Think-tank
Future Forum: Call for relational public services
A relational approach can help councils connect with communities and improve services, according to a new report.
Levelling up must go beyond 'big ticket' projects
Efforts to level up communities must be felt at a local level for the policy to be viewed as a success by the public, politicians have been told.
Call to end 'excessively punitive sanctions' on benefits
A think-tank has warned that sanctions on benefit claimants are almost back to pre-pandemic levels – despite the cost of living crisis.
Levelling up plans will fail, IfG report claims
The Government’s plans for levelling up will not cut regional inequality, a report from the influential Institute for Government (IfG) has claimed.
Think-tank to 'look under the bonnet’ of funding allocations
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) will scrutinise how government spending decisions impact on the levelling up agenda.
Warnings over unmet care needs
Social care services could be put under further pressure due to unmet needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research.
Government defends care reform funding
The director general for adult social care said the £5.4bn sum was a ‘building block'.
Putting glam in Instagram
You good folk of local government love a bit of chat about commissions, White Papers and budgets.
Councils need power and financial freedom to tackle housing, says think-tank
Councils and communities need more powers and financial freedoms to drive new development and resolve the housing crisis, a think-tank has argued.
Sector ‘right to be concerned’ about levelling up
Local government should be wary of the contents of the levelling up White Paper, a think-tank has warned.
Devolve powers to level up
The panel brought together by the Centre for Progressive Policy think-tank agreed local government needed more powers to make the agenda a success.
Call for ground-up approach to carbon reduction
The Government must ‘match the ambition of communities’ on reducing carbon emissions, a think-tank has said.
Retrofitting risks ‘dangerous divide’
Councils should have a role to play in avoiding widening regional inequalities when retrofitting housing, according to a new report today.
Future Forum: Call to replace transactional with relational
A forthcoming report by the Demos think-tank advocates moving from ‘transactional’ to ‘relational’ public services.
Government ‘serious about levelling up’
New ministerial arrivals at the renamed Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) show a renewed commitment to its flagship policy, a report has said.
Levelling up 'must start with councils'
A panel of experts has agreed council funding is key to addressing regional inequalities.
IPPR calls for new ‘proportional’ property charge to replace council tax
The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) has called for a new ‘proportional’ property tax to replace the ‘unfair and outdated’ council tax.
Districts hit back at think tank planning proposals
District councils have hit back at a think-tank’s call for the Government to transfer planning powers up to a ‘new, strategic geography’.
Bridging the great divide
What can be done to reduce the digital divide? Erica Roscoe looks at recent research centred on England’s North East.
Councils ‘resistant’ to repurposing empty commercial space
A think-tank has accused local authorities of being ‘resistant’ to measures that could see empty retail spaces repurposed for housing.