The Local Government Act 2000 gave added impetus to promoting well-being. It introduced a duty for local authorities to prepare a community strategy for their area and it gave them the power to promote economic, social and environmental well-being. This report from the Audit Commission examines how local leaders match their ambitions to local circumstances and the workings of the local end of the well-being delivery chain. It concludes that the current institutional arrangements, the complex interaction of national programmes, initiatives and targets, and complicated partnership arrangements confuse lines of responsibility and accountability and hamper successful delivery at local level.The complex funding arrangements from a bewildering variety of sources result in excessive administrative costs and uncertainty about the long-term sustainability of projects. The delivery of central government’s priorities suffers from a ‘Humpty Dumpty effect because efforts to promote economic growth, social justice and environmental sustainability fracture when they hit the ground in departmental silos, just like Humpty when he fell off the wall. Local leaders play the role of all the King’s horses and all the King’s men, as they try to put the pieces back together again. The cases studied show that where local leaders succeed they are able to improve well-being by developing coherent programmes of change that are based on local needs and opportunities.
Ambulance drivers will no longer face the possibility of speeding fines when answering emergency calls in a move designed to cut bureaucracy which has seen some health trusts having to employ staff to deal exclusively with the paperwork needed to prove that ambulances are responding to 999 calls.The announcement, made by the Health Minister Rosie Winterton, has been welcomed by UNISON, which represents ambulance drivers. The Ambulance Service Association had estimated that the cost of trusts dealing with speeding tickets had reached a million pounds a year. The minister said the government had listened to ambulance staff and the ASA. The Association of Chief Police Officers is sending a letter to all police forces setting out a new protocol for dealing with speeding tickets issued by safety cameras to ambulances and other emergency services. It states that a fixed penalty notice can only be sent out to the offending trust if the photograph shows that blue lights were not flashing.
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Ministers are facing calls to lift the barriers that are stifling the role of local authorities in fighting climate change, if the government’s own targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions are to be met. It follows new research published today by the Local Government Association.The survey has been supported by the Energy Saving Trust and the Improvement and Development Agency and provides an up-to-date picture of local councils’ work in sustainable energy and climate change. It shows that almost three quarters of councils are exceeding government targets for procuring green electricity and 65 per cent use clean fuel or low carbon vehicles.
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