The business rates system is “broken” and needs to be reformed for the benefit of councils and businesses alike, according to a report from the treasury committee released today.
The government’s failure to engage with local government before hiking Public Works Loan Board interest rates was “completely unacceptable”, the shadow communities secretary has told PF.
Thirty-nine per cent of British adults would like their council to prioritise spending on waste collection and recycling, a Unison and ComRes poll has said.
A promised social care green paper, 100% business rates retention, further devolution - local government policy has been in the realm of fantasy for some time, says the LGIU’s Jonathan Carr-West.
Kerry Lorimer meets Gail Macgregor, resources spokesperson for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, who has proved to be a doughty champion for local democracy and fiscal empowerment.
Groups have called for the housing crisis to be fixed after official figures revealed two homeless people died in England and Wales each day last year.
The government will produce a white paper on further devolution in England, the chancellor has announced in his speech to the Conservative Party Conference today.
Labour has promised to scrap the “unmitigated disaster” of Universal Credit and replace the Department for Work and Pensions with a ‘Department for Social Security’.
Government outsourcing contract failures have wasted millions of pounds - but a blanket approach to switch to in house provision would be costly, a think-tank has warned.
The communities secretary has postponed implementation of changes to local government funding following the Fair Funding Review and to business rates retention.
Although education had some certainty for the next three years, other public services did not and some areas are still likely to feel the pinch of austerity over the next year, says CIPFA’s Don...
The prime minister’s £3.5m package for councils, expected to be announced in this week’s Spending Round, would be a “very welcome contribution” if it is not money that has already been announced.
