A group of London councils are pooling their legal resources in a move which they claim will save millions. The councils, Camden, Harrow, Hammersmith & Fulham, Hillingdon and Hounslow LBCs and Kensington & Chelsea RBC, say the move will eventually save £1.4m a year.
Senior local government figures are calling for urgent talks with the Department of Health amid fears that Labours proposed National Care Service will commit councils to future funding burdens that are impossible to quantify
The Audit Commission is preparing a last-ditch attempt to prevent the comprehensive area assessment (CAA) from being abolished under a Conservative government.
Conservative council leaders are increasingly confident they will be able to convince a Tory government to adopt a new inspection model within its first year in power.
The report ‘Can Localism Deliver’, published today by Localis and Policy Exchange, is an important contribution to the debate on city regions. It is vital that policymakers take into account the lessons learnt from Manchester if we are to move forward into a new era of localism.
Major British cities, such as Manchester, should be given more freedom and powers, according to a new report from Localis and Policy Exchange. The report concludes that the current centralised performance regime – resulting in ‘earned’ powers for cities – prevents local strategic aims being achieved.
Elderly people who pay £8,000 to join the Conservatives proposed residential care scheme may still have to pay annual top-ups, The Times has learnt.
As many as five million people struggle to get to their local Post Office, according to Government research. The report by the Department for Communities and Local Government found one in 10 households ? had problems accessing their local branch.
The term “local government”, as applied to Britain, must be one of the most misused in our language. Many of us are not governed locally. At best, we depend on a local administration to sweep streets, collect rubbish, provide social care, libraries, schools although education, arguably, is barely a local service any longer and maybe housing.
Gordon Browns guarantee to introduce a national care service looks set to blow a £250m hole in local authority budgets. The Department of Health has put the schemes annual cost at £670m. It will contribute £420m leaving councils to find £250m.