Councils, local enterprise partnerships and businesses from across the Midlands have today set out a joint plan to boost the region’s economy, which is to be supported by £5m of government funding.
The UK has become the first country outside of Asia to ratify a treaty with new multilateral finance institution the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Plans to integrate health and social care provision in Scotland face significant risks that must be addressed if the reform is to improve how services are delivered, a report has found.
The electronic system intended to improve the management of the UK’s borders has not delivered value for money following spending of more than £830m over 12 years, the auditor general has concluded.
The government has launched a review of the localisation of council tax support that will consider the impact of the reform on local government finance and whether further reforms should be made to...
The chair of the Public Accounts Committee has warned that the government’s use of the new burdens doctrine, which is intended to ensure councils are not left out of pocket, “fails to reflect reality...
Ofsted’s annual report has revealed that underperforming secondary schools in England are concentrated in the North and Midlands, where over 400,000 children attend a secondary school rated as...
UK pension reforms may well fall down in practice unless the economy and employment levels stay strong, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned.
The junior doctors’ strike, set to go ahead in England today, has been called off after the British Medical Association said agreement had been reached to resume negotiations over contract...
A government programme to improve delivery of £1.8bn in annual payments under the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy has been undermined by “deep rifts” between...
A tax on sugary drinks and tougher planning powers for councils to limit the proliferation of fast-food outlets are needed to curb the growing childhood obesity problem, according to MPs.
Nine in ten nurses have said they would not have gone into the profession without the bursaries the government plans to scrap in 2017, a Unison survey has found.
There is growing dissatisfaction with access to GP surgeries, while age, ethnicity and where a patient lives can bear heavily on their ability to get an appointment, the National Audit Office has...
CIPFA has sounded a note of caution over government plans to establish six “British Wealth Funds” by encouraging Local Government Pension Scheme funds to pool their assets and increase...
Austerity will continue and both significant public sector cuts and some radical reforms lie ahead, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said in its analysis of yesterday’s Autumn Statement and...
Implementing the Scottish Rate of Income Tax (SRIT) will cost up to £35m and 2.6 million people will be liable to pay it, the National Audit Office has revealed.
The school funding system is to be overhauled and sixth form colleges are to be allowed to become academies, exempting them from VAT, chancellor George Osborne has announced.
The Office for Budget Responsibility increased its forecast for government borrowing this year due to the reclassification of housing associations as part of the public sector, but has predicted a...
George Osborne used his Autumn Statement and Spending Review to double the government’s housebuilding budget and increase investment in infrastructure.
Tax credit cuts have been scrapped and the police budget protected, George Osborne has announced in four-year spending plans that will slash Whitehall spending by an average of 19%, less than had...
Councils will be allowed to increase council tax by up to 2% in order to fund adult social care, chancellor George Osborne announced in his Spending Review today.
