Almost 25,000 extra nursery places will be required in London next year to meet a pledge by the deputy prime minister to provide free part-time early-years education for the poorest 20% of two-year-...
Is it right to spend public money on major sporting events, such as the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup, at a time of financial austerity? Public Finance and Northern Trust recently hosted a debate...
Investing public money in major sports events has many benefits for the wider community, town hall chiefs agreed at a PF/Northern Trust Scottish dinner debate
Audit Commission head Marcine Waterman has said the watchdog’s annual review of all local authority accounts is vital work that must continue after its abolition.
Local authorities have been urged to develop more sophisticated relationships with contractors to ensure that they benefit from any savings and improvements made in outsourced council services.
Councils see mutual organisations as a ‘credible’ way of providing public services, the head of the Cabinet Office’s Mutual Support Programme has told Public Finance.
The government’s plans for public spending cuts over the next five years are beginning to look ‘close to inconceivable’, with further tax rises or benefits cuts likely, the Institute for Fiscal...
Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has accused some councils of scaremongering about funding cuts after it was revealed that town hall reserves have risen by more than a third in the past five...
English councils have coped well with shrinking budgets so far but some are worried about whether they will be able to sustain their financial performance in the medium term, accountancy firm Grant...
Local authorities will face additional cuts of 2% in 2014/15, but have been spared the 1% reduction being imposed next year on most other areas of Whitehall spending, Chancellor George Osborne...
Most Welsh councils failed to prepare their draft Whole of Government Accounts returns on time, a situation the auditor general called ‘very disappointing’.
Councils have criticised the latest publication of adoption scorecards by the government, warning that the data could lead to ‘misleading’ comparisons between authorities.
More local government pension schemes will back housebuilding projects once investment limits are doubled, a senior councillor has told Public Finance.
