Town halls offered healthcare bonus

Town halls will be rewarded for cutting tooth decay in children and boosting breastfeeding under plans to be unveiled.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is expected to announce plans that would see councils allocated more than £2 billion to look after public health, a responsibility that has not lain with local authorities since the 1970s.

Under the system, councils will be judged against a range of measures including reducing the number of falls in older people and increasing breastfeeding rates, as well as factors such as truancy, air pollution, domestic violence and homelessness.

Data will be collected on more than 60 factors that influence health, and a "Health Premium" incentive scheme would see the most successful councils given extra funds.

Councils will be left to decide which practical steps they take to achieve the improvements laid out by the Government.

Andrew Lansley is expected to announce
a 'Health Premium' incentive scheme

Mr Lansley is to set out the new Public Health Outcomes Framework in a speech at the Faculty of Public Health.

According to the Daily Telegraph, he says that 2000 to 2010 was a decade in which public health was seen as "something to be sidelined".

He will reportedly say: "Obesity rates from 2000 to 2010 rose from 21.2% to 26.1% so now over a quarter of adults are obese. Sexually transmitted infections, after the steep declines in the 80s to 90s, doubled in the subsequent decade. And health inequalities persist, with gaps in life expectancy of over a decade between people born in the richest areas and people born in the poorest."

The public health budget is to be ring-fenced so it cannot be used to shore up day-to-day spending, he is expected to say. Next year £5.2 billion will be spent on public health, with the Government increasing the budget in real terms each year after that.

The announcement comes as the Commons Health Committee is this week expected to claim the Government's controversial NHS reforms are obstructing efforts to make the service more efficient.

COUNCIL STAFF REJECT PENSION OFFER

The Government's hopes of resolving the bitter dispute over public sector pensions received a fresh blow today when leaders of tens of thousands of council workers rejected a final offer.

Unite's national local authority committee turned down the proposed deal, saying "genuine discussions" should be held without "arbitrary" deadlines.

The move follows a similar decision last week by the union's health executive and a decision by the British Medical Association to survey around 130,000 doctors and medical students on the offer, raising the prospect of their first industrial action ballot for more than 30 years.

The two biggest teaching unions also refused to sign up to the deal as they pressed for more talks.

Unite has rejected the Government's pension offer

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "Unite's local authority representatives have lost trust after (Communities and local Government Secretary) Eric Pickles let the Government's real agenda out of the bag.

"The security of our members in retirement is just too important to leave any space for doubt or mistrust, so the union's senior representatives in local government have rejected the Government's proposals.

Unite - Eric Pickles MP "let the cat out of the bag." 

"Our senior representatives believe they have no choice but to reject the 'principles document' after Eric Pickles claimed the unions had made commitments which have not been fully discussed.

"There now needs to be genuine discussions without arbitrary deadlines. Our members need clarity before we can move forward."

Unite said a row before Christmas over a letter from Mr Pickles, raising the issue of an employer cost-ceiling on pension contributions, had caused a "crisis" of confidence and trust.

Leaders of the biggest public sector union, Unison, will meet tomorrow to consider the final offer, while unions will hold talks at the TUC later this week to decide their next move.

Up to two million workers went on strike in November in protest at planned changes to their pensions and some union leaders have warned of more industrial action if the row remains unresolved.

Bob Neill, Minister for Local Government

Bob Neill, Minister for Local Government, said: "The decision by Unite is disappointing, but Unite only have 30,000 members in the Local Government Pension Scheme, out of a total active membership of 1.6 million.

"Our proposals represent a good deal for public sector workers and taxpayers. We need to put local government pensions on a sustainable and fair footing, and this is a generous offer.

"Town hall pensions now cost taxpayers £300 per household per year, and the cost has trebled since 1997.

"This is not fair on families and pensioners struggling to pay their council tax bills, and that is why this Government is committed to fair reforms."

PA 2012