Years of financial mismanagement and political chaos have earned the London Borough of Hackney the dubious distinction of being the first local authority to face a central government takeover.
Public sector trade union Unison has hailed the collapse of a £100m deal between Kent County Council and Hyder Business Services as a watershed in public-private partnerships that could ultimately...
Nearly half of all council services that have had a Best Value inspection have been judged unlikely to improve or worse, according to the Audit Commission.
New social landlords set up following stock transfers from local councils are being warned against relying on former housing department staff to fill their leading posts.
The government has failed to convince the public that it has delivered improvements in public services, even though public sector managers believe progress has been made.
The government's £2bn New Deal for Communities programme is helping to cut crime rates and boost the local economy in some areas, the first annual review has shown.
The Northeast will be the focus of the campaign for directly elected mayors, with Prime Minister Tony Blair's constituency Sedgefield confirming that it will join three other neighbouring boroughs...
The public sector procurement process is excluding small businesses and is overly skewed in favour of large and well-established firms, according to a new report.
Local authorities fear they may be excluded from crucial decision-making after housing associations dominated a government programme to provide low-cost housing for more than 11,000 key public sector...
The proposed shake-up of the Ofsted inspection regime unveiled by chief inspector of schools Mike Tomlinson has been given a ringing endorsement by the Local Government Association.
Senior CIPFA officers met local government minister Nick Raynsford this week to press for important changes to the Best Value regime and to discuss other issues concerning councils.
Local authorities could be faced with bills of millions of pounds to clear up old landfill sites, following a recent report in the British Medical Journal which suggested a link between birth defects...
Scottish local authorities face a major reorganisation of backroom functions such as payroll and council tax collection as ministers increase the pressure for more joined-up work between councils.
Prime Minister Tony Blair will step into the lions' den next week when he delivers an address to the annual conference of the Trades Union Congress in Brighton.
The government launched its blueprint for the future of secondary schools this week, granting ministers reserve powers to curtail failing schools while promising high performers new freedoms.
There is one way to deal with an unfavourable inspection, and that is to not publish it. Steve Brown explains how some local authorities are managing to escape being named and shamed
The long-running dispute between private care homeowners and local authorities in Scotland has ended, following an agreement to set up an independent review group to examine funding.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's e-government targets are looking increasingly shaky as councils struggle to put together plans and industry experts call for a more realistic timescale.
