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.
The National Union of Teachers has launched a campaign highlighting what it calls the ‘crisis’ in school place provision and calling for local government to be given powers to open new schools.
Many Welsh town and community councils have ‘common and fundamental issues’ of weak financial management that must be addressed, the auditor general for Wales said today
A series of infrastructure projects intended to boost economic growth have been given the go-ahead in Preston after the city agreed the first of the second round of City Deals with government...
Restrictions placed on councils by central government are stopping town halls from tackling rogue landlords, the Local Government Information Unit warned today.
MPs have slammed the social housing regulator for his reluctance to downgrade the financial viability ratings given to landlords, warning that ‘nobody would have a clue’ if a housing association was...
The number of people working in local government fell by nearly 50,000 in the second quarter of 2013, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics today.
The government’s troubled families scheme has successfully turned round the lives of 14,000 households in England in its first 15 months, ministers claimed today
The Pensions Regulator has promised ‘to take action if necessary’ to ensure public sector pension schemes are run to high standards following government reforms that will see it assuming oversight of...
Councils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have had to ‘scramble’ to avoid breaking the law through paying workers less than the National Minimum Wage when it is increased next month, trade...
The government has been urged to undertake a review of its controversial NHS reforms in 2015 to ensure that local commissioners are having the intended impact on integrating health and social care in...
Leaders of the Scottish voluntary sector are to launch an inquiry into local authority arm’s-length external organisations (Aleos), following claims that their charitable status is draining money...
Councils have been warned by CIPFA that the use of reserves to deal with shortfalls in day-to-day spending would be a ‘recipe for significant financial problems’.
