Posts Tagged ‘Public Sector’
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
It was a surprise that the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) abolished PFI credits for several waste PFIs. PFIs will now have to proceed without this direct government financial support.
Longer term, this raises the question about how government targets to divert waste from landfill can be met given the funding gap that many local authorities relied on these credits to bridge.
The shape of waste projects in this new environment remains unknown. But two things remain clear. The environmental pressures and targets facing the UK are not going away and, to deal with these issues, private sector investment will be needed.
It may be that merchant facilities and smaller, more innovative diversion technologies will start to replace the large scale council – contractor waste management contracts of recent years.
Posted by Craig Elder, who specialises in project finance; Projects; PFI/PPP ; commercial contracts ; waste and defence sectors; long term/complex service arrangements;public sector procurements
Craig Elder
0115 976 6089
celder@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: comprehensive spending review, environment, PFI, Public Sector, waste
Posted in Projects & partnerships, Waste & Environmental | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 1st, 2010
The government’s recent White Paper on Local Growth has set out proposals to increase confidence to invest.
The ‘incentives’ include: allowing councils to retain locally raised business rates, enabling local authorities to offer local discounts on business rates and new borrowing powers for councils to carry out TIF.
Free from dependency on central funding and the restrictions this entails – sounds great but, a badly thought-out framework could see more disparity between regions. What about councils that don’t collect enough business rates or indeed those who don’t collect any, how will they be supported?
It is also a small comfort that TIF will be initially introduced through a bid-based process, minimizing potential problems and risks. However, can local authorities marry their public duties with the high risks of borrowing against future additional uplift within their business rates base when this will be largely unknown at the time of borrowing? If the uplifts are not achieved it could be the taxpayer who will fund the deficit.
To have your say on the government’s proposals send your views to GrowthIncentives@communities.gsi.gov.uk by 1 December 2010.
Helene Maillet-Vioud
0115 976 6213
hmaillet-vioud@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: local growth, Public Sector, TIF
Posted in Public Sector | No Comments »
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
The Home Secretary Teresa May has today issued a statement to the House of Commons confirming the terms of reference for a review of the vetting & barring scheme – four months after Teresa May first announced that the scheme was to be halted pending a review.
It now appears that a review will be conducted in the new year alongside a review of the criminal records regime but as yet no firm details have been released. The outcome of any review is widely expected to take on board Lord Young’s recent recommendation to curb the excessive bureaucracy affecting schools.
Whilst the pace of the review will exasperate many the news that the scheme will most likely be scaled back to common sense proportions will be music to the ears of anyone working with children and vulnerable adults.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises in defence claims for social services,education and care providers; risk management presentations and workshops on child protection in education.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Public Sector, Social Care, vetting & barring
Posted in Public Sector, Social Care | No Comments »
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
Councils say children’s budgets are being cut after the spending review left non-schools children’s services with cuts of 12% in total.
At the same time there has been a significant rise in the number of personal injury claims by individuals claiming that local authorities children’s services failed to protect them from physical and sexual abuse.
The number of claims is expected to rise further as local authorities struggle to maintain child adequate protection services in the teeth of the cuts that are likely.
The Association of Child Protection Services said there was ‘no doubt’ that there would be fewer children’s services than before. Sadly, this is likely to mean that there will be more personal injury claims than before.
These claims can be defended if we put forward robust confident social work witnesses. In some local authorities poor morale and defensiveness will make that more difficult over the next few years.
Posted by Sarah Erwin-Jones, who specialises in social services, the care sector, education and negotiating legal costs; advises on risk management issues including data protection matters.
Sarah Erwin-Jones
0115 976 6136
serwin@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: children's services, comprehensive spending review, Public Sector, Social Care
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Public Sector, Social Care | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
The Chancellor has announced as part of the CSR the end of ring fenced budgets for Local Authorities. Local Authorities currently receive in excess of 90 ring fenced budgets. This will be reduced to less than 10 (covering matters such as schools, fire, police and public health).
This decision, combined with the abolition of Local Area Agreements, which required reporting on prescribed performance indicators to central government, is part of the Government’s Localism agenda – putting power back in the hands of local people.
The move towards local priorities does raise the question as to how matters of national interest and importance will be dealt with. The Government’s current answer seems to be that such issues should be dealt with through incentivising local authorities and local communities to provide such services – but many will question whether cash incentives (for example, those announced today around the New Homes Bonus) will really work.
Posted by Laura Hughes, who specialises in planning and environmental law for public and corporate sector bodies; experienced in judicial reviews, planning , land use and right of way matters.
Laura Hughes
0115 976 6582
lhughes@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: budgets, csr, Public Sector, spending review
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills will have its administration budget cut by 25 per cent.
In view of the Government’s desire to promote science and innovation at both the corporate and personal level it is crucial that these cost savings do not inhibit intellectual property development.
Costs and time involved in securing protection can still inhibit invention and innovation especially for smaller companies and the taxation of IP and R&D should allow for the time and costs taken to create new IP.
There should also be greater investment in the education of small business about how to identify, protect and exploit the intellectual property which the Government is encouraging.
The UK IPO which is part of the BIS should be properly funded and new ways of expediting applications for registration of rights both in the UK and Europe should be explored.
Posted by Peter Ellis, who specialises in commercial litigation or dispute resolution; intellectual property disputes e.g. trade marks, copyright, designs issues; breach of contract and claims through interruptions to trade.
Peter Ellis
0115 976 6269
pellis@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 4.5/10 (2 votes cast)
Tags: comprehensive spending review, Intellectual Property, Public Sector
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Intellectual Property | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
The Comprehensive Spending Review announced today has, for the health sector, largely confirmed what we already knew – that NHS funding will increase in real terms until 2014-2015 rising over and above inflation.
However, the Chancellor also made clear during his announcement that there is a clear onus on NHS organisations to continue to drive reform forwards and improve savings and productivity.
Any savings will be re-invested in the NHS but greater responsibility for ensuring accountability and value for money during a period of such massive organisational change surely means there is a risk not only that any savings will be lost but also (and more importantly) that the pressure of successfully delivering the most significant structural changes in the NHS since its inception just increased.
Posted by Emily Birkett, who specialises in advice to NHS bodies ; their local authority partners and related organisations in commercial law, contracting, procurement , competition governance and all aspects of primary care.
Emily Birkett
0115 976 6175
ebirkett@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: comprehensive spending review, csr, health, NHS, Public Sector, spending review
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Health | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
Local Authorities are required to reduce their costs by 7.1% every year for the next 4 years. This is better than the 30% cuts that most Local Authorities have been planning for, and allows Local Authorities time to achieve the costs savings required, which was not necessarily anticipated. However, if Local Authorities end today feeling relieved about the level of cuts, the Government will have pulled off a fine piece of expectation management.
This level of cuts still represents a significant portion of current Local Authority budgets and achieving the level of cuts required will be a huge task. Ultimately, within four years, Local Authorities are going to have to either simply cease to provide more than one quarter of their services, or undertake wholesale reform across their services so that more efficient services can continue to be provided.
Posted by Laura Hughes, who specialises in planning and environmental law for public and corporate sector bodies; experienced in judicial reviews, planning , land use and right of way matters.
Laura Hughes
0115 976 6582
lhughes@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 6.0/10 (2 votes cast)
Tags: comprehensive spending review, csr, cuts, local authorities, Public Sector, spending review
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
The public sector cuts announced today, and similar measures in other EU States, will mean public sector job losses and upward lurches in unemployment figures. There is no obvious way to bring unemployment figures down again except through expansion in the private sector – not easy in the current climate.
Euro MPs are nevertheless voting today on whether to require employers across the EU to increase maternity entitlement to 20 weeks’ full pay. In the UK this is currently 6 weeks at 90% pay then £124.88 for 33 weeks. The increase would, according to an impact assessment, cost the UK £2.5 billion.
This proposal could not become law for at least three years and would require Member States to agree – which the UK coalition government will not. Maybe the economic situation will have improved by then – but if it has, why not let Member States’ governments decide then whether the time is right to add further employment costs to the UK?
Posted by Edward Benson, specialising in: employment law; advises on contracts, policies and procedures, trade union negotiations; experienced in tribunals; contributes to seminars and training.
Edward Benson
0115 976 6211
ebenson@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: comprehensive spending review, employment, Public Sector, unemployment
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Employment, Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
George Osborne has announced that adult social care will receive an extra £2bn a year by 2014-15 to help the sector withstand cuts in council funding.
With £1bn coming from the NHS the clear commitment to support joint working between health and social care could not have been supported in a more obvious fashion. The other £1bn is to take the form of a direct grant. Personal Budgets remain firmly on the agenda with the government looking to significantly extend their use across a range of service areas.
Unfortunately the money does not appear to be ring fenced in local authorities’ budgets. Along with cuts in other service areas and increased demand from an ageing population it begs the question whether this money will actually materialise in four years time or be enough to keep services standing still, let alone moving forward.
Targets for the delivery of care from private sector care providers sounds like good news, but with long term pressure on funding the commissioning of those services will also remain under significant pressure.
Kate Mills
0115 976 6104
kmills@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 7.5/10 (2 votes cast)
Tags: adult social care, comprehensive spending review, Public Sector, Social Care
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
The Chancellor has confirmed in the comprehensive spending review that the barriers will be removed and local authorities in England will be able to begin using Tax Increment Financing.
TIFs have long been talked about as a possible way of funding regeneration during the downturn. However until now, councils in England have not had the borrowing powers to get finance for schemes based on predicted increases in tax revenues.
The government will now have to start consultations with councils on how to set up the new system and changes to council powers will need to be addressed probably in the Decentralisation and Localism Bill to be published next year.
Whilst the move is welcomed by many, caution should be applied and careful consideration to the schemes where TIFs will be used should be had. What happens if the tax increment, against which the local authority has secured the loan for a scheme, doesn’t materialise according to the cashflow forecast, it could be very messy…..
Helene Maillet-Vioud
0115 976 6213
hmaillet-vioud@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: comprehensive spending review, Public Sector, tax increment finance, TIF
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
The Chancellor today announced that public sector pensions are to be sustainable and affordable ‘gold standard’ final salary pensions. Employee contributions are to be increased staggered in line with employee earnings.
But has he got the balance right? There might be some unintended consequences for future tax payers – employees may withdraw from their public sector schemes, opting out from paying higher contributions, particularly during difficult times, leaving themselves with either little or no private pension income in retirement.
This is a trend currently being seen in the private sector, this combined with the closure of many final salary pension schemes could mean that future tax payers have to pick up the tab for more pensioners without sufficient retirement income.
It will be interesting to see how this progresses.
Susan Evans
0115 976 6596
sevans@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 8.7/10 (3 votes cast)
Tags: comprehensive spending review, Pensions, Public Sector
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
Today is the day on which the Chancellor George Osborne will finally unveil the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
The Government has been keen to assert that the cuts are necessary because the current budget is not sustainable and also that they will be fair affecting everyone from the rich to the poor.
However, there is no question that the cuts will be deep and the review which is widely anticipated to detail £83bn worth of spending cuts is likely to be the biggest for decades.
Even those areas which have been promised protection should be wary, whilst they may not be the subject of dramatic cuts to their budgets the CSR will set the tone for the new austerity era and is likely to have a dramatic effect on the shape of public policy for at least the next five years.
Posted by Emily Birkett, who specialises in advice to NHS bodies ; their local authority partners and related organisations in commercial law, contracting, procurement , competition governance and all aspects of primary care.
Emily Birkett
0115 976 6175
ebirkett@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 7.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: comprehensive spending review, George Osborne, Public Sector
Posted in Comprehensive Spending Review, Public Sector | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
Sir Philip Green, the head of the retail giant Top Shop and Bhs, delivered a report into inefficiency and waste in Whitehall recently. It came a week after Eric Pickles called on councils to fundamentally re-think their finances by merging services with neighbouring authorities at the Conservative party conference.
With council’s facing huge cuts when the comprehensive spending review is announced later this week, it is no surprise that new shared services projects are being announced on an almost weekly basis. The latest being the merger between Bamberg DC and Mid Suffolk DC.
The history of shared services tells us that scepticism across the public sector has been its biggest Achilles heel. According to a recent survey by Browne Jacobson workforce opposition was seen by managers as a major barrier but with significant job losses already on the horizon we are seeing a sea change in attitudes and a growing realisation that shared services can play a critical part in meeting the financial challenges and limiting job losses the sector will undoubtedly face in the months and years to come.
Posted by Dominic Swift, who specialises in commercial property and property development law advising on all aspects of development transactions; advises on property elements of insolvency and banking.
Dominic Swift
0115 976 6148
dswift@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: Public Sector, shared services, Sir Philip Green, whitehall
Posted in Public Sector | No Comments »
Friday, October 15th, 2010
The Coalition Government has announced the outcome of its ‘bonfire of the Quangos’. The review, which was designed to support the Government’s commitment to accountability, transparency and efficiency, has confirmed that 192 Quango’s will be abolished, 118 of the bodies which are funded by Whitehall departments but not run by them will be merged and 380 will be retained.
Those public bodies which will be retained following the review will remain at arms length from the Government who have pledged that they will continue to take appropriate steps to enable them to operate more openly.
The dramatic cull has successfully lit the touch paper for the Governments reform agenda and a week prior to the Comprehensive Spending Review this must be seen as a clear indication that the Coalition means business when it comes to burning what it deems unnecessary red tape.
Posted by Emily Birkett, who specialises in advice to NHS bodies ; their local authority partners and related organisations in commercial law, contracting, procurement , competition governance and all aspects of primary care.
Emily Birkett
0115 976 6175
ebirkett@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: goverment, Public Sector, quango's
Posted in Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
Schools could soon be allowed to positively discriminate against children from wealthy backgrounds in return for extra funding if proposals to reform the admissions code are accepted by the Government.
Under the proposals schools would be paid a ‘pupil premium’ (PP) for every child they teach from a disadvantaged background. A consultation on the PP proposals is currently underway and will close on 18 October.
What is not clear from the consultation is how much freedom schools and academies may be given to target the poorest children. They might only be permitted to offer preferential access to poorer pupils within existing catchment areas or there may be a more radical policy implemented which would allow those on free schools meals who live outside a school’s catchment area to benefit. Whatever is decided it is important that sufficient checks and measures are put in place to ensure that any additional resources benefit those that need it most.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises in defence claims for social services,education and care providers; risk management presentations and workshops on child protection in education.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: Education, Public Sector, pupil premium, schools
Posted in Education, Public Sector | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
With the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) already the subject of a government review, today brings the news that the government’s intervention in the running of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) has led to the resignation of the well-regarded Chief Executive, Jim Gamble.
The shadow Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, criticised the government’s plans, saying they “will harm child safety networks”. And he is not alone with many feeling the high watermark for safeguarding children established under Labour is now being lowered by the coalition government.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises in defence claims for social services,education and care providers; risk management presentations and workshops on child protection in education.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: independent safeguarding authority, Jim Gamble, Public Sector
Posted in Public Sector, Social Care | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 1st, 2010
CRB checks have found their way into the headlines again through the rather unexpected route of the BBC’s ‘The Apprentice‘.
Reports have suggested that the television production company obtained a CRB check on a contestant that revealed an arrest for fraud. In fact, the company in question is reported to have said that obtaining CRB checks is ‘common television industry practice’. As the eligibility for CRB checks is strictly governed by law (and would not cover contestants on a television show) it is surprising that the production company claims it is common practice to obtain them.
Whether is does or not, it certainly raises yet more questions about the viability of the CRB scheme. Surely as part of the Independent Safeguarding Authority review the government also needs to consider the CRB process?
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises in defence claims for social services , education and care providers; risk management presentations and workshops on child protection in education.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: CRB checks, Public Sector, Social Care, The Apprentice
Posted in Public Sector, Social Care | No Comments »
Thursday, September 30th, 2010
It has been announced today that four councils have been testing the potential of community based budgets under the direction of the Coalition’s Big Society adviser Lord Wei.
The idea is premised on the four councils leading the way, involving local residents in designing and running their public services and pooling budgets at a community level. If successful they have the potential to prompt a significant shift in accountability which would make local public services genuinely local, both in the way funding is allocated, and decisions about services are made and accounted for.
With the Comprehensive Spending Review due on 20 October these pilots are well timed to feed into the outcomes of the Review and it will be interesting to see whether the result is the ‘radical devolution of power and greater financial autonomy to local government and community groups’ promised by the Coalition Government in their Coalition Programme.
Posted by Emily Birkett, who specialises in advice to NHS bodies ; their local authority partners and related organisations in commercial law, contracting, procurement , competition governance and all aspects of primary care.
Emily Birkett
0115 976 6175
ebirkett@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: budgets, comprehensive spending review, local authorities, Public Sector
Posted in Public Sector | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
GP groups have branded NHS Direct’s plans to decentralise by having at least 100 of its staff working from home by March 2011 as “rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic” given the IT infrastructure investment required.
Currently, taxpayers are broadly accepting of cuts however, if planned savings do not materialise because costs are being shifted rather than cut, it is unlikely that this tolerance will continue.
It is essential that cuts are strategically planned with a view to achieving the planned efficiencies subject to the outcome of the comprehensive spending review due in the Autumn. A failure to do this could see the ‘deckchairs’ go down with the ship!
Posted by Laura Hughes
0115 976 6582
lhughes@brownejacobson.com
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Tags: IT, NHS direct, Public Sector, Total Place
Posted in Government bodies, NHS, Public Sector | No Comments »
