VIDEO INTERVIEW: Simon Parker, director of the New Local Government Network, talks to Public Finance about: the think-tank's new Commission on Next Localism; the future of local authority audit; and...
English councils will have to find an extra quarter of a million pounds a year to fund the extra administration costs imposed by the Localism Bill, town hall leaders are warning.
Audit staff at the Audit Commission are poised to launch a joint business venture and bid for work against other private firms, Public Finance has learnt.
The New Local Government Network is launching a commission to harness the 'pressure cooker for change' being created by the government’s localism plans. The Commission on Next Localism will look at...
Work carried out by the Audit Commission's in-house audit practice is likely to be outsourced to the private sector from 2012/13, councils have been told today.
Councils need to speed up improvements to adult social care services to meet future demands, according to a report from the Audit Commission, published today.
Local authority accounts are under fire for their increasing length and complexity, with calls for a simple and more transparent process. But is this the right way forward? Nigel Johnson, opposite,...
Leaders of Scotland's social enterprise sector are holding talks with local authority chief executives to pitch for a greater role in providing public services.
Councils should be freed from many of the confines of planning legislation to allow local people to shape their future, the Local Government Association has said.
A fresh dispute is emerging over the way business rates should be distributed among councils ahead of the shake-up of the local government finance system.
City councils should be able to retain the bulk of their business rates while Whitehall funding should be devolved to create ‘area growth budgets’ for local services, according to a report published...
Local authorities planning changes to social care services will find it difficult to prove the impact on disabled people, which will leave them open to legal challenge, Public Finance has been told.
The mood music has changed and, since the May 5 elections, the relationship will never be the same again. So, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats locked into a loveless coalition, what does...
Birmingham City Council is to re-examine its plans to cut social care for some disabled adults after a High Court ruling found that it had acted unlawfully
