Last week's loud rumblings of discontent around business rates revaluation have thrown a national spotlight back onto the inexorable link between the funding and delivery of local public services. 

At the same time the stresses and strains on our national criminal justice system have been increasingly taking centre stage over the past few months. It is becoming a cause of significant public concern with the return to the riots and disruptions of the early 1990s, unprecedented levels of self-harm and suicide and the urgent need to increase staffing numbers and improve training.