With the recession - and government efforts to end it - putting growing pressure on the public purse, there has never been a greater need for visionary and creative public finance leaders.
As cohesion minister, Sadiq Khan must tread a fine line between promoting the government’s counter-terrorism strategy and winning the ear of a sceptical Muslim community.
Local authorities and social work professionals have warned that Lord Laming’s proposals to reform children’s services might be unachievable on cost grounds alone.
English towns and cities face a far larger than predicted demand for school classes, with London expecting a shortfall of 18,000 places. So should government or education authorities bear the costs...
Town hall leaders have been ‘hugely encouraged’ by the announcement of funding to help them create 100,000 new jobs - but have called for the extra money to be passed on quickly.
Auditors have raised serious concerns about a Scottish council’s financial sustainability because of its lack of planning and other management weaknesses
The Local Government Association has denied claims that councils are undermining the future of local journalism by bankrolling their own rivals to local newspapers
Essex County Council has delayed a decision on its controversial outsourcing plans until after the June elections - and might sharply scale down proposals to hive off ‘any or all’ services
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has said the recession is serving as a ‘catalyst’ for the reform of public services and creating greater need for devolution of power
Is April the cruellest month? By the time Alistair Darling finished his 2009 Budget speech, it was looking a lot nastier than November. The litany of figures the chancellor recited revealed just how...
Two councils could bypass the Private Finance Initiative to build a multimillion-pound waste treatment facility after PFI schemes elsewhere have been bogged down by financing problems
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has acknowledged the critical shortage of primary school places, saying officials are looking at ways of remedying the situation
Local government mandarin Neil Kinghan is to take over at the top of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission following the departure of chief executive Nicola Brewer
Councils in Wales are charging widely different amounts for home care services and using different financial assessments to decide who pays, a report has found
Police force leaders have attacked local government minister John Healey’s decision to cap the council tax precepts of Surrey and Derbyshire police authorities
Councils would be better able to protect their communities from the recession if they were allowed to set three-year budgets, a New Local Government Network report has argued
