Letter in the Observer today: We council leaders say these cuts simply cannot go on By the end of this parliament, councils’ funding from central government will have been cut by 33%. In comparison, Whitehall departments will have faced average reductions of 12%. This pattern cannot be repeated without it having a serious impact on local services and people. Councils have so far taken £3.1bn from the annual pay bill, reduced management costs by more than 12.5% and saved hundreds of millions of pounds by teaming up to provide both back office and frontline services. Council tax increases have also been kept well below the rate of inflation for the past four years. The resilience of local government cannot be stretched much further. For many councils, new funding cuts in 2015/16 will lead to a significant reduction in, and in some cases even loss of, important local services. In the next spending round, local government finance must be put on a sustainable footing. To do this, the government has to adjust health and schools budgets to incorporate the local services that help the elderly stay independent longer and ensure children are ready for school. This will ultimately save money by reducing pressure on our hospitals, police and prisons. It must also embark on a rewiring of public services. The only way of maintaining them in the face of proposed long-term cuts is to design them around the needs of people and communities. That means devolving budgets away from Whitehall to increase co-operation between public agencies, save money and improve services. Local government bore the brunt of cuts in the last spending review. For the sake of the public it cannot afford to do so again. It would be bad for the country, bad for people and bad for our prospects of economic recovery if funding for local services is cut further to reinforce inefficiencies within Whitehall. Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman, LGA; Gary Porter, vice chair, LGA, leader of the LGA Conservative group and leader of South Holland District Council; David Sparks, vice chair of the LGA, leader of the LGA Labour group and leader of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council; Gerald Vernon-Jackson, vice chair of the LGA, leader of the LGA Liberal Democrat group and leader of Portsmouth City Council; Marianne Overton, LGA Independent group leader and Independent group leader at Lincolnshire County Council and North Kesteven District Council, and 146 others (see observer.co.uk/letters) Chalk it up to experience Barbara Ellen misunderstands the opposition to Michael Gove’s “Troops to Teachers” wheeze, attributing it to anti-military prejudice (“I salute the idea of soldiers in the classroom”, last week). A common characteristic of all the world’s most successful education systems is that their teachers are educated and professionally trained to the highest standard. Finland, for example, which has by far the most successful education system in Europe, admits only the brightest and best to teacher training, rejecting 90% of applicants Michael Gove, by contrast, regards school teaching as something that can be learned “on the job”, even by people who may lack education, a view apparently supported by Ellen, since “not everyone has the opportunity to get a degree or even make it to sixth form”. Such attitudes derive from the Victorian “pupil-teacher” system and, along with the rest of Gove’s reactionary ideas, can only result in our education system going backwards. Michael Pyke Shenstone, Staffs Liberals must be braver Will Hutton’s despair at the illiberal trends in the Western world can certainly be alleviated, but it depends on liberals ending their endemic lack of confidence in their beliefs (“I despair as I watch the erosion of the liberal views I hold dear”, Comment, last week). It is too easy to blame the electoral weakness of political liberals over the past 90 years when that weakness itself is largely a consequence of the reticence of holders of the faith. The one thing that has characterised my 50 years as a “working” liberal at myriad levels, and which has always baffled me, is the shyness of so many political colleagues when faced with clear opportunities, even when, as with the Iraq invasion, the erosion of civil liberties and the consequences of the obsession with the nation state, liberalism is manifestly relevant. It will not be easy, but to make Will Hutton and those of like mind happier, simply requires liberals to be brave and to promote their values and their policies. Michael Meadowcroft Leeds Cockadoodle do’s and don’ts I have kept hens in the garden for the last 18 years and wrote one of the first beginners’ guides in 2003: Hens in the Garden, Eggs in the Kitchen (“Eggs come first as chickens take over our gardens”, News, last week). Yes, keeping hens is now hugely popular but the industry is being fuelled by the burgeoning fox population; all over the country, every night foxes are getting into people’s gardens and feasting on a chicken dinner. People are not adequately protecting their hens but this is actually good news for the breeders as those who lose their chickens return for more. Also, people don’t realise that for their hens to thrive they need as much space as possible. Four square feet really isn’t enough. Hens enjoy being on grass and they will quickly destroy a small area of grass, turning their space into bare earth or mud and will create craters where they have their dust baths. Charlotte Popescu Upavon, Wilts Write to us: Letters, which may be edited, should include a full name and postal address and be sent to: Letters to the Editor, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU (to be received by noon Thursday). Fax: 020 3353 3189. 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Posted on: Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:26:03 +0000
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