From your health to house prices - councils can make a difference
20/10/09
New research shows that the way local councils enforce regulations can have wide ranging effects on your community - anything from boosting the price of your house to health benefits.
LBRO, the public body responsible for better local regulation, says only 55 per cent of services are able to make any measurements of impacts in any area.
However, its new report, entitled Impacts and Outcomes (delivered by RAND Europe) shows regulators' actions do have demonstrable results for the quality of life in communities and provides a toolkit for identifying, measuring and managing them.
The report looks at 48 potential benefits to communities in general and to business, including issues that have a direct impact on quality of life, including anti-social behaviour, crime and violence.
Chair of LBRO, Clive Grace, said: "Local authority regulators check whether our air is clean, food is fit to eat, workplaces are safe and companies trade fairly. It's not too strong to say their work influences everything from the general health of a community through its impact on things such as alcohol misuse and consumer protection; or even house prices, when tackling issues such as antisocial behaviour and fly-tipping."
In spite of their importance, local authority regulatory services account for only a small share of local government spending - slightly less than one per cent of total expenditure in 2008.
And because there has been so little research around the wider impacts of local regulatory activity, officers have fond it difficult to prove their value to their local authorities, their communities and local businesses, which has led to problems when setting priorities.
Clive Grace said: "You cannot properly manage what you cannot measure. Local regulatory services can directly improve our quality of life and this report shows how to prove it."
This report comes with a toolkit to help local authority regulators in planning budgets and priorities, and raising their profile, and represents significant forward steps in enhancing the regulatory system
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