Councils click into the future of planning
In town halls across the country, planning officers are racing to update their Local Plans — but this time, the process looks very different.
Horsham challenges local plan decision
23/04/2025 Horsham District Council has complained to the planning inspectorate after its local plan was rejected. |
Leicester takes issue with watchdog's criticism
31/01/2025 Leicester City Council has said a newly-published Ofsted report ‘does not accurately reflect' its children's services. |
‘Serious failings’ in two councils’ social housing standards
16/01/2025 The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has identified serious failings following inspections at Newcastle and Nottingham city councils. |
Regulator to check councils’ asbestos control
06/12/2024 The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is set to inspect hundreds of council buildings to check the risk of asbestos is being properly managed. |
Government parachutes in envoys to oversee Tower Hamlets LBC
12/11/2024 Government envoys will oversee the management of Tower Hamlets LBC after inspectors found a ‘toxic' environment was stopping the council ‘moving forward'. |
Windsor and Maidenhead’s social care must improve, watchdog says
08/11/2024 England’s adult social care regulator has found that services provided by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council require improvement. |
Tower Hamlets begins inspection fightback
26/09/2024 Best Value inspectors sent into Tower Hamlets LBC have been personally threatened with legal action by the council, The MJ understands. |
Call to scrap single-word ratings in adult social care
10/09/2024 The Local Government Association (LGA) has called for the scrapping of single-word ratings in assessments of adult social care services. |
Council told to tackle safeguarding backlog
14/06/2024 A Local Government Association peer challenge urged Cumberland Council to take immediate action on a ‘significant’ safeguarding backlog. |
EXCLUSIVE: Tower Hamlets Best Value Inspection extended
28/05/2024 The Best Value Inspection (BVI) team at Tower Hamlets LBC has extended its work to include the council’s oversight of the General Election. |
Ofsted rates Havering's children's services inadequate
16/02/2024 Havering LBC’s children’s services have been rated inadequate by Government regulator Ofsted after a two-week on-site inspection. |
New inspections require ‘significant’ work, pilot councils say
01/12/2023 Councils have reported spending 'a huge amount of time and energy' preparing for and undergoing the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) new adult social care assessments. |
Concern over hotel use for care leavers
02/11/2023 Too many care leavers live in hotels or other unsuitable accommodation in Devon but oversight at the county council has improved, Ofsted has found. |
One in 10 takeaways fail food standards inspections
30/05/2023 Councils should be enabled to spend more time ensuring food standards are maintained, study says as one in 10 takeaways are found to have failed inspections. |
Head teacher’s death prompts call for Ofsted inspection pause
21/03/2023 Education unions have called for Ofsted inspections to be paused following the death of a head teacher who was waiting for a report on her school. |
Commissioner warns children's services could be removed from Sefton
07/02/2023 A Government-appointed commissioner has warned Sefton Council’s children’s services are still in ‘severe difficulties’ and could be removed from local control. |
Sector given role in NHS plan
31/01/2023 Local government will join an ‘expert group’ with the community sector and care providers to ‘build adult social care capacity’ as part of a new NHS plan. |
CQC delays new care inspections
21/12/2022 The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced it is to delay the introduction of its new adult care assessments. |
New £20m fund to stop rogue landlords from exploiting supported housing system
14/11/2022 Councils are being given access to a £20m government fund to tackle landlords who exploit the supported housing system at the expense of vulnerable residents. |
Consultation for new SEND inspection framework launched
14/06/2022 Ofsted and the CQC have today launched a consultation on a new draft framework for inspecting local provision for children and young people with SEND. |
Councils urged to improve record-keeping of private housing complaints
10/02/2022 Councils have been urged to properly record complaints about the private rented sector after campaigners found over half are failing to accurately do so. |
Ofsted to inspect all schools by summer 2025
17/11/2021 All schools and colleges will be inspected by Ofsted by summer 2025 to determine how education is recovering from the pandemic. |
Council breaches Home Standard after missing safety inspections
28/10/2021 Norwich City Council failed to carry out inspections relating to fire, electrical, asbestos and water safety, causing the potential for 'serious detriment to tenants'. |
Police criticised for handling of child abuse cases
01/09/2021 Police criticised for delaying alerting children’s social care when they have found children living in houses where they might be vulnerable to abuse. |
SEND children being left behind by council
31/08/2021 Children with special educational needs are being left behind by council services across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, inspectors have found. |
Expansion of scheme assessing firm's COVID-19 safety measures
13/04/2021 An accreditation scheme assessing COVID-19 safety measures in London’s pubs, restaurants, gyms, hairdressers and shops has been extended following a successful pilot. |
Making self-certification a dirty word
19/01/2021 Deborah Heather urges local authorities to ensure the tourism industry uses enforceable and accountable accreditation schemes. |
Liverpool to undergo best value inspection
17/12/2020 Liverpool City Council will undergo an inspection of whether it is complying with its best value duty after the arrest of its mayor. |
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Union calls for Government to bring back spot safety inspections
26/05/2020 Local authorities should be allowed to carry out unannounced inspections of workplaces most at risk of spreading coronavirus, according to a trade union. |
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Social care inspections halted to focus on the ‘global health emergency’
17/03/2020 The social care regulator in England has announced it will be stopping all inspections in order to focus on supporting providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. |
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Plans for ‘universal’ school inspections launched
10/01/2020 Ofsted will visit all schools judged to be outstanding within the next five academic years, the Government has announced. |
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Labour pledges to scrap ‘unfit for purpose’ Ofsted
23/09/2019 Labour has vowed to scrap Ofsted and replace it with regular ‘health checks’ led by local government. |
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Council chiefs welcome move to ‘modernise’ housing inspection system
12/07/2019 Local government leaders have welcomed a move to review the system for inspecting private sector housing. |
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'Slow progress' two years after inadequate judgement
24/05/2019 Gloucestershire CC is making ‘slow progress’ in improving its services for its children and young people two years after it was judged inadequate, Ofsted has found. |
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Suffolk CC’s children’s services awarded ‘outstanding’
22/05/2019 Ofsted inspectors have awarded children’s services at Suffolk County Council the top grade of ‘outstanding'. |
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New school inspections framework to discourage ‘teaching to the test’
14/05/2019 Teachers have welcomed Ofsted's new inspection framework which pledges to focus on curriculum, behaviour and development rather than on test results. |
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Ofsted to retain grading system in new inspection framework
30/04/2019 Ofsted has decided to retain its current 4-point grading system when it launches its new inspection framework in September. |
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Fire safety failures revealed in care homes
05/02/2019 Serious fire safety failures have been found in nearly 100 care homes across London, the capital’s fire brigade have said. |
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Education watchdog calls time on ‘teaching to the test'
16/01/2019 Ofsted says it is moving away from its focus on performance data as the watchdog launches a consultation on proposals for changes to its inspection framework. |
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Top 10 most productive councils revealed
22/11/2018 ‘Fetishising failure’ distracts increasingly scarce management time away from improving outcomes, according to a new report naming the top 10 most productive councils in England. |
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Health and care inspection regime leaves ‘room for improvement’
27/09/2018 The new health and care inspection regime is a ‘significant improvement’ on the previous system, but there is room for improvement, concludes landmark report. |
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Birmingham ‘lacks’ leadership on SEND issues
11/09/2018 Birmingham City Council has said it is ‘very disappointed’ by the results of a special educational needs and disabilities inspection and said it would take urgent action to make ‘significant improvements’. |
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Ofsted ‘fig leaf’ for Whitehall failures on school standards
07/09/2018 Ofsted is not providing the level of independent assurance about the quality of education that schools and parents need, MPs warn. |
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Government pledges action on unsafe fire doors
01/08/2018 Fire doors from five suppliers have failed to meet minimum safety standards, according to government inspectors. |
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Watchdog names worse areas for food hygiene
25/06/2018 Many councils are struggling to meet their food hygiene responsibilities, according to new research by consumer watchdog Which?. |
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Wakefield prepare for full Ofsted inspection
05/06/2018 Ofsted will carry out a full inspection of Wakefield’s children’s services after they were rated ‘requiring improvement’ two years ago. |
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Javid plans intervention into crisis-hit Northants
27/03/2018 Local government secretary Sajid Javid has bowed to the inevitable and outlined plans for commissioners to run Northamptonshire CC amid concerns over the county’s sustainability. |
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Councils to share £1m to identify unsafe cladding on private bildings
01/03/2018 Local authorities are to share £1m to help then identify private high-rise buildings that may be clad in unsafe building materials. |
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Nearly 1,000 children's centres not inspected for five years
22/01/2018 The Government has been accused of dragging its feet over inspections of children's centres, which have been frozen since 2015. |
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Care home providers struggling with ‘harsh reality’ of care crisis
18/01/2018 Half of England’s large care home providers have at least one in four failing homes in their network, according to a consumer watchdog. |
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Inspectors find improvements in Birmingham's children's services
20/10/2017 Birmingham City Council is continuing to make progress with improving the quality of social work, inspectors have announced. |
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Future of adult social care is 'precarious’ warns report
10/10/2017 The majority of adult social care services have been rated as good, but regulators have warned the future quality of services are ‘precarious’. |
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Public believes housing inspections should be in hands of council, survey reveals
25/09/2017 The majority of the public believes housing safety inspections should be in the hands of local councils, survey reveals. |
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Inspections to assess local protection of ‘at risk’ children announced
19/04/2017 A new set of inspections to examine how local partner agencies - including local authorities - are working together to protect children at risk of neglect will begin next month. |
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Ofsted announces new social care common inspection framework
22/02/2017 Ofsted today announced a new social care common inspection framework (SCCIF) will take effect this April in order to create a more consistent inspections regime. |
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Councils 'appalled' over proposed food safety reforms
31/10/2016 Welsh councils have warned that handing over the regulation of food safety to producers would put the public at risk. |
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Inspections launched into councils’ approach to domestic abuse
10/08/2016 New inspections will investigate how well local partners, including councils, work together to protect children living with domestic abuse. |
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Decline in regulation is 'social murder', report claims
03/05/2016 An average business can now expect a local authority health and safety inspection only once in every 20 years, according to a report into the decline of regulation. |
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Display of hygiene ratings should be compulsory for food outlets, LGA says
03/05/2016 All food premises should be forced to display a hygiene rating so the public can better assess the quality and safety of the establishment before entering, councils say. |
