WIREDGOV

Residents will be invited to tell councils how savings should be made in one of the biggest ever consultations to be carried out on public spending.

The Local Government Group is to roll out an online web application which will let residents see exactly how councils spend their money. It will invite them to suggest ways of shaving millions of pounds off their local authority’s annual spend.

The YouChoose website goes live today, and the Local Government Group is inviting all councils across England and Wales to use the software to carry out one of the most comprehensive ever surveys on how people want their taxes to be spent.

Councils will now be invited to run the software on their websites. Dozens of councils have expressed an interest in using the consultation tool.

It is hoped that hundreds of thousands of residents will have the opportunity to play council leader by setting budgets for services. The YouChoose software will show them the direct impact their spending choices would have on local services like social care, road maintenance, rubbish collection and libraries, and the knock-on effect on council tax rates.

Town halls currently receive about two-thirds of their funding from central Government. But the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review this October is likely to see unprecedented swingeing cuts to the amount of money town halls are given to provide vital services in their areas.

Councils up and down the country are striving to find new and innovative ways to protect front-line services with less money and engage residents in discussions on where cuts should be made.

Rob Whiteman, Managing Director of Local Government Improvement & Development, said: “The scale of these cuts will leave councils faced with some of the most difficult decisions they will ever have had to make. These are extraordinary times, and it is only right that these tough choices are informed by the people who will be most affected.

“This consultation will be one of the most thorough and comprehensive ever taken on local public spending. Residents will be given a breakdown of exactly where their taxes are spent and invited to tackle the incredibly difficult balancing act of cutting millions of pounds from the budget and keeping increases to council tax low, while protecting vital services like schools, libraries, parks and waste collection.

“YouChoose will ensure that councils are able to make these difficult decisions in the most democratic way possible.”

The software was pioneered by the London Borough of Redbridge. Redbridge Council is currently running a Budget consultation called the Redbridge Conversation 2010, which has had more than 1,200 response in two weeks. More than 5,000 people took part in the first Redbridge Conversation in 2008.

Cllr Keith Prince, Leader of Redbridge Council, said: “YouChoose gives people a say on how the council should make savings. It lets residents see how much the council spends on services and suggest ways to save money.

“The Government is reducing public spending, so all councils will have to cut costs while trying to reduce the impact on frontline services as far as possible. We want the people of Redbridge to have a say on how public money should be spent and where it can be saved.

“As democratically elected representatives, the councillors will make the final decisions. But before making these difficult decisions, councillors want to hear directly from the people we serve.”

Anyone who lives in the area of a participating council and has access to the internet can take part in the online survey. Councils will also be looking at ways for people without a home computer and internet connection to take part, for example at libraries and with events held at community groups and day centres.

The results will be analysed for each participating council and will help inform the tough decisions made by councillors when they set next year’s budget.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1)  Local Government Improvement and Development, part of the Local Government Group, is offering councils free use of the software which will be individually tailored by each of the councils taking part. So far 23 councils have expressed an interest in using the software. See http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=22436695 for further details.

2)  The Redbridge version of the software can be found at: www.redbridge.gov.uk/conversation.

3)  Spending categories are divided into: community safety; council support and public engagement; culture and leisure; children’s services and education; environment and waste; roads; planning and economy; housing and homelessness; and adult social care.

4)  The software will allow council officers and the public to analyse responses in several ways. The results show how responses change over time and will reveal where submissions have come from. The data can also be downloaded for other sorts of analysis.

Author: LGA Media Office
Contact: LGA Media Team, Tel: 020 7664 3333