Lincolnshire County Council was one of the first local authorities in Britain to adopt the enabling model of local government in the early 1990’s. The report examines the enabling model, Lincolnshire’s approach to enabling through business units and an internal market, the performance of business units, business planning, and assesses the impact on service users…

In the mid-1980s, prompted by the passing of Single European Act, the European Union embarked upon an ambitious programme of liberalisation to complete the Single Market. This included the opening up of many national industries to pan-European competition. EU public procurement law has been a crucial pillar to this agenda as EU institutions have sought…

Results of a Improving Jobs and Services Survey of the Employment and Public Services Department, Darlington Borough Council, that examined job control and satisfaction, ideas for improving services and links between workers and service users, and health and safety issues. The Shop Stewards Committee were involved in the design of the survey and held a…

An investigation of the impact of outsourcing school cleaning by Lincolnshire County Council to ISS, the Danish-based multinational cleaning company. The County Council claimed savings of £351,000 but cleaning staff were literally robbed of £450,000 through wage cuts. Visits to schools around the County revealed systemic problems of incomplete and poor quality, high staff turnover…

Exposes the effects of attempts to reduce and remould key parts of the welfare state and a Victorian version of ‘community care’. It identifies unmet needs, the impact of spending cuts, and the increasing use of volunteers. The growth of the private homes business is described as ‘tender loving neglect’ and shows the increasing use…

A hard-hitting report by Bradford NALGO which examines the sweeping changes from the time the Conservatives narrowly gained control of Bradford Council in October 1988, until the setting of the Poll Tax in March 1990. It outlines the local Tory strategy and national significance of The Bradford Experiment; describes the scale and impact of cuts…

Since the election of the Labour Government in February 1974, the struggle to achieve decent housing for all sections of the community has suffered a number of major setbacks. First, by October 1977 the Government had cut an estimated £1,250m from the housing programme. Second, under the guise of ‘rationalisation’, the Government has introduced tough…

A social and economic audit of plans to run-down the Royal Hospital in West Belfast in 1993 by transferring several specialities to the City Hospital. Examines the job losses and equality impacts, the potential impact on West Belfast and the public costs of unemployment. Calculation of the jobs multiplier and the public cost of unemployment…

Details asset stripping of the public sector, explains why council housing is important, who’s demanding the sale of council housing, why sales are disastrous, alternatives to sales and action strategies. Published in 1980 and supported by 50 national, regional and city-wide tenants organisations, trade unions and other organisations, this is an expanded version of the…