The government is only in the ‘foothills’ of reforms to integrate public spending across services in a bid to get ‘more for less’, policy minister Oliver Letwin has said.
The coalition government has been told by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that its failure to carry out a revaluation of property values for the purposes of levying council tax is ‘increasingly...
CIPFA has joined forces with the Healthcare Financial Managers Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services to discuss what their members can do to progress the integration...
Councils have warned they are reaching the ‘end of the road’ in their ability to manage reductions in government funding, with leisure services, children’s centres and pothole repairs likely to bear...
A radical reform to the role of Local Enterprise Partnerships, including giving councils sign-off of economic strategies, is needed to tackle the north-south divide, former Labour housing minister...
Many local enterprise partnerships are failing to address the long-term obstacles to growth and are not putting enough emphasis on tackling unemployment, a report by IPPR North has claimed.
Councils have been urged to ‘reclaim’ children’s services provision from control by Whitehall departments and inspectors so town halls can act as the local champions of the interests of children,...
A review of the Local Government Pension Scheme has ruled out mergers of the 89 funds in England, but has concluded that as much as £660m a year could be saved through greater use of common...
A new government tool to improve the cost-benefit analysis of public service reforms could help councils make the case for local changes that improve provision and cut costs, according to a senior...
A panel of experts convened to examine service integration is looking for examples of ‘can-do’ areas that are breaking down barriers, one of its leaders has said.
The government has been urged to give cities in England five-year capital allocations for transport improvements, similar to the long-term funding deals given to Transport for London.
Trade union Unite is to ballot council workers over strike action in a dispute over pay with local government employers – the second union in the sector to do so.
The Local Government Association has hit out at the decision by the university admissions service to end information sharing with councils, warning this will make it harder for authorities to help...
The government should introduce a new system of citizen registration to allow for better local planning of public services in areas with high levels of immigration, a think-tank has said today.
Council shared service initiatives saved more than £350m in the last year as more town halls agreed to work together in areas such as adult social care, school support and back-office functions,...
A committee of MPs has called on ministers to bring forward plans to create a single public services watchdog for England as part of reforms to the role of the Parliamentary and Health Service...
Increased fiscal devolution to cities is a ‘necessity’ to boost the growth rate of the UK, a leading economist examining plans to increase the powers of municipalities has told Public...
A Whitehall programme to help central and local government share offices and other property is to be extended to 15 new authorities across the country.
Trade union Unison has announced that it is to ballot 600,000 council workers over strike action after members rejected a pay offer by the local government employers.
Councils will need to sign a pledge setting out how many potholes they will fix over the next year to qualify for money from a new Whitehall road-repair fund, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin...
Total public sector borrowing in 2013/14 was £107.7bn, nearly £7.5bn lower than the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics’ first estimate of the deficit for the whole of the...
The chair of the Public Works Loan Board has stepped down after it was revealed that he had not declared a bankruptcy when he was being appointed to the role.
