3 November 2010 - Kent picked to champion local spending
We have been chosen as one of just 16 areas nationwide to pilot
Community Budgets as part of the government’s spending review.
From next April we will be given control of these new local
budgets, which bring together various funding streams from central
government into a single funding pot. Councils will then be able to
decide at a very local level how they can best spend that money to
tackle social problems around families with complex needs.
We have long been calling for a move to area-based budgets and
the freedom at a local level to use funding and resources to best
support our communities. We are best placed to know what our
residents, in our county need and this new opportunity means that
we can make every penny count.
It is fantastic news that Kent has been chosen to be part of
this pilot and I think that community budgets could help us to make
a real, long-term difference to people’s lives. We look forward to
hearing more detail about putting this into practice.
The aim of community budgets is to join up services for an
early, integrated approach, so a family with multiple problems
doesn’t have to deal with a variety of schemes and agencies to get
the help that they need. The aim of these budgets will also be to
help reduce costs by removing barriers, duplication and waste.
We have been chosen as one of the pilot areas because of our
excellent local relationships with communities, the voluntary
sector and other public sector partners, so are in a strong
position to operate the first community budgets from 2011-12. The
government plans to roll them out nationally by 2013-14.
Earlier this year, we published our think paper Bold Steps for Radical Reform, which called for
release from inspection and audit burden, a bonfire of hindering
quangos, a move to area based budgets and a greater role for local
government in commissioning public services. The new Coalition
government has clearly listened and is rapidly breaking up the
centralised and bureaucratic machine. We now have not just the
opportunity, but also the responsibility to radically re-think and
re-shape the way we operate.
In October we published our medium-term plan Bold Steps for Kent. It sets out the authority’s
key priorities for the next four years, focused around three aims:
To help the Kent economy grow; to put the citizen in control and to
tackle disadvantage.
Link at the bottom of page
Read the Bold Steps for Kent document
and let us have your comments by Friday 12 November.
Tell Paul your
views