Against all the odds, the local government white paper not only turned up, it also went further than expected on the path to devolution, argues Chris Leslie
Public cash to support regional economic development should be targeted at northern cities, a leading think-tank has claimed, despite new research indicating that the UK's North-South divide is...
Town hall leaders are demanding that devolution must underpin the Bills of the next parliamentary session, as the prime minister used the last Queen's Speech of his tenure to outline a far-reaching...
Health and education took a back seat in the Queen's Speech, but the absence of a Bill merging the health and social care inspectorates drew confused responses.
Launching the report of his inquiry into local government finance in Scotland, Sir Peter Burt the current chair of ITV repeated several times what he saw as a main attraction of his proposed new...
Town halls this week set out their wish list for economic devolution within the context of the sector's white paper urging ministers to establish new funding streams for sub-regional transport,...
A heated row over the future of local government in Northern Ireland broke out after the composition of the seven proposed new Northern Ireland 'super-councils' was published by the Local Government...
Local authorities, central government and parents must broaden their sights in the fight against antisocial behaviour and focus on prevention as well as punishment, Whitehall's 'respect' czar...
Government policy to promote school independence and improve the wellbeing of deprived children has created a 'real tension', the Audit Commission has warned.
Wales was always bound to go its own distinctive way on the issue of public service reform. Now, as the Welsh Assembly Government prepares to respond to his review, Sir Jeremy Beecham explains why
The white paper is done and dusted. Now it's time for Sir Michael Lyons to put some financial meat on the bare bones of local government reform. He should focus on capping, council tax and the...
Social service leaders are giving their cautious co-operation to a scheme to send vulnerable children to boarding school, but are warning that the project runs counter to the rest of the child...
Council tax in Scotland should be replaced by a new property tax requiring householders to pay 0.9% of the value of their home annually, the Burt committee on the future of local government finance...
Joint reviews of social services in Wales place huge demands on local authorities but are leading to improvements in services, according to an independent evaluation.
Local authorities should be placed under a statutory duty to guarantee the environmental sustainability of their areas for future generations, leading green campaigners said this week.
Police authorities have reacted with anger and disappointment to the costs paid by central government following the abandonment of the police merger programme.
'We will step back and allow more freedom and flexibility at the local level. In exchange, we expect to see more accountability to local citizens, stronger local leadership, better and more efficient...
