Written evidence to be reported to the House
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill
2:16 pm
Phil Woolas: In answer to the previous question whether there was evidence, I cited East Riding. It is clear that the potential savings from going unitary are significant. We know that from closer working now and from previous experience, but by putting the onus on the council to show that the savings can be made and allowing interested parties and then the Government to test that, we think that we can get a much more accurate picture of the real potential savings than has been the case in some of the previous local government reorganisations.
Ultimately, one would not be doing the exercise if one did not think that it was necessary. The chairman of the Conservative district councils gave good and strong evidence. He and I disagreed in that exchange on where the pressure for the process was coming from. The pressure was coming from local councils. The Municipal Journal reported a robust survey of chief executives of district councils—I have no predilection for districts or counties, but in this case it was a survey of districts—that showed that 80 per cent. of chief executives believed that significant savings could be made by the unitary process. I think that figure was in the June 2005 edition.