The coalition partners don’t agree on much. And the political perils of shrinking the state mean that small is no longer quite so beautiful, argues Philip Johnston
Councils could mitigate the cut in Council Tax Benefit funding by tackling fraud and error when they take over the system next year, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said yesterday.
Jeremy Newman, former chief executive of accountants BDO International, has been named as the government’s preferred candidate to chair the Audit Commission and oversee its closure.
Plans to reform funding of adult social care concentrate ‘too much on the inheritances of the children of elderly people’, rather than improving quality, veteran Conservative MP John Redwood said...
Councils today hit out at ‘tortuous’ European Union procurement rules that are ‘choking off’ opportunities to save taxpayers money and promote local growth.
Councils could be forced to reopen planning agreements made with house builders if deals agreed before the economic downturn are holding up developments, Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has...
The Care Quality Commission has admitted ‘failing’ in its response to concerns about abuse at the Winterbourne View home, after an independent review called for better monitoring of services for...
Labour has warned that millions of poorer people across England will have to pay more council tax from next April following devolution of the benefit to local authorities.
Councils will have to give the government details of their borrowing plans to qualify for the lower Public Works Loan Board interest rates announced in the Budget, it has been revealed.
Almost half of English councils prefer to use their purchasing power to cut costs than to secure wider social benefits, a survey by accountants BDO has found.
Local authority spending data is being released without town halls ensuring that it is ‘fit for purpose’, MPs on the Public Accounts Committee revealed today.
Small business leaders today urged Holyrood to legislate to encourage councils to spend more of their budgets with local firms after a survey showed Scottish authorities were lagging behind the rest...
Head teachers have welcomed the publication of spending data for academies but called for it to be made comparable with funding for maintained schools.
Local government minister Bob Neill has defended Whitehall plans to support councils that are hit by falling business rates once the regime is localised.
Merging together local government pension schemes across Britain could free up around £6bn for investment in infrastructure developments, the Association for Consultancy and Engineering has said.
