The UK economy grew by a better-than-expected 0.3% in the second quarter of the year, buoyed by strong performances in the services and construction sectors, according to the latest figures.
A report on local authority procurement practices has claimed that despite its huge role in supporting business through procurement, local government can – and should – do more to generate greater...
The UK economy would be 3% bigger had public sector productivity kept pace with private sector performance, according to the headline finding of a report from Ernst & Young.
Stronger safeguards are needed to protect accountability as the government moves ahead with plans to introduce powerful local mayors across England, experts have warned.
The government has been urged to introduce five-year funding settlements for local buses to replace the current “short-term and fragmented” arrangements that hamper councils’ ability to improve...
Proposals to split Suffolk into three new unitaries as part of the reorganisation of English local government have been called “costly and unworkable” by the county council, which prefers a different...
Seven local authority pension funds seeking a new home under plans to consolidate the Local Government Pension scheme have announced Border to Coast Pensions Partnership as their preferred pool.
Councils should be given the power to levy taxes on visitors as part of a radical shift towards a locally controlled tourism industry, according to a study.
Inner London boroughs will be the biggest losers under plans to shake up the distribution of local government funding, with the worst hit facing real-terms cuts of up to 12% over the next three years...
Scottish councils have been told to make urgent improvements to their workforce planning as concerns over financial sustainability intensify and sickness absence rates reach a record high.
Tension between policy and funding decisions has underpinned a long-running prison capacity crisis that saw the criminal justice system come within three days of collapse, according to a high-level...
The policy of selling off local authority homes at a discount under Right to Buy has represented a £326bn blow to council balance sheets, according to new analysis.
Public sector productivity rose by the fastest rate in two years, according to the latest ONS figures, but the rate still remains below pre-Covid levels.
Eleven officers at Dorset Council have been sacked after auditors found significant governance failures and lapses in financial controls in the operation of a building works programme.
The Office of Budget Responsibility has responded to the latest IMF assessment of the UK’s public finances which included a cautious endorsement of the government’s economic strategy, describing...
Plans to restructure Walsall Council’s senior ranks, which went before council members this week, will see the number of senior posts at the authority reduced from 62 to 58.
The UK’s wealthiest households will be eight times as likely to benefit from the government’s expanded programme of funded childcare hours than their lowest-earning counterparts, according to the New...
The government would have “no strong case” to deny local areas the power to introduce a tourism tax as part of its sweeping plans for English devolution, according to a leading think-tank.
CIPFA and ICAEW have announced the signing of a Heads of Terms agreement setting out the strategic direction for a potential merger between the two chartered accountancy bodies.
Wiltshire Pension Fund has chosen LGPS Central as its new preferred partner after its current pool, Brunel, failed in its bid to become one of the new mega-funds under the consolidation of the Local...
The leaders of Devon County Council, Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council have put their names to a letter urging Whitehall to work on a devolution agreement that would see the introduction of a...
