Ministers have announced that police and crime commissioners will be able to take over responsibility for local fire and rescue services as part of a drive to integrate blue light emergency services.
Finance Secretary John Swinney has set Scotland’s 32 local authorities a deadline of 2 February to decide whether or not to accept a financial settlement he hopes will underpin a further year of the...
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced plans to expand the current charging regime for overrunning roadworks to fine councils and utility companies if sites are left in place over the...
Government proposals to extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants – and to fund the reform through council house sales – would reverse a “renaissance” in development, social housing...
District councils are calling for the same freedoms to increase council tax as social care authorities in order to boost prevention and tackle health inequalities.
The council-backed municipal bonds agency being formed to provide a new source of finance for local government is ready to put together its first issue once authorities approve its borrowing...
In the face of tighter budgets and pressure to reduce the environmental impact of our public buildings, local government organisations need to start waking up to the potential of Building Information...
Rotherham is to regain responsibility for services including education, public health and housing, communities secretary Greg Clark announced, but “significant further improvements” are required to...
Increased use of community transport providers could save public sector organisations an estimated £750m a year, a review by consultants Deloitte has found.
Councils have been urged to set up new town centre investment funds that could help revitalise high streets across the country in a report backed by the British Property Federation and the Department...
The “unprecedented” reductions in funding for county councils set out in the local government finance settlement could "all but end" the provision of non-statutory services in...
The debate over council reserves hasn’t gone away since Eric Pickles left the Department for Communities and Local Government. But council leaders are beginning to strike back.
City mayors should be given control of some areas of criminal justice spending in order to allow local authorities to develop new approaches to cut offending, the Institute for Public Policy Research...
Information has begun to emerge on how LGPS assets might be pooled into British wealth funds to boost infrastructure investment ahead of the deadline for submissions.
Councils will be unable to meet their legal duty to ensure all children have access to a school place unless academies expand to meet demand, the Local Government Association has warned today.
Four public sector watchdogs have confirmed that they will undertake joint inspections of services for vulnerable children this year in order to better assess provision in local areas.
Some councils have ended emergency welfare provision this year following localisation of the support system by the Department for Work and Pensions, the National Audit Office has found.
The Local Government Association has acknowledged that deficits in the Local Government Pension Scheme are “challenging” for councils and has pledged to work with funds to introduce asset pooling in...
Outcome-based commissioning could help make some public services more efficient as well as help develop new models of provision, experts at a CIPFA roundtable event have said.
David Cameron has set out a national plan to redevelop or rebuild 100 of the most rundown housing estates in England as part of a new government strategy to tackle poverty.
There will be a full re-examination of levels of need in council areas as part of full devolution of business rates to authorities, a senior Department for Communities and Local Government figure has...
