The education watchdog Ofsted today exposed serious flaws in provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities, calling for 'a shift in direction'
The Unite union has told Prime Minister David Cameron that councils have already axed vital services such as meals on wheels and social care provision for elderly people as they prepare for spending...
The Welsh Local Government Association has warned that the public sector cuts to be announced next month put Wales at greater risk of returning to recession.
The local government secretary’s decision to transfer the Audit Commission’s value-for-money work to the National Audit Office was ‘taken in haste’ and not thought through, local government select...
Local government minister Bob Neill has claimed there is not ‘a shred of evidence’ that this week’s collapse of social housing maintenance firm Connaught was linked to the scale and pace of...
Charity leaders have questioned whether the government’s Big Society plan can work in practice, as spending cuts start to hit the organisations needed to make it happen.
The government today confirmed it has received 56 bids from councils and businesses across England to form Local Enterprise Partnerships. But on the same day a Commons select committee inquiry raised...
Stretched councils are finding it increasingly difficult to pay for staff to gain new qualifications in work time, Public Finance has learned. This is prompting fears that workforces will lack '...
The government has announced plans to put more private sector representatives on the board of the Audit Commission as the regulator prepares to transfer out of public ownership
The Audit Commission has appointed its local government chief Gareth Davies to oversee a bid to transform the watchdog into an employee-owned co-operative or mutual
Sir Bob Kerslake, the chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency, has been appointed permanent secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government
Councils in London are lobbying for extra funding amid fears that government cuts will make it increasingly difficult to provide school places for the capital’s booming infant population
The government must put in place a series of 'checks, balances and incentives' to ensure its school reforms do not only benefit those from privileged backgrounds, leading social mobility charity the...
So farewell then Audit Commission and hello amateur bean counters. David Walker takes a look at the coalition's plans for 'super audit' - and wonders if they're outside most people's comfort zone
Is local government minister Bob Neill friend or foe? In an interview with Lucy Phillips, this amiable veteran of the sector robustly defends town hall cuts but pledges to improve relations with...
Scottish local authorities should be given a discretionary power to raise supplementary taxes, according to proposals for local taxation reform drawn up by leading revenue and valuation officials
The proposed General Power of Competence for councils will not on its own be enough to enable them to find innovative ways of saving money, a government advisor has told Public Finance
Concern is mounting that the Treasury is preparing for a series of 'quick win' reforms to the Local Government Pension Scheme, expected to come into effect as soon as April next year
Is the abolition of the Audit Commission a welcome end to top-down, tick-box regulation or a false economy that will hold back scrutiny and research? Jaimie Kaffash reports
