THE leader of Surrey County Council has outlined a raft of suggestions to cut red tape and inefficiency.

Dr Andrew Povey sent a letter to the Government in response to its call for local authorities to put forward ways to reduce bureaucracy.

Among the suggestions is the transfer of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service's responsibilities to local authorities.

Dr Povey said: "This would reduce double handling and help to limit conflict and unnecessary confusion at a challenging time and would also help with staff retention and workforce development for social workers working with children and young people."

Dr Povey also hailed a shake-up of the NHS set out in a white paper last month, which will give councils a greater role in planning public health and local consortia of GPs given responsibility for commissioning most health services, as a chance to prevent "a new layer of red tape being introduced".