Local government has earned a sizable amount of respect and credibility across Whitehall for having made a positive and speedy contribution towards tackling the deficit and delivering savings, senior speakers – including local government minister, Bob Neill – said.

But delegates were reminded that additional savings could become harder to make in future years. The extent to which that task becomes difficult, or not, depends on how successful authorities have been in developing transformational change programmes capable of securing further savings, service improvements and productivity.