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’.
Plans to create two new combined authorities in England are likely to form a ‘template’ for further local government reforms across the country, the chair of the Commons communities and local...
Firefighters have voted to strike over the government’s proposed pension reforms that the Fire Brigades Union has warned could lead to thousands losing their jobs when a change in retirement age is...
Housing experts have queried a plan by the London borough of Camden to use council tax to stop international investors from speculatively buying homes and then leaving them empty.
The Department or Transport has rebuffed a series of calls for national measures to encourage cycling, arguing that doing so would conflict with localism.
The Local Government Association has been selected as one of two organisations to work with those developing Social Impact Bonds and similar payment-by-results schemes, the Big Lottery Fund has...
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has hit out at ‘draconian’ council parking policies that he says are driving people away from town centres and give many authorities a bad name
