services for less has been put firmly in the spotlight it will be interesting to see whether local authorities will embrace this step change in the short or long term.

Posted by Richard Barlow
0115 976 6208
rbarlow@brownejacobson.com

A sobering thought!

Hannah — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:44:34 +0000

So, alcohol survived the emergency budget. However, many fear that this is a small rest bite before the storm that is sure to come once the Government has overhauled the Licensing Act 2003 as its attempts to tackle the binge drinking culture in our country.

Whilst we wait to see what happens MPs north of the border have voted through the ground-breaking Alcohol Bill which could result in drink promotions banned full stop, an ability to raise the age for buying alcohol, and “social responsibility fees” for retailers who choose to sell alcohol.

Whilst it seems unfathomable that alcohol will ever stop being a big part of British culture, who could have predicted a near universal ban on smoking in public venues across the EU. When will the shackles on the sale of alcohol stop tightening? Will it stop at prominent health warnings on packaging being mandatory or will a far more draconian hand be dealt to the industry?

Posted by Fiona Carter
0115 976 6224
fcarter@brownejacobson.com

The first cut is the deepest

Hannah — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 10:19:16 +0000

The Coalition’s emergency budget has given the clearest indication yet of the true extent of the funding cuts the public sector can expect with the announcement that around 80% of the debt reduction plans will be funded by public sector cuts. The scale and scope will be known at the end of the Comprehensive Spending Review.

And this is where the Total Place agenda has the potential to deliver.

With substantially smaller budgets the most successful local authorities are likely to see the cuts as an opportunity to achieve more visible outcomes and greater value for money from the services they commission.

The key to achieving this will be the effective identification of local priorities followed by the development of bespoke new service models (in partnership with other public sector organisations) which are designed to support the effective delivery of targeted services without compromising quality.

The effect of these cuts may be deep but with Total Place there is certainly scope to engage in a successful transition to services commissioned within a Total Place framework whilst minimising the pain of the proposed cuts.

Posted by Melanie Print
0121 237 4582
mprint@brownejacobson.com