PAC
£5.2bn and counting
The Local Government Association (LGA) will argue the sector faces a £5.2bn funding gap in 2020/21 despite believing the figure is an underestimate, The MJ understands.
Learning lessons from LEPs
Aileen Murphie examines the role, progress and development of local enterprise partnerships from the eyes of the National Audit Office.
Cash to be held back from LEPs unless stalemate broken
Boris Johnson’s new ministers will be tasked with ending the stalemate on overlapping local enterprise partnerships (LEP) after a crunch meeting failed to secure a breakthrough.
PAC: Government should intervene over local plans
The Government should use its ‘powers to intervene’ to ensure councils without local plans make them an urgent priority.
Cost of cladding replacement fund could rise to £330m
The cost of removing and replacing unsafe cladding on privately owned high-rise buildings could rise to as much as £330m, it has emerged.
Dawes: Ministry could have done more responding to Grenfell
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) top official has admitted the department ‘could have done more’ in response to the Grenfell Tower fire.
Dawes renews commercialisation warnings
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s (MHCLG) top civil servant has renewed warnings about tougher Whitehall action to prevent risky commercial ventures by councils.
Council governance systems ‘inadequate’ for austerity era
The Government has not done enough to ensure that governance systems in local authorities are suitable for an ‘era of financial pressure and rapid change,' MPs have warned.
MPs criticise children's social care progress
MPs have accused the Department for Education (DfE) of still not doing enough to make the quality or finances of children’s social care sustainable.
Government brushes off Kara criticism
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has brushed off criticism from a top auditor.
Campaigners press for audit legislation review
Campaigners have pressed for review of the five-year-old Local Audit and Accountability Act to ensure it works ‘in the interest of local citizens’.
Spending report attacks 'unambitious' ministry
Marsham Street has ‘an unacceptable lack of ambition’ for local government – with no aspiration for improving finances beyond merely ‘coping’, according to a scathing Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report.
MHCLG rejects performance call
Marsham Street has rejected MPs’ call to publish a regular breakdown of council performance across a range of services.
Auditors launch governance and accountability inquiry
Whitehall’s watchdog has launched an investigation into local government governance and accountability that will be delivered to MPs next year.
LEPs told to improve ahead of EU funding changes
Fresh concerns have emerged about local enterprise partnerships (LEP) as the Government considers whether to use them to funnel UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) cash.
Whitehall offers three-year IFRS 9 override
The Government has proposed introducing a three-year statutory override of new rules that change the way councils treat investments in their final accounts.
MHCLG to consider financial sustainability ahead of Spending Review
Marsham Street will embed its local authority sustainability tool in its preparations for next year’s Spending Review.
Simon Stevens outlines 'opportunity to review' Better Care Fund
The social care green paper and NHS’ 10-year plan provides an ‘opportunity to review’ the Better Care Fund (BCF), NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens has suggested.
Hillier laments Whitehall cost shunting
An influential MP has raised concerns about Whitehall cost shunting.
MHCLG will not recover £36m overpayments
Millions of pounds overpaid to local authorities by the Government will not be recovered, Marsham Street has confirmed.