18.08.11
Community Budgets roll-out rolls on
The Government has confirmed that it is hoping to roll out the ‘Community Budgets’ scheme to another 50 local authority areas by next April.
A letter from Sir Bob Kerslake, concerning the Community Budgets scheme, has been published this week. Writing to local authority chief executives on July 28, Sir Bob outlined the progress so far, and described the developments which will be made in the future.
Community Budgets are an attempt to combine local priorities and pool public money to address families in the community with multiple problems, who would usually be the responsibility of multiple agencies and authorities. The first 16 community budget schemes have been set up in less than six months, and will help at least 10,000 families over the next four years through using more efficient and effective ways of supporting people, the Government said.
Sir Bob also wrote about the Leadership Group, created to identify and raise issues with the project. The group is also responsible for debating to find fast solutions for any barriers to the budgets scheme. This group is led by Baroness Hanham.
The Government plans to extend the scheme, by rolling out Community Budgets to another 50 areas by next April. Areas will be selected for either neighbourhood or single budget pilot schemes in the next few months, and announced by Christmas.
Sir Bob concluded: “There are some exciting opportunities ahead and I hope that together we can make the most of them and demonstrate the real value of councils and local service partners up and down the country.”
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