Government departments lack urgency in their efforts to measure fraud and error relating to Covid-19 spending, according to Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.
Government figures released today show a sharp rise in business rate and council tax arrears - PF speaks to local authority finance officers about the factors behind the figures.
Ratings agency Fitch has raised its outlook on the UK after its better-than-anticipated response to the ongoing challenge of Covid-19 since the start of the year.
The coronavirus pandemic and tighter government lending rules led to a 41% real-terms contraction in councils' payments for land and buildings last year, according to provisional outturn figures.
The cost of government responses to Covid-19 in Northern Ireland topped £6bn as both Stormont and Westminster worked to fight the health and economic crises caused by the virus.
The Treasury’s decision to reject a £15bn school recovery programme suggests a broader problem with the UK’s budgeting framework, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Kevan Collins, the government's education recovery commissioner, has resigned following a "furious" row erupted with the Treasury over the department's rejection of his proposals for a £15bn school...
The government has come under fire for an “insufficient” £1.4bn education package aimed at providing additional tutoring help recover lost Covid-19 teaching.
Covid-19 led to UK healthcare spending reaching £269bn in 2020, a fifth higher than the previous year’s figure, according to Office for National Statistics data.
The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has written to chancellor Rishi Sunak to clarify the working relationship between the Bank of England and department throughout Covid-19.
Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s former adviser, described the Department of Health’s procurement system as “completely useless” at dealing with Covid-19, but praised chancellor Rishi Sunak in...
Government support will not cover the half-billion-pound scale of lost council tax receipts in the year following the outbreak of Covid-19 – leaving councils facing service cuts – according to sector...
