An overhaul of local authority structures in the devolved administrations of Wales and Northern Ireland has highlighted a further bout of local government reorganisation over the next five years across the UK.
Welsh first minister, Carwyn Jones, told BBC Wales this week that the Williams Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery, led by Sir Paul Michael Williams, former head of NHS Wales, will outline possibilities for future reorganisation in the country. This is expected to cull the current arrangement of 22 single-tier authorities into the low teens.
The commission is due to report this autumn but will have to wait until after the next Welsh Assembly elections in 2016 for legislation.
‘If for example the commission recommends local government reorganisation, it can't be done overnight,' Mr Jones told the BBC's Huw Edwards.
‘We have to think of how many authorities, what those boundaries should have to be, what the effects might be on staff and all these things have to be prepared for over time.'
Elsewhere, ministers in Northern Ireland have ordered chief executive appointments to the devolved administration's 11 new councils to be made through open competition.
Environment minister Alex Attwood said their recruitment would be key to local government reform and fundamentally different to the current 26 chief executive posts - given the new authorities are set to gain new powers over planning, housing, economic development and housing from 2014.
‘Not only will councils cover a geographically larger area and serve a bigger population base, they will also deliver significant new functions and operate within a new governance framework, Mr Attwood said.
Paul O'Brien, chief executive for the Association for Public Service Excellence told The MJ there were divergent opinions on the ministerial decision to go for an open competition, but the sector was making good progress with the re-organisation and transition.
‘It remains to be seen what he outcome will be, but a number of existing chief executives will be well placed to come through that process,' Mr O'Brien said.
There has been discussion in Scotland among ministers and council leaders about reducing the number of local authorities while police services were recently merged into one force.
Some English councils are still seeking to merge in order to manage the next round of spending review cuts. This week districts within Buckinghamshire received strong political backing from local MPs to seek unitary status, a position county council chiefs are opposed to on cost grounds (see page 4).
Speaking at last week's LGA conference last week, Coalition growth guru Lord Heseltine again restated his desire to abolish district councils in favour of unitary counties. He said: ‘I keep reading about shire leaders talking about their cuts. It saves £10m to get rid of the district, and if you go to Scotland or Wales where I got rid of them all in 1990s, nobody even remembers what they were.'
Communities secretary Eric Pickles has to date deliberately avoided talk of further local government reorganisation. Addressing the District Councils Network assembly at the LGA conference last week, he spoke in favour of a duty of co-operation at local level between districts, counties and local enterprise partnerships rather than further restructuring.
However, senior DCLG sources have indicated they would support voluntary moves towards unitaries.
Dr Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit said: ‘Some degree or reorganisation is inevitable, so let's have it led by local government and planned rather than responsive and ad-hoc.'
Steven Howell, senior policy officer for the Localis think-tank said: ‘Isn't the more important question how we join up local public services in their totality?' ‘Now is the time when we should be laying the groundwork for more wide-ranging reform.'
