Housing

  • Public Finance
    26 Jun 03
    Ministers seriously underestimated the complexity of setting up housing Private Finance Initiative schemes, an independent report has found. The review, carried out for the Office of the Deputy...
  • Public Finance
    26 Jun 03
    Local authorities should have the power to decide whether their tenants have the right to buy their homes in any part of their area, the Local Government Association has told MPs scrutinising the...
  • Public Finance
    26 Jun 03
    Ministers face a race against the clock to spend an extra £22m devoted to housing as part of the three-year Spending Review. Unless the money is allocated by next month, the government's...
  • Public Finance
    26 Jun 03
    A government blueprint for bringing all social housing up to scratch may need to be rewritten because of opposition from new regional boards. Some shadow boards have already indicated that the...
  • Public Finance
    26 Jun 03
    The way that public money has been given to homeowners to improve dilapidated properties in Wales has proved susceptible to fraud, and changes to be introduced next month could escalate problems,...
  • Public Finance
    26 Jun 03
    Struggling housing departments should be offered a cash incentive to improve their performance, according to the president of the Chartered Institute of Housing. Andrew Gray, director of housing...
  • Public Finance
    26 Jun 03
    A 'fuel poverty' scheme has misdirected millions of pounds of public money, and its eligibility rules bear no clear relation to applicants' need, a National Audit Office review has found. The NAO...
  • Public Finance
    19 Jun 03
    Asylum seekers are to be diverted away from private landlords into homes owned by councils and housing associations. The Home Office is appealing to more social landlords to offer accommodation...
  • Public Finance
    12 Jun 03
    Sir Andrew Foster has called for integrated teams of inspectors drawn from the various public sector watchdogs to be set up to make the scrutiny regime more co-ordinated and effective. The...
  • Public Finance
    12 Jun 03
    A £250m scheme to help public sector workers find homes in high-cost areas will fail to meet its target of assisting 10,000 people by next April, says the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister....
  • Public Finance
    5 Jun 03
    The government will need to invest heavily to make a success of radical changes to the voting process urged this week by the Electoral Commission. Proposed reforms include individual rather than...
  • Public Finance
    29 May 03
    Prison reform experts have slammed the government's slow response to concerns about overcrowding in UK jails in the wake of yet another critical report by the sector's watchdog. Following a damning...
  • Public Finance
    29 May 03
    Local government employers this week rubbished union proposals for a £6.50 an hour minimum wage in the sector, claiming it would add £2bn to council wage bills and force £100-a-year tax rises on to...
  • Public Finance
    22 May 03
    Teaching unions have described Education Secretary Charles Clarke's overhaul of tests for primary school children as an 'awkward halfway house' that will give the false impression that the government...
  • Public Finance
    22 May 03
    Government plans to dock the housing benefit of tenants who indulge in antisocial behaviour have met a hostile response from local authorities and housing associations. Work and Pensions Secretary...
  • Public Finance
    22 May 03
    Councils could be given powers to take charge of empty homes and rent them to families in need. Proposals to make better use of England's 300,000 long-standing empty homes were outlined on May 22...
  • Public Finance
    22 May 03
    The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are threatening to join forces in the House of Lords to scupper government plans to curtail jury trials. This followed a Commons vote on May 19 that slashed...
  • Public Finance
    22 May 03
    Local authorities hoping to transfer individual housing estates to new landlords dominate the list of proposed stock transfers for 2003. The list, published this week by the Office of the Deputy...
  • Public Finance
    15 May 03
    London boroughs have accused the government of 'spin' this week after five local education authorities were named and shamed as having the capital's worst performing schools, despite being recognised...
  • Public Finance
    15 May 03
    Westminster City Council this week found itself embroiled in a new row over the relocation of its staff and services under outsourcing contracts, when it emerged that the London borough's housing...
  • Public Finance
    15 May 03
    Anyone who thought that urban development corporations were as dead as the Thatcher government that created them should think again. More than five years after the last generation of UDCs closed,...
  • Public Finance
    15 May 03
    Plans to build thousands of affordable homes remain at risk in spite of a government pledge to smooth over the abolition of a major grant scheme. A last-minute decision by the Office of the Deputy...
  • Public Finance
    15 May 03
    Watchdogs at the Office of Fair Trading have warned that their investigation into alleged anti-competition activities at the Environment Agency will be a complex affair. The OFT launched its...
  • Public Finance
    14 May 03
    Councils should be prohibited from placing families with children in bed and breakfast accommodation for more than six weeks, the government said this week. New proposals on housing homeless people...
  • Public Finance
    8 May 03
    Housing associations are finding it difficult to collect escalating rent arrears from tenants and 'a major rethink is needed', the Audit Commission warned this week. A report by the local...

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