Smart technologies can make our cities work better. But to face the challenges ahead, including population growth and transport, we also need our towns and villages to become ‘smart communities’
Another 100 areas are to be given greater control over public spending through an expansion of the government’s neighbourhood community budgets programme.
Public Health England now distributes the £2.8bn grant to councils as they work to improve the health of the people. Everything from planning to parks, and education to employment, can play a role.
A rift between ministers and councils over the Scottish Government’s pledge to maintain pupil-teacher ratios has widened, after the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities said it was considering a...
Chancellor George Osborne has pledged to devolve skills funding to combined authorities in the Midlands as part of a 15-year plan to make the region ‘an engine for growth’.
Over two-fifths of respondents to a survey on the effectiveness of local authority governance have warned that scrutiny committees are not doing enough to challenge the way that councils operate.
Ten of the UK’s largest cities have today launched a ‘freedom charter’ setting out demands for devolution that they said would drive national prosperity and boost local economies.
Brighton & Hove City Council could be the first council in England to hold a referendum on a council tax increase after proposing it rise by 5.9% for 2015/16.
Commissioners are to be sent in to run all the executive functions of Rotherham Borough Council following a damning report into the authority’s governance.
Ministers have confirmed the 2015/16 local government finance settlement, delivering a further £74m to upper-tier authorities for additional support with social care and welfare needs.
The range of community rights introduced by the coalition government to allow local people to run public services and take over assets like pubs and post offices should be strengthened to encourage...
Taxpayers are losing more than £800m a year because of the ‘bums on seats’ system of funding post-16 education, the Local Government Association has warned.
County council areas received around one-third less than cities in the government’s latest £1bn funding round for local growth deals, an analysis has found.
Local government minister Kris Hopkins has put forward reforms that will make it easier for councillors to scrutinise and approve in-year budget changes.
A Whitehall-commissioned review has urged councils to do more to increase housing supply, but has been criticised for failing to recommend changes to the Housing Revenue Account, which limits...
Health and social care integration must eventually be expanded to cover all public spending for these services, rather than just applying to the £5.3bn pooled in the Better Care Fund, former health...
Further cuts to council funding in the next parliament could threaten the viability of statutory services such as adult social care and child protection in the most deprived areas, MPs have warned.
Academy funding must be made more transparent and new rules governing spending are needed to tackle possible conflicts of interest in the sector, the education select committee has said.
Eric Pickles has appointed a former Audit Commission senior official and a council leader and chief executive to an expert group tasked with helping Birmingham City Council implement a wide-ranging...
The Local Government Association has set out proposals to modify its cross-sector improvement regime for councils to ensure moves towards Community Budgets and other place-based funding deals are...
Relaxing the rules governing the formation of combined authorities will remove barriers to fiscal devolution across England, the chair of the Commons communities and local government select committee...