Recommended reading for Liberal Democrat councillors and local campaigners from the last seven days:
This week saw two big bits of news from the government (if you ignore the drama of The News of the World).
The first was the publication of the Dilnot Report on adult social care which you can read about on the BBC, which Paul Burstow MP wrote about on Liberal Democrat Voice.
The other was hidden news but one that many Liberal Democrats will be very pleased with, which is the government surpassing the target to cut carbon emissions by 10%. A good sign that this government may well meet its aim to be the greenest ever.
In the local government world:
The voluntary sector is urging the government to press ahead with plans to allow local communities and the third sector to take over the running of local services.
In Edinburgh, the Liberal Democrat led administration is pressing ahead with plans to complete the first phase of their new tram system.
The government is planning to make more information available on schools, hospitals, GPs and the courts as part of a drive for more transparency.
With police commissioner elections looking likely for next May, it’s worth considering Theresa May’s claim that reforming the police could save £2.2 billion.
Funds of over £1 million are to be spent to help support the development of the new council Health and Wellbeing Boards.
A government commissioned report is also calling on more early intervention to help improve the lives of children from deprived areas.
News from the rest of the world of politics includes a plan by Scottish Labour to make sure that all their council candidates undertake a minimum amount of canvassing or face deselection. The original story was in The Times (£), but you can read more on ConservativeHome. This is also linked to a plan to rebrand Scottish Labour as the ‘Irn-Bru of modern politics’.
Finally, welcome news to the many Liberal Democrat councillors faced with the same issue is news from ConservativeHome that Eric Pickles is to look in to the demand by the Information Commissioner that councillors should have to register as a data controller.