Local authorities have been warned that they will need to guarantee each others’ debts if a new local authority bond agency is to get the top credit rating needed to make the plans viable.
There’s trouble at the top in Whitehall, with senior civil servants taking to the streets and relations with ministers becoming increasingly dysfunctional. Colin Talbot tests the temperature in the...
Latest figures on fly-tipping show the ‘real impact’ councils are having in tackling illegally deposited waste, according to the Local Government Association.
Finance Secretary John Swinney yesterday urged Scotland’s 32 councils to use their capital borrowing powers to boost Scotland’s economic recovery, as he announced their funding allocations for the...
The civil service has been protected from the brunt of the government’s spending cuts and as a result is making little effort to reform, councils are claiming
Councils should take action sooner rather than later to cut their workforce costs without having to make widespread compulsory redundancies, the Audit Commission said today.
Senior public sector staff expect private companies to play a greater role in providing public services, but almost half believe such collaboration will affect quality, a survey has found.
At first sight, the government’s plan to give councils control of business rates and Council Tax Benefit was a fine case of ‘localism’ in action. In practice, it means town halls will take the rap...
Derek Myers is no ordinary chief executive. Having run one London borough for a decade, he has taken on responsibility for a second and is sharing a range of services with a third. He tells PF how...
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has branded today’s public sector strike ‘inappropriate, untimely and irresponsible’ as thousands of schools closed nationwide and hospitals prioritised urgent...
Public sector pay rises will be capped at 1% after the current pay freeze ends as the government does ‘whatever it takes’ to protect Britain from the European debt crisis, Chancellor George Osborne...
Can the government’s Open Public Services agenda succeed in a period of local authority budget cuts? Public Finance and Zurich Municipal hosted a round table to debate the possibilities
The government is likely to fail in its attempt to freeze the council tax across England for a second year after local authorities revealed concerns about the proposal.
Personal data on individuals has been lost or stolen from UK councils on more than 1,000 occasions in the past three years, according to a report published today.
The Trades Union Congress has accused the government of misleading low paid public sector workers on the impact of the planned pension contribution hikes.
Nine out of ten councils are on track to stay within their budgets this year, despite 'unprecedented' cuts to their income, the Audit Commission said today.
Whitehall departments have been urged to address 'weaknesses' in how they distribute funding to local bodies, after MPs labelled the systems currently used 'complex and difficult to understand'.
An extension to the London underground network could be one of the projects given the go-ahead after a London council was awarded two top credit ratings.
