The government will only agree growth deals with Local Enterprise Partnerships if ministers are confident that the funding and powers devolved will be exercised robustly, cities minister Greg Clark...
Public service mutual spin-outs appear to offer staff a greater say in the way their organisation runs, which in turn increases motivation. But not everyone is persuaded
Erick Pickles has upstaged Iain Duncan Smith when it comes to pushing through radical benefit reforms. Peter Kenway explains how Council Tax Support, not Universal Credit, became the big welfare...
Councils could face a slew of employment claims unless ministers back down over plans to scrap the protection against dismissal given to chief finance officers, a senior lawyer has warned.
Councils should be banned from using closed-circuit television, such as so-called ‘spy cars’, for parking enforcement, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said today.
All of the New Homes Bonus funding intended to encourage councils to approve housebuilding should be given to Local Enterprise Partnerships to ensure construction of new properties is coordinated...
Labour leader Ed Miliband has said he is ‘fearful’ about the impact government cuts are having on councils, but warned the party will not able to provide ‘easy answers’ on reversing reductions.
The coalition's infrastructure plan is said to be the biggest programme of public works since the Victorian era. The only issue is getting it off the drawing board, says Mark Hellowell
The rural broadband programme was mishandled by civil servants through a ‘wildly inaccurate’ business case, which had seen BT contribute less than expected and local authorities far more, the Public...
More than half of Welsh local authorities have difficulty in accurately measuring their performance due to partial or inaccurate information about services, Wales’ auditor general has said
Some councils appear to be taking advantage of what they see as a loophole in the legislation regarding the Housing Revenue Account. But such attempts are not only morally wrong, they are legally...
Public accounting and audit reforms will be required if moves to devolve more responsibility for public services to councils are to be successful, shadow local government secretary Hilary Benn has...
Labour has launched an inquiry on local public service reform and is seeking ideas on how existing provision can be restructured to better meet the needs of local areas.
Ed Miliband has committed the next Labour government to cutting business rates in order to boost the small firms that he said were vital to the future of the economy.
Labour would reform council funding to ensure money goes to those parts of the country with the greatest need, shadow local government secretary Hilary Benn has said today
Lower public sector borrowing in August means the government is on track to borrow less than the Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast for 2013/14, economic analysts said today.
Whitehall is not doing enough to drive the integration of public spending through Community Budgets and other schemes, according to a report published by MPs today.
The government is yet to take control of the ‘absurd’ situation of the shortage of school places, a direct result of its mismanagement and ‘incoherent’ free schools programme the National Union of...
Cuts to the money county councils receive from the government’s New Homes Bonus will hit the delivery of vital infrastructure projects such as rural broadband and transport schemes, ministers have...
Schools minister David Laws has revealed that the government is considering making long-term capital allocations to councils to provide new school places, in a bid to tackle what he called the ‘...
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg today said he ‘understands’ the need to build more homes across the country, and pledged to examine what could be done to free councils to build more homes.
