1. Starter Task:Mr Right or Mr Wrong?
“Sport and the Arts” and “Education” are reserved powers.
There are 56 Regional MSPs elected to the Scottish Parliament.
The Presiding Officer is the leader of the Scottish Government.
Kezia Dugdale is an MP who is the leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
Are the four statements above right or wrong? Or BOTH?
Write the statements in your jotter and explain why each is right or wrong!

2. Local Government in Scotland

3. Lesson Focus
Describing: - The role of local government in Scotland. Identifying/Describing: - the services which local councils provide for Scottish citizens.

4. List of local authorities
Local Government in Scotland is made up of 1222 elected councillors working on our behalf.
Scotland now has 32 unitary local authorities- these are known as councils
List of local authorities

5. Local Councils were created based on population:
Highland council covers a massive area but few people
Glasgow City Council has the largest number of residents in Scotland but covers a very small area

6. Glasgow City Council
Each local council, like Glasgow is divided into electoral ward and councillors are elected in each ward to represent the people who live there.
A Councillor is elected to represent a WARD, which is the equivalent of a constituency and will be accountable to the people of that ward.
This is achieved by constituents visiting surgeries or lobbying their councillor by presenting petitions.

7. In pairs, try to come up with as many different things that your local council does.
Local Government…
Local government is extremely important in our everyday lives – most people don’t realise how much their local council actually do and have control over. Local government has been around for over 100 years – because the national government in London realised that they were struggling to make the best decisions for people all over the country.

8. Local councils were set up to allow local people to make appropriate decisions on local issues. When the Scottish Parliament was setup in 1999, local government responsibility became a devolved matter. Ever since, the Scottish Government has relied on local government to implement many of the laws that are passed and responsibly manage the issues that local councils deal with on a daily basis.
Relationship between the two (Scot Gov and Local Gov is crucial).

9. Types of Services
Local authorities carry out their role within the powers prescribed under the various acts.
Mandatory services- LA is required to provide this service by law. For example, primary and secondary education.
Other services are discretionary.
A discretionary service is one that the local authority is allowed to provide if it wishes- for example an outing for elderly.
A permissive service is one that they are not required to provide by law but legally allowed to do- theatres, swimming pools.
Thinking Task:
Who is in charge of Education in Scotland?
Could this cause any problems between the LA and the SG? In what way? Can you think of any examples that could cause conflict?

10. Currently:
- 32 local authorities/councils across Scotland
Provide mandatory services for those who live within the council area
Some councils also provide other services (discretionary services) within the area as well.
Local Councils also provide people and businesses within their areas with certain licences and carry out registration and inspection duties as well.

11. Mandatory services
These are services that all local councils are required to provide by law:
Education
Social work
Housing
Environmental services (bin collections, management of road side areas etc)

12. Discretionary services
These are the types of services which most councils do provide but which they do not have to:
Leisure facilities (local swimming pools and gyms)
Parks and Recreation (local play parks, nature reserves etc)
Cultural services (local events, museums, libraries)

13. Different Local Councils…
Have different issues and must respond to and provide services in very different ways. Do you think the Western Isles Council has as many bins to collect as in Glasgow City Council? Does Edinburgh City council have to clear as many fallen trees off of roads as the Highland Council?

14. Financing Local Government
Local government receives most of its income directly from the Scottish Government in the form of grants. Revenue support grant (80%)
20% is raised locally through council tax payments, fees and charges for the services they provide.
Non-domestic rates- taxes on business in their area.
At the moment there is a council tax freeze.
Why would the Government introduce a freeze on council tax?
Who might be opposed to that and why?
Thinking Task

15. Funding
Council Tax
Local Councils also raise their own money to pay for services through charging residents council tax.
How much council tax you pay is based on the value of your house – not how much you earn.
Although this is the most obvious form of funding for local councils it only makes up about 14% of local authority income.
Council Tax has been frozen since 2007 – when the then newly formed SNP government (under Alex Salmond) instated this flagship policy.
The Scottish Government has been providing additional money to councils since 2007 to ensure that council tax rates remain frozen. This is a BONE OF CONTENTION between councils and the Scottish Government.
WHY?

16. Council Tax Freeze
As an incentive not to increase Council Tax Rates, councils are given additional funding each year by the Scottish Government to cover the funding gap caused by the freeze and also target specific areas – such as social care.
If a council decided to raise their council tax rates, they automatically lost their additional funding AND faced a penalty charge. Many councils feel that their hands have been tied.
The past decade has seen massive economic turmoil worldwide and the cost of living has dramatically increased.

17. Expenditure
There are 2 types of expenditure which councils undertake and which have different sources of income.
1.Capital Expenditure
When a council uses money to finance the building of a new major asset e.g. school, leisure centre or council housing.
The Finance Minister grants borrowing permission for a certain amount of money to each council, which is then entitled to borrow from a bank/ other financial institution.
Councils raise money themselves by selling off assets – including council owned land e.g. school playing fields.
They get one off grants from the EU or bodies such as National Lottery.
A recent option for councils is to look to the private sector.This allowed for Capital projects to be financed in full by the private sector. Under this model a council may borrow money from financial institutions in the form of a long term loan or lease back of a new building. Labour Govt endorsed and expanded this idea calling it the Public Private Partnership (PPP).

18. Expenditure
There are 2 types of expenditure which councils undertake and which have different sources of income.
1.Revenue Expenditure
It consists of the annual running costs of the council. These can range from the wages of employees to telephone and heating bills, to the cost of photocopying books in schools, to repaying loans on Capital Expenditure.
There are 4 main SOURCES of income for Revenue Expenditure.
Funds from Central Govt
About 80% of council income comes from central govt. in the form of a revenue support grant. The annual figure and breakdown by council area is determined by the Scottish Govt Minister for Finance.
Council Tax
Charges for Services
Business Rates

19. COSLA
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) is the voice of Scottish Local Authorities.
All 32 LAs are members of COSLA (although several today, including Glasgow, are threatening to quit).
Meets on a regular basis throughout the year.
COSLA will defend local authorities role in providing local services, against the ‘centralising’ role of either the UK P or the SP providing those services.
Represents local government interests to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government.
Sometimes difficult for COSLA as different councils are led by different parties and so it can be hard to agree on things
Why are good relationships necessary between the LA and SG? When have relationships been difficult?
SP legislates for Scotland- relationships between constituency MSPs and LAs are important.
COSLA- used by LAs to influence the government.
LAs heavily reliant on income from SG- revenue support grant.

21. Questions: Complete in DETAIL
How many Local Authorities are there in Scotland?
Local Authorities are a devolved issue – what does this mean?
Why does the Scottish Government not implement laws across the country in the exact same way?
Does every local council have to provide the exact same services? (THINK ABOUT IT!!)
Name three services that local councils provide and explain why they are:
Important for everyday life
Provided by local authorities
If they are mandatory or discretionary services