City councils should be able to retain the bulk of their business rates while Whitehall funding should be devolved to create ‘area growth budgets’ for local services, according to a report published...
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has defended his controversial plans for increased competition in the National Health Service following attacks by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
VIDEO INTERVIEW: Andy Sawford, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit, gives an analysis of the May 2011 local elections. He tells Public Finance what the results mean for council...
It’s all in the timing. One year after the coalition government was formed, the turn of the electoral cycle means that on May 5 it faces its largest test short of a general election.
The government today appointed the financial consulting firm FTI to advise on disbanding the Audit Commission and transferring its audit practice out of the public sector.
The Treasury could be in line for an £8bn ‘windfall’ this year because of higher than expected tax receipts and lower government spending, leading economists said today.
Details of the forthcoming Localism Bill have been revealed in the government's business plan for the Department for Communities and Local Government, published today.
Ministers’ swift handling of the financial crash was applauded at the time. But, with the latest economic data making unhappy reading, does this goodwill need revising, asks David Williams
All the main parties support independently run schools in some form. But there is no guarantee that they produce results for the pupils themselves, reports Lucy Phillips
The local elections should attract a large number of voters thanks to the simultaneous national elections. And that could lead to some strange results. David Williams reports
Hull’s NHS primary care trust has moved to transfer services and 1,200 staff to a community interest company - just a week after unions met health ministers to urge a rethink on privatisation
A former refugee who worked his way up from Kodak’s factory floor, the deputy chair of the Audit Commission tells Vivienne Russell how his broad perspective informs his role