County Councils Network
Further delay to devolution drive
The Government’s repeatedly-delayed devolution framework will not be published until after Brexit, minister Jake Berry has admitted.
Corbyn launches attack on fair funding review
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has entered the debate over the fair funding review, claiming it ‘will make poorer areas even poorer’.
If empowered, councils can achieve much more on public health
Rather than seeking to downgrade the role of public health within local authorities we should be seeking to enhance it, says Nathan Elvery.
Chiefs hit back at 'rich list'
Chief executives have hit back at claims from the Taxpayers’ Alliance pressure group that more local authority staff are being paid six-figure salaries.
Council housebuilding figures highest in 17 years
Local authorities built 3,540 homes in the UK in 2017/18, the highest in 17 years. according to latest figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, but a total of 12,059 council homes were sold.
Councils defend council tax hikes
Councils have had ‘little choice’ but to raise council tax to protect local services, the Local Government Association has said, after the latest tax rises were revealed.
Change will be necessary to fix a broken funding system
Compromises along the way will be needed if the sector is to secure the implementation of the fair funding review, says Simon Edwards.
Asset sales help to reduce frontline cuts
Frontline services would have faced further cuts if councils had not sold assets, the County Councils’ Network (CCN) has said.
Rebooting the relationship
The transfer of public health responsibilities to councils has been a success, say sector experts interviewed for an independent report commissioned by the County Councils’ Network. But health stakeholders are not so positive.
Taking back some public health commissioning from councils would be a 'retrograde step'
With 'clear progress and tangible success' on public health delivery in local government, the suggestion that NHS England could take back some elements of public health commissioning would be a retrograde step, says David Williams.
Rebooting the relationship
Directors of public health believe the impact of the transfer of public health responsibilities to councils in 2013 has been a positive one in county areas, according to a new report commissioned by the County Councils' Network.
Counties in NHS grab warning
Councils have warned the NHS not to grab back responsibility for key public health services.
Counties urge Whitehall to ‘look again’ at social care funding formula
County councils have voiced concerns over the Government’s proposed formula for funding adult social care.
Mets feeling deprived over funding formula
Can the sector reach a consensus on the weighting given to deprivation in the fair funding formula? Ann McGauran examines the local government reaction
There is no perfect method
'Fair funding' looks to be provoking arguments similar to two bald men fighting over a comb, but reductions in spending estimates for some of the most deprived authorities are not a good look, says Ben Page.
Let's build on the positives of 2018
Director of the CCN Simon Edwards says that while the latest fair funding consultation is on a positive trajectory there is still a way to go to reset an opaque and unfair system.
Cracking the code
The complexity of the budgetary challenges faced by English councils has raised the alarm within the sector about its ability to resist future financial shocks. Will CIPFA's new resilience index help? Ann McGauran reports
Councils may have to hand back grant
Some of the extra £55m Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) announced by the chancellor in the Budget may have to be handed back by councils.
Economic value of social care tends to slip under the radar
The social care Green Paper must set out proposals that recognise the need to develop a motivated, skilled and properly remunerated workforce, says new chairman of the Association of County Chief Executives Anthony May
EXCLUSIVE: The Bucks stops here
Local government secretary James Brokenshire will only invite new unitary proposals in the case of another Northamptonshire CC-type collapse, The MJ understands.