Beyond the Leisure Centre: How to make the case for active wellbeing investment
This special report from LocalGov and Alliance Leisure makes the case for repositioning council leisure provision as prevention infrastructure.
London Mayor launches £12m AI fund for small businesses
08/06/2026 Mayor Sadiq Khan has unveiled a £12m programme to help London's small businesses adopt artificial intelligence (AI), announced today at London Tech Week. |
Policymakers urged to scrutinise AI productivity claims
11/05/2026 Claims AI will deliver significant productivity gains in public sector are shaping spending decisions, but evidence underpinning them is weak, report says. |
Employer-led vanguards to tackle workplace ill-health
06/11/2025 Employer-led vanguards including mayoral combined authorities will drive forward Government plans to get people with ill-health and disabilities back to work. |
South Cambs permanently adopts four-day week
18/07/2025 South Cambridgeshire District Council has voted to become the first council in the UK to permanently adopt a four-day week. |
London’s high streets get £21m regeneration boost
28/02/2025 London’s high streets are to benefit from £21m additional funding this year aimed at regenerating the capital’s high streets. |
Index puts York top for productivity
18/10/2024 York City Council has topped a list of the top ten most productive top tier councils in England, according to calculations by consultancy IMPOWER. |
McMahon drops diversity scrutiny
25/09/2024 The new Government will not be asking councils for more information on their diversity spending, signalling a shift from the previous regime. |
'Too costly to answer our own questions'
18/07/2024 Whitehall has claimed it would be too costly to answer the same questions councils have been asked ahead of tomorrow’s productivity plans deadline. |
Hoare: We still want productivity plans
30/05/2024 Local government minister Simon Hoare has insisted he still wants councils to draw up unpopular productivity plans despite the election, The MJ understands. |
Reform required to unleash preventative approach, says report
21/05/2024 Central government reforms are needed to help innovation in preventative services at a local level, a report has found. |
Councils hit with new productivity demands
19/04/2024 Ministers demand councils improve productivity in the same week as the Government publishes a report revealing Whitehall makes the sector less efficient. |
Productivity plans: more than just reducing expenditure
20/02/2024 Owen Garling, the Knowledge Transfer Facilitator at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, explains how the public sector can boost its productivity levels. |
REVEALED: Productivity plan demands toothless
15/02/2024 Councils have been told Whitehall will be unable to force them to submit productivity plans. |
Gove pledges to halt council four-day weeks
02/10/2023 Michael Gove has pledged to stop local authorities from implementing a four-day week and said councils could face budget cuts if they adopt one. |
Optimism about Greater Manchester’s economy ‘badly misplaced’
21/09/2023 Greater Manchester should expand its city centre, improve connectivity, and build 126,000 more homes to boost its productivity, the Resolution Foundation says. |
Minister criticises council’s four-day week trial
03/07/2023 South Cambridgeshire DC has requested a meeting with local government minister Lee Rowley after receiving a letter urging it to stop the four-day week trial. |
Boosting the wellbeing of public sector employees
06/06/2023 Sick days are damaging public sector productivity. Alun Baker, GoodShape, looks at how to boost employee wellbeing. |
MP hits out at council's proposals to extend four-day trial
15/05/2023 A Conservative MP hit out at proposals by a council to approve an extension to a four-day week after a trial found improvements to productivity and wellbeing. |
Halving regional productivity gap would boost economy by £83bn
26/11/2019 The UK economy could be boosted by £83bn per year if regions with below average productivity could close just half of their shortfall, according to a new report. |
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Councils save £100m through sector-led improvements
20/08/2019 Councils have saved more than £100m in the past year by using the Local Government Association’s sector-led improvement (SLI) offer. |
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Going the extra mile
08/08/2019 Paul Doe explains how local authorities can deliver value to citizens beyond connectivity. |
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Digital leadership and social value ecosystems
02/08/2019 Philip Baulch explores the role of the digital leader in driving culture change. |
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Harnessing the power of place can lead to better pay
17/05/2019 Douglas White explains why the Living Wage Places movement is gaining traction across the country. |
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Think tank calls for creation of a British Investment Bank
15/05/2019 An investment bank should be set up to 'kick start a productivity revolution' after Brexit, according to a local government think tank. |
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UK cities have 'more than recovered', says latest index
01/11/2018 Improving skills levels and new business formation have been the key long-term drivers of city growth since the financial crisis, according to analysts. |
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Inequality holding back growth potential of places warns report
19/04/2018 Inequality is holding back the full growth potential of places, according to the results of the annual Vibrant Economy Index. |
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Tough decisions needed to protect commercial heart of cities
11/04/2018 As urban centres change transform, the priority should be on protecting and expanding the commercial space in city centres, rather than encouraging more residential development, argues Andrew Carter. |
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Rural counties suffer from low broadband speeds
06/04/2018 A new study has revealed that over two-thirds of England’s counties have lower than average broadband speeds. |
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Industrial strategy neglecting fortunes of ‘left-behind’ areas, think tank warns
26/03/2018 The Government’s decision to focus its industrial strategy on the most advanced areas of England risks neglecting the economic fortunes of the bulk of the country, think tank warns. |
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The power of automated workflows
26/02/2018 Nick Parkes calls on councils to adopt automated workflow software to increase productivity. |
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Dusting off your in-house project management framework
07/02/2018 Sarah Wilson explains the benefits of councils having a standard approach to project management. |
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Report published into improving value of public spending
20/11/2017 A new 'public value framework' is the central recommendation of a report aiming to deliver better value for money for publicly-funded services. |
