Election officers should remain local employees in a decentralised system, council chief executives have said
The University of Northampton launched a new national support service for the British social enterprise sector this week. Inspire2Enterprise service has been rolled out across the country after successfully being piloted in nine counties for the past six months.
Alex Thomson writes about the MJ’s Future Forum, the scale of the challenge faced by the sector over coming years and the quality of public sector leadership.
The Department for Education has published a slimmed-down set of guidance on child protection, which it says will replace central targets with greater local freedom.
Creating a combined authority covering the whole economic area of Greater Manchester will help the city to recover faster from recession. Grow your own way, a new report from think-tank Localis looks at local approaches to regeneration and includes a case study on Greater Manchester.
Housing minister Grant Shapps has announced £17 million of funding to help local groups with the cost of drawing up new orders which allow communities to grant permission for new building projects.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles has suggested councils could use new tax powers over empty and second homes to fund a £20 cut in council tax bills.
A group of 12 towns in England have been selected to run pilot schemes based on a government-commissioned report on improving high street vitality, the local government minister announced on Saturday.
It’s not an easy time for anyone right now, but spare a thought for council leaders. Faced with the biggest share of cuts in the 2010 spending review, local governments can see the writing on the wall.
The Local Government Association (LGA) has partnered with the think-tank Localis to launch a report arguing for a locally driven regeneration scheme. The report uses several case studies of successful regeneration schemes around the UK.