With the Commission gone, if there is something happening at a council that I wish to draw to an auditor’s attention to, where do I go? The proposals seem to be that councils will be audited by commercial auditors, which is fine, but they tend not to identify individual responsibilities. What chance is there of a letter to the corporate headquarters of a multinational audit company making its way down to whoever has responsibility for auditing Swindon Borough Council?

I do accept that there were private companies and these were relatively small and though I do not have the number in front of me I recall at privatisation there were somewhere in the region of 20 or less. I also accept that there were large water undertakings like the Derwent Valley and North Wales Water boards, but I think they were set up by acts of parliament. Local general health boards were a local function and people were elected to them. For example the local boards/urban councils became the corporations as in the case of Swindon. Stepping away from the industrial towns the work house were prevalent some people do believe these were charitable along with the poor laws, but that is a point of view I do not subscribe to. I agree private provision was usually provided by companies for their workers who funded it themselves, in the long run. The Labour government after WWII created the NHS etc. I believe in local government by the people and for the people. Otherwise there is a risk we will become indentured serfs.

Step away from the industrial towns, and much of the civilisation of which you speak was achieved by charitable and private means, rather than by municipal intervention.

Yes you have spotted the Laws of unintended consequence that always relate to housing. Older people under occupying housing is a gem that the Tories have always cast their myopic eye over. Meeting an individual housing need may mean a move to smaller sheltered accommodation in the past their have been incentives but under IDS and Grant Schnapps them maybe its oh dear, never mind!

More concerning are the comments about ‘under-occupation’ of council houses by the elderly, which has a definite hint of forcibly moving the elderly to smaller houses.

I am sure you have the evidence to back this up any pointers where it can be found? I would appreciate it cheers.