Mike Barker's article, published on 1 September, responds to the Local Government Information Unit's Future of Local Government: Time to Rebalance. He asks what happens when councils protect urgent statutory services while the everyday places and relationships that help people stay well lose funding.
The budget problem is familiar: a cut can be recorded as a saving this year, while its consequences may appear later in a different service or organisation. Barker also argues that devolution should preserve councils' ability to shape local places, not only move decisions to a regional centre.
One question for a commissioning or leadership team: which reduction looks affordable within one budget, and who would notice the effects elsewhere? A case for prevention still needs evidence about what works, for whom, and over what timescale.
Read Mike Barker's article, 'We Cannot Cut Our Way to Prevention'.