Weekly media roundup – 30/06/12 to 06/07/12
345 LGA mentions in national, regional, trade and online publications
6 mentions in national media
LGA media activity
Comment: Local government is doomed – it's official
Friday 6 July
Commenting on the publication of the LGA's report "Funding Outlook for Councils from 2010/11 to 2019/20", launched last week at the LGA conference, Guardian contributor Richard Vize says the LGA paper should be read by all local government managers and politicians. "It is an impressive analysis of both the prognosis for long-term funding and the implications for public policy," he said.
Funding Outlook for Councils from 2010/11 to 2019/20
Popular council services under threat – LGA warns
Video: What was the most important debate at the LGA conference?
Tuesday 3 July
The Guardian online featured a series of interviews with LGA conference delegates on what they took away from three days in Birmingham.
Street play
Tuesday 3 July
BBC Breakfast ran a feature on a community initiative in Bristol where the city council has given permission to parents to regularly close roads for a few hours so their children can play safely in the street. Cllr Flick Rea, Chair of the LGA's Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, was interviewed and stressed that councils support such community events and try to make organising them as easy as possible.
Comment: How to fund care for the elderly – that is Britain's most urgent challenge
Monday 2 July
Guardian columnist, Jackie Ashley, writes that after months of delay, the white paper on social care will be published within a fortnight but, disastrously, it will be a fudge. She says the LGA, in its report last week, said social care could soak up the vast majority of council spending by 2020 – so libraries and leisure centres will have to close to pay to ensure older people aren't sitting in urine-soaked clothes or starving in their own flats.
LGA in the news
Carers get as little as 15 minutes to help elderly
Friday 6 July
The LGA issued a statement responding to a report from the UK Homecare Association saying councils have ordered care agencies to complete home visits in 15-minute time slots to save money. Cllr David Rogers, Chair of the Community Wellbeing Board, said that cuts and a lack of reform meant short visits were unavoidable. "Councils are doing all they can to maintain the services that older people rely on. However, the sad reality is that unless we see urgent reform of how care is provided to our rapidly ageing population, things will continue to get much worse," he said. The comment was picked up by the Guardian.
LGA response to "care by the minute is a national disgrace"
Don't call elderly darling, nurses told
Friday 6 July
The Mail and the Telegraph ran a story stating that on the back of the Commission on Dignity in Care report published earlier this year by the LGA, NHS Confederation and Age UK looking at levels of respect in hospitals and care homes, the Care Quality Commission has now reprimanded hospital staff for calling elderly patients ‘sweetie' and ‘darling'.
Independent report calls for "major cultural shift" to improve dignity in care
Falkland's War hero out of race
Tuesday 3 July
A Guardian story about Falkland's veteran Simon Weston pulling out of the race to become a police and crime commissioner cited the findings of an LGA survey of candidates which found that most believed party politics would be the decisive factor at the ballot box in November, ahead of policing experience. The survey also confirmed fears of a low turnout, with 75% of candidates expecting a lower turnout than the 33% for May's local elections.
Party politics 'will be the decisive factor' in police and crime commissioner elections
BoE urged to lend via regional funds
Tuesday 3 July
A report issued by the Commission on the Future of Local Government has recommended that the Bank of England should fund small businesses directly through a network modelled on Germany's regional lenders to restore economic growth in the regions. The commission's members include Sir Merrick Cockell, Chairman of the LGA, Tony Travers of the London School of Economics and Andrew Murphy, head of retail operations for John Lewis. It also advocates a change to the Barnett formula, which determines how public spending is carved up between the nations.
18 July 2012
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