Leadership skills will be vital for public sector managers in the difficult days ahead. They
will have to review structures, manage their staff more effectively and communicate a
vision. Jody...
The collapse of Iceland’s banks forced a rethink of local authority investment strategies. A year on, many councils are putting safety before returns, others are still skating on the edge and...
Schools and local authorities have been accused of disregarding safety after a report found that fewer than 500 of the UK’s 32,000 schools have sprinkler systems to combat fires
A one-year public sector pay freeze, as proposed by shadow chancellor George Osborne this week, risks widening the gap between public and private sector salaries, an employment expert has warned
Scotland’s local authority spending watchdog is to press ahead with its revised performance assessment regime after a majority of councils backed the changes
Birmingham social services department used ‘inexperienced staff with insufficient management oversight’ who did not meet the needs of the children in its care, a report has found
The body representing council chief executives has warned that continued attacks on public servants are legitimising unfair dismissals and causing top-level vacancies to remain unfilled
Three local authorities have issued a tender notice for a £1bn waste management scheme, leaving the method of financing, contract structure and technology to be used up for negotiation
Town halls will need to hold a Conservative government’s ‘feet to the fire’ to ensure it stays true to its localist pledges, the shadow minister for the Cabinet Office has admitted
Batten down the hatches, the worst is yet to come. Even if the recession is now over, there are mounting social and financial pressures on the UK. Only radical government action can avert disaster,...
Plans by Doncaster’s controversial elected mayor to cut council tax by 3% on top of budget cuts of 15% over three years could tip services ‘over the edge’, unions have warned
Local government leaders have urged ministers to give councils a new ‘power of general competence’ as a pioneering mutual insurance scheme went into provisional liquidation this week
Government figures have revealed huge variations in local authority’s efficiency savings, while experts have warned that they are distorted by ‘smoke and mirrors’
The system for certifying grant funding to local authorities should be reviewed and its value for money analysed, the Local Government Association has said
