Our education partnership CEA@Islington aims to help young people fulfil their potential

At Mott MacDonald our experience of working with many local authority and other public sector clients has given us an in-depth understanding of the challenges and constraints facing local government and those set out in the 2006 local government white paper. Thanks to our range of practitioners and specialist advisors we're able to help develop strategies for these and other burning topics, including:

• Environmental issues
• Social inclusion
• Management of assets
• Financial constraints
• Education agenda
• Social housing agenda
• Drivers associated with legislation
• Increased expectations
• Need to innovate
• Recruitment and retention

Environmental issues

There are a number of environmental issues currently impacting on local authorities. Most notably, the need to substantially reduce the amount of household waste going into landfills. At present, this is putting increasing pressure on council resources to develop projects that invariably involve complex technological solutions and funding mechanisms. Additionally,
the global warming agenda and the need to reduce carbon footprint will increasingly have an impact on council policies and operations and require specialist skills and knowledge to manage.

Social inclusion

Increasingly, local policies and investment decisions are being driven by the need to ensure social inclusion and create sustainable communities. This is a central theme in the delivery of large capital projects in the education and social housing arenas. It is also increasing the effort and input needed in the delivery of education, housing, social services and infrastructure /asset management.

Management of assets

Local authorities now need to fully understand their asset base not just in terms of cost and condition, but also in terms of suitability, potential for capital release and impact on the communities that use them. Other init-iatives associated with driving efficiencies and improving council services are also impacting on the way councils manage their assets. This is increasing the need for specialist skills to develop assets in an holistic manner and joined-up working between authorities - both internally between departments and externally with neighbouring authorities – to maximise value from assets.

Financial constraints

There is continued downward pressure on council funding including reduced central government funding and the lack of opportunity to increase council tax. Coupled with the need to continually improve services, this is creating further pressure on councils. This is another key driver in the re-engineering of services and the introduction of efficiencies.

Education agenda

Education projects and the complex funding mechanisms associated with them are creating acute project management pressures on local councils to deliver huge investments within tight time scales. This investment has also created the need for specialist skills to negotiate contracts and handle the procurement process.

Social housing agenda

A similar situation to education exists in housing, with complex private finance projects needing the same mix of skills in project management and contract negotiation. Additionally, the ‘Decent Homes Initiative’ has created a large investment bulge over a very short time scale to refurbish existing social housing stock. This is frequently linked to stock transfers or ALMO arrangements requiring further negotiation and contract development input.

Drivers associated with legislation

Gershon, Lyons and recent government white papers are creating a sea change in the way councils structure themselves and deliver services to their communities. This is prompting a root and branch review of the way local government is structured generally. In some cases, this is leading to whole scale reorganisation, including creation of unitary councils or creation of shared services delivery vehicles to maximise synergies between groups of authorities.

Increased expectations

At the same time, expectations from communities, Central Government and other stakeholders continue to rise. Councils will need to continue to meet these expectations and aspirations with constant downward pressure on available resources.

Need to innovate

The issues described above are increasingly driving councils to look to innovative solutions for service delivery. This is taking the form of outsourcing back office services, creating joint ventures with the private sector, looking at shared services with neighbouring authorities and working with other public sector bodies such as health trusts. This again demands specialist skills and cultural change to maximise efficiencies.

Recruitment and retention

In the current labour market, recruitment and retention of key staff is becoming a major issue for local authorities. Coupled with downward pressure on labour costs and available funding for market competitive salaries, this has a potential to create critical shortages in some areas
and force further re-engineering of traditional processes associated
with service delivery.