How Local Authorities Can Lead Smarter, More Inclusive Procurement
The 2025 Local Government Procurement Report ranks councils on SME, VCSE, and local spend, with strategies to boost social value in procurement.
Reform-controlled county agrees to back two unitary model
10/07/2025 Reform-controlled Derbyshire CC has agreed to back a two unitary model with a north south configuration. |
St Helens peer challenge expected to conclude council has 'transformed'
01/04/2025 St Helens MBC's corporate peer challenge is expected to conclude the council has been ‘transformed over the past five years'. |
Birmingham's post Oracle scrutiny portal 'should help to better understand risks'
20/03/2025 A new online information site for scrutiny teams at Birmingham CC should lead to a better understanding of risk after the Oracle IT scandal, councillor says. |
'Devil in the details' of welfare reform plans, says SIGOMA
19/03/2025 The ‘devil will be in the details' of the Government's proposed reforms to welfare, says SIGOMA leader. |
Leicestershire pushes for 'transparent' talks with districts on reorganisation
27/02/2025 District councils have ‘excluded' Leicestershire CC from meetings and discussions about future plans for reorganisation. |
State will operate 'more like a start-up'
10/12/2024 The launch of a £100m fund to pioneer public sector reform and deliver the Government's Plan for Change will see the state operate ‘more like a start-up', a minister has pledged. |
Budget: Chancellor promises to permanently lower business rates
30/10/2024 The chancellor prioritised delivering permanently lower business rates from 2026-27 in the Budget by lowering multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties. |
Regional growth initiatives likely to 'fall over next year' without UKSPF clarity
12/09/2024 Regional growth initiatives are likely to ‘fall over next year' unless the Government clarifies the future of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), a combined authority chief has warned. |
King's Speech: OBR handed beefed-up scrutiny role
17/07/2024 The Government has put fiscal stability in the form of a Budget Responsibility Bill at the heart of the King's Speech. |
Stronger Things: 'Go deeper to deal with the age of division'
04/06/2024 Using community power to tackle polarisation requires ‘going deeper and deeper until some of the falsehoods clear out’, New Local’s Stronger Things has heard. |
Dashboard compares healthy life expectancy across councils
10/04/2024 A data tool to compare healthy life expectancy across all councils in England has been launched by The Health Foundation. |
PAC: New housing continues to be built in high risk areas
17/01/2024 More than half of councils rarely or never inspect a new housing development to check compliance with flood risk planning conditions, new PAC report says. |
NCASC: Social care 'doing a good job' getting investment
01/12/2023 Those working in adult social care are ‘already doing a very good job at getting investment and commitments to reform’, government minister Helen Whately says. |
Town halls still battling cost hikes
24/11/2023 Councils are continuing to battle with the impact of cost increases on budgets despite consumer inflation falling, says leader of England’s county treasurers. |
Chiefs' new professional development framework launched
17/10/2023 The first version of a new professional development framework to keep local government chief executives ‘ahead of the game’ has been launched. |
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. |
Kensington & Chelsea launches standards drawn up with residents
28/09/2023 Kensington and Chelsea LBC has become the first council to publish service standards co-designed with residents as part of its continuing response to the Grenfell tragedy. |
Call for national mental health support team rollout
21/09/2023 A top children’s services director has called for the ‘very highly regarded’ mental health support teams (MHST) model to be rolled out across the country. |
Government rejects call for local net zero delivery duty
06/06/2023 The Government has rejected calls from the Liberal Democrats for local authorities to have a statutory duty to deliver net zero. |
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. |
