Ofsted’s review of 21 schools and academies in Birmingham has revealed that some academies breached their funding agreements by failing to provide a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum.
Birmingham City Council is set to provide £200,000 in start-up costs for the municipal bonds agency planned by the Local Government Association, it has announced today.
The Audit Commission has urged councils to ensure they implement a strategic approach to asset and property management after finding £2.5bn of the local government estate could be put to better use.
Ofsted’s revised inspection criteria for children’s services is succeeding in shifting assessments on to the experiences of children, young people and families, according to an independent expert...
Plans to devolve funding for transport projects to local enterprise partnerships could mean that infrastructure in some parts of the England gets left behind, MPs have warned today.
The European Commission has urged the government to reform council tax to remove ‘distortions’ caused by basing the system on property values that are more than two decades old.
An independent commission into the future of council finance has today been launched by CIPFA and the Local Government Association, tasked with developing reforms to address key challenges amid...
Labour has pledged to give local authorities multi-year funding settlements if it wins the next election, in a bid to end short-term spending decisions in public services.
Government plans to integrate public services and spending mean it is vital that reforms are also made to the regime for dealing with complaints about poor provision, the Whitehall ombudsman has said.
It’s no longer just the bottom 20% of society who are anxious about their future. In the new class structure of industrialised countries, where jobs growth is in services, white-collar and...
Councils will have to pass a credit test and cross-guarantee loans made to other authorities if they want to access the Local Government Association’s planned municipal bonds agency, the lead...
The new chair of the Local Government Association has pledged to be robust in representing the position of councils to government during ‘critical times for local government’.
The government has agreed to write-off the historical housing stock debt of Salford City Council as part of moves to transfer ownership of the properties to Salix social housing company.
Scrutiny of local council decisions in Wales has improved to help authorities take spending decisions based on evidence but best practice is not yet applied across the country, the Auditor General...
Complaints about adult social care increased by 14% over the last year to stand at nearly 2,500, with the vast majority about council-delivered services, the local government ombudsman has said today.
Council tax arrears is now the biggest single debt problem reported to the Citizens Advice Bureau following government reforms that localised the support scheme for the tax, it has been revealed.
Labour has become the largest single group within the Local Government Association following last week’s local election results, an analysis by the umbrella body for local government in England and...
The Local Government Association has formed a commission to examine how the rural areas of England can boost their contribution to economic growth and improve public services.
The National Union of Teachers has called off a strike planned for next month to allow talks to take place with the Department for Education over pay and conditions.
