Council chiefs and business leaders have teamed up to lobby the Government and the European Union (EU) to reform European procurement rules, The MJ can reveal.
Alex Thomson, chief executive at Localis, argues that councils should be given a real incentive to pursue economic growth in light of recent figures showing regional disparities in business rates yields.
The proportion of homes in the sector which are empty has fallen, according to a survey published by the Homes and Communities Agency today.
Ministers have halved local governments spending transparency threshold from all items worth more than £500 to all transactions above £250 and warned that authorities which needlessly redact information face future scrutiny.
The government is set to announce plans to boost the house building market next month after an anticipated stimulus failed to materialise in July.
Business acumen and entrepreneurship are ‘flourishing’ in local government, according to new research from the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE).
Plans to assess the cost to councils of the government’s transparency agenda are not yet underway, although the LGA has pledged they soon will be.
Localis points out that local authorities are becoming more entrepreneurial at a time of unprecedented financial challenge, as the FT investigates how councils are increasingly looking towards corporate sponsorship for income.
Senior figures in local government have welcomed the extent to which councils are to be involved in welfare reform.
Ministers have issued a guide to the new standards regime following confusion over whether sitting councillors would have to register their interests.