Eric Pickles has released new Best Value Guidance for councils in September 2011
In summary, the very short paper requires that councils consult local stakeholders when they are considering cutting services:
An authority intending to reduce or end funding (where ‘funding’ means both grant funding and any fixed term contract) or other support to a voluntary and community organisation or small business should give at least three months’ notice of the actual reductions to both the organisation involved and the public/service users.
An authority should actively engage the organisation and service users as early as possible before making a decision on: the future of the service; any knock-on effect on assets used to provide this service; and the wider impact on the local community.
Authorities should make provision for the organisation, service users, and wider community to put forward options on how to reshape the service or project. Local authorities should assist this by making available all appropriate information, in line with the government’s transparency agenda.