Local authorities face a ‘tough challenge’ in taking control of Council Tax Benefit at the same time as it is being cut by 10%, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned today.
As economic crisis turns to political crisis across Europe, what are the lessons for local democracy here? The May 3 elections sent out some strong messages on mayors, majorities and political...
Councils will be able to compare their residents’ satisfaction levels against those living in other authorities from this autumn, the Local Government Association has revealed.
Scotland’s 32 unitary authorities should be merged into just 19, given full control over their own finances and encouraged to install directly elected mayors, according to Reform Scotland.
Whitehall’s decision to claw back half of the localised business rates collected by English councils ‘falls well short’ of giving them freedom and lacks ambition, according to town halls.
The Scottish Care Inspectorate is to spearhead a strategic assessment of care services for children over the coming year, under plans published today in the latest local government inspection...
The Audit Commission is calling for government departments to be required to join its National Fraud Initiative, which has saved £1bn elsewhere in the public sector since it began in 1996.
Plans to monitor the spending of public money in academy schools are weak and might not be able to ensure accountability, the Public Accounts Committee has warned.
The government’s assessments of individual adoption services, published today, lack credibility and could deter prospective adopters, councils have said.
Scotland’s local authorities have been cutting jobs and services without fully understanding the costs of their actions, according to a report from the Accounts Commission today.
English city councils should be given more powers over housing to enable them to play a greater role in the supply of new and decent homes, the Institute for Public Policy Research said today.
Labour and the Scottish National Party both made significant gains in Scotland’s local elections at the expense of the UK coalition parties, especially the Liberal Democrats.
The government’s lack of support and information for elected mayors campaigns contributed to voters’ widespread rejection of the structure in the ten referendums held yesterday, according to a...
The Local Government Association has today called on the government to provide more cash to help English councils access their full allocation of European funding.
All 1,223 seats in Scotland’s 32 unitary authorities are in contention at Thursday’s council elections in a campaign where local issues have struggled to be heard above the turmoil of national and...
The abolition of the Audit Commission will eventually lead to councils appointing their own auditors. Richard Johnstone looks at the lessons for audit from foundation trusts and academy schools
