Early results from a flagship government scheme to increase public sector efficiency prove that more spending should be brought under local government control, councils say
Councils are still not being given reliable financial advice more than a year after the Icelandic banking collapse, according to the Commons communities and local government select committee
Northeast England councils striving to meet centrally set targets are unable to address the economic and social problems of the region, a
think-tank has found
Much is expected of the Total Place initiative – ministers are hoping it will join up services while producing huge savings. Guy Clifton warns, however, that the consequences have not been properly...
The scale of the public sector deficit demands no-holds-barred solutions. So could Total Place – the latest weapon in the government’s armoury – help to lower costs without damaging vital services?...
A spate of job losses and a squeeze on pay and conditions have been stoking unrest across the public sector, ahead of the clampdown on spending expected in November’s Pre-Budget Report
Health and social care services are suffering because councils and NHS bodies are failing to pool resources effectively, the local government watchdog has said
Essex County Council has authorised its Cabinet to sign off an outsourcing deal with IBM that could be worth up to £5.4bn – but public documents do not outline either the scope or likely price of the...
Robotic pets that double as fire, gas and flood alarms could form part of the next generation of measures used by councils to care for elderly people in their own homes
Councils have recommended a comprehensive shake-up of services for young people not in education, employment or training, dismissing existing provision as ‘bedevilled’ by bureaucracy
Forget the bonfire of the quangos, it’s managers and back-office staff who are in politicians’
line of fire now. But can layers of ‘bureaucrats’ really be taken out without harming services
on the...
Local government should be in the vanguard of public service reform and can look forward to enhanced freedoms and flexibilities to provide it, Communities Secretary John Denham has said
Local authorities are stepping up pressure on ministers to write off £18bn of historic debt as part of a major shake-up of housing finance.
More than 30 councils from the Campaign for Fair and Local...
Councils in Scotland must carry out more market-testing to demonstrate they are providing value for money, according to a local government spending watchdog
