Does local government in Scotland have a future?

As a Labour Group, we have consistently sent out the message regarding the chronic underfunding of Renfrewshire Council by the Scottish Government. The SNP in Holyrood have been in control of the reins for the past 13 years and local authorities have borne the brunt of the austerity measures brought in by the conservatives in Westminster which have been turbo charged in Scotland, resulting in cuts to services, outsourcing, community delivery of services, centralising services and redundancies with over 60.000 jobs been lost.

Figures from the neutral Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) show that between 2013-14 and 2018-19, the Scottish Government’s revenue budget was cut by 2.8 per cent by Westminster, but the Scottish Government were even more brutal in their cuts to councils – hammering them with a 7.5 per cent reduction in funding over the same period.

It was clear that this could not go on. The current situation is simply unsustainable, and something must be done. But what? Local authorities know how best to deliver services to local communities, they have been doing it for years and have continued to adapt and modernised in response to new situations and challenges. However, with their centralising agenda and an increase in ringfencing, the Scottish government may be giving a glimpse of the future, as they see it.

Enter coronavirus.

This pandemic is devastating in its impact in all our communities. It hurts everyone in our society, we see that by the number of hospitalisations, deaths, deaths in care homes, etc, that are occurring and also, in the changes in our daily lives, our work and leisure lives and in the businesses that are struggling or failing, where jobs are being lost.

Both governments, in Holyrood and Westminster were slow to act. Their attitude seemed to be that it will ‘never reach our shores’. On 16 March, National Clinical Director of the Scottish Government, Jason Leitch said that he would be comfortable going to a public event, after his wife went to a Stereophonics’ concert. Talk about burying your head in the sand. This is the same guy who is all over our television screens telling people to stay home, so maybe that advice should have gone out sooner.

People have said that we are living in exceptional circumstances, and we are, and that Covid19 is an unforeseen occurrence, and they are also right. But pandemics are not. We have had strategies in place for years. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 was supposed to address strategies to deal with civic emergencies. Chapter 5 of the Act talks about emergency planning (updated 2011), and preparing for an emergency, should that occur. In 2016, the then Deputy First Minister of Scotland, John Swinney, launched the Scottish Government’s ‘Preparing Scotland – Scottish Guidance on Resilience’, with a number of spokes, including guidance on dealing with mass fatalities in Scotland 2017, where it talks about dealing with flu pandemics. In July 2018, the UK Government published its Biological Security Strategy, which the Scottish Government contributes to, and talks about our response to biological risks. So, we were well prepared, in fact the UK scores number two, next to the US, in the Global Health Security Index. What went wrong, is not for discussion here.

Now, as we all know, austerity has been a disaster for the working people and the most vulnerable in our society. It has left our NHS in a critical state, it has hammered our public sector and decimated Local Authorities. In Scotland, as we have already stated, the Scottish Government have turbo charged austerity and passed it on to councils.

It, therefore, shocked no-on when Renfrewshire Council’s Chief Executive expresses her deep concern that the level of financial pressures, as a result of Covid19, will significantly exceed this level of funding.

In total £2.7 billion has been deployed by the Scottish Government to target a wide range of specific interventions in response to the COVID19 emergency. However of this only £80 million has been distributed to local government at this stage with a future £180 yet to be distributed, providing in total £260 million to support services provided directly by local authorities, just under 10% of the overall funding deployed by the Scottish Government.  Of this, the Renfrewshire Council has received £2.7m of the £80 million distributed to date and would expect to receive in the region of £5.3 million - £5.8 million of the estimated undistributed £180 million based on normal distribution approaches. This would provide a share for the Council of £8 million - £8.8 million of the confirmed funding made available to directly support local government. This is significantly less than the estimated £26 million - £27 million of net additional costs.

The issues that we face in Renfrewshire Council, is one where chronic and systematic underfunding has led directly to the loss of jobs and services, throughout the council which is being compounded by the current crisis. Unless we see a massive injection of resources, then services that we all rely on, such as, refuse collection, grass cutting, social care, education and schools, leisure and community facilities are all at risk. Council workers are doing a fantastic job under very difficult circumstances and we should all applaud them, but Governments have the ability to ease their burden and the burden of those they serve, by financing the council properly and recognise the work that they do.

However, the wider questions are, what does the future hold for local authorities, in Scotland? Will the deepening funding crisis that we face, result in irreparable damages to the services that we provide? In meetings with council officers, we are constantly reminded of the need for financial stability, and of course that is important. But you can be financially stable by having little staff and without providing any services whatsoever. So, it all becomes a bit meaningless.

Given that that the Scottish Government already has a centralising agenda and does not seem to trust local councils, could this be excuse that they have been waiting for? Could we be seeing more outsourcing to the private or voluntary sector with the loss of thousands of jobs. More responsibility for community groups? The loss of democratic accountability at a local level?

Without the funding that is needed, just to survive, this could just be around the corner for all our local councils in Scotland. However, we do not just need an injection of cash to see us through this Covid19 crisis. We need local authorities to be properly funded with packages where confidence can be restored among our employees and in our communities, and with financial stability that would enable services, not just to be delivered, but to grow also and enable our society to thrive.

Before Covid19, we were limping from one crisis to another with no end of the devastation in sight. With the arrival of the coronavirus, we are now at a different level of deepening uncertainty and imminent emergency. Maybe it is too late. Perhaps we are already in the throes of Lingchi – death of a thousand cuts. Time will tell.