Labour’s shadow local government secretary Hilary Benn has insisted the party’s plans for a constitutional convention following last week’s Scottish independence referendum no vote will lead to...
A former policing minister has said plans to further integrate emergency services could eventually lead to force mergers, but insisted these would be determined locally rather than imposed by...
There are now 4,000 academies but, as the education baton passes to Nicky Morgan, it may turn out that Michael Gove’s real legacy is in curriculum and teaching reforms
Health minister Dan Poulter has insisted implementation of a host of reforms to social care will not place undue pressure on local authority budgets at a time of funding constraints in town halls.
The shocking events in Rotherham bring to the fore some very serious issues for local authority and other public sector leaders. Getting the right answers demands that the right questions are asked.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has indicated he would back a new constitutional settlement between central and local government that would lead to greater fiscal decentralisation across England.
Public sector employment fell by a further 11,000 to 5.39 million in the second quarter of 2014 to hit the lowest level recorded since records began in 1999, the Office for National Statistics has...
Local government finances are at risk of becoming unsustainable unless there is ‘radical’ devolution of powers, including full retention of business rates growth, county authorities have warned.
Councils across England will redevelop £13.5bn worth of land and assets over the next five years as part of local plans to turn underused land into a source of revenue, an examination by Localis has...
A pledge by UK party leaders to maintain the Barnett Formula for funding public services in Scotland if there is a no vote in Thursday’s independence referendum will increase demands for English...
Plans by the Local Government Association to create a municipal bond agency for UK councils is ‘credit positive’ and could improve financial oversight of town halls, ratings agency Moody...
Greater Manchester should be given full control of all public spending across the city region as part of a new devolution settlement for England, a report by the ResPublica think-tank has said today.
The government’s flagship scheme to boost domestic energy efficiency is failing and should be revamped to offer households discounts on council tax for undertaking improvements, MPs said today.
Changes to the audit regime for councils being introduced following the abolition of the Audit Commission could weaken accountability for public money and lead to politicisation of scrutiny, MPs have...
Councils have been urged by MPs to improve the scrutiny of pay deals for senior officers to ensure there is never a return to ‘inflation-busting’ increases in top jobs.
A ‘decade of devolution’ across a host of public services is needed to decentralise the governance of England and pass controls held in Whitehall to major cities and counties, the Institute for...
A coalition of 21 healthcare bodies has called for NHS services to be reconfigured to meet the needs of the growing numbers of people with ongoing issues, especially older people, those with long...
Councils in England have said that plans being set out by the three main unionist parties to boost the remit of the Holyrood in the event of a no vote in next week’s Scottish independence referendum...
The Local Government Association has announced the creation of a new company to issue municipal bonds, as the long-running plan for councils to borrow from the capital market nears fruition.
Sir Bob Kerslake has today launched the first stage of his inquiry into the future of Birmingham City Council that will examine the financial sustainability of the UK’s largest local authority and...
The next government should introduce legislation to allow as many as 40 cities in England to expand for over a period of 35 years into garden cities that would house more than 150,000 additional...
An independent commission examining reforms to social care funding has called for some care to be made free at the point of use as part of a host of reforms to provision, paid for by charging...
Fraud risks are becoming more challenging and complex yet much of the counter-fraud architecture has disappeared. Vivienne Russell reports on a CIPFA initiative to bridge the gap.
