Whitehall
Financial uncertainty forcing councils to award shorter contracts
The Government should offer subsidised loans to cash-strapped councils to encourage them to award longer contracts to organisations that support children with mental health difficulties, a think-tank has urged.
Finance concerns grow in wake of Grenfell
Council finance directors are growing increasingly concerned about the impact of the Grenfell Tower fire on their budgets.
Councils call for post-Brexit procurement reforms
Council leaders have called on the Government to ‘simplify’ the current rules on how local authorities buy goods and services once the UK has exited the EU.
Reading balances books but warns: ‘there’s no room for error’
Reading Council’s new boss has said the authority’s books are balanced until 2020 but there is ‘no room for things to go wrong’.
The age of austerity isn’t over yet
Those who think the Government’s change of rhetoric on public funding spells a bold end to years of austerity should guess again, warns Dan Corry.
Government accepts Prevent strategy criticism
The Home Office has praised a report that criticised public bodies’ failure to thwart the radicalisation of vulnerable youngsters before they turned to terrorism.
‘Wall of silence’ blocking county devo
Councils covering areas outside cities have been left frustrated after being met by a ‘wall of silence’ from the Government on devolution.
City study mulls over benefits of jobs relocation
Government plans to move highly-skilled civil servants from London are more likely to succeed if jobs are relocated to host cities with existing high-quality employment, a report by the Centre for Cities think-tank has found.
Council wins court battle days after Gove intervention
Sheffield City Council has won a court battle against people protesting about its tree-felling programme.
Power of attorney system 'deeply flawed'
One of Britain’s foremost experts on safeguarding the elderly has warned that the power of attorney system is deeply flawed.
Corbyn promises to tackle housing crisis
Jeremy Corbyn has promised that the next Labour government would tackle the housing crisis during a speech at a rally in Milton Keynes.
Grenfell taskforce attempts to address independence concerns
Ministers have stressed the independence of the Government-appointed team that will support Kensington & Chelsea RLBC’s (RBKC) long-term recovery plan following the Grenfell Tower fire.
MPs call for Universal Credit delay
Opposition MPs have urged ministers to postpone the Universal Credit rollout to avoid the risk of people being hit by potential payment delays at Christmas.
Rental boost revealed as homelessness rises
The Government has announced further plans to boost the private rental sector and tackle affordability in the market.
Council apologises for pollution figures tampering
Cheshire East Council has apologised after admitting its air quality figures were deliberately tampered with for three years.
Scale of overtime revealed by union
A third of social workers regularly work unpaid overtime in order to keep local authority services going, a new study by the GMB trade union has found.
White Van Man on . . . the summer holidays
So ministers have cleared off for their long summer holidays and good riddance to them.
Praying for time
Diary knows better than to join simmering rows about religion.
Uncertainty and a lack of DCLG capacity is hampering progress
Abdool Kara looks at the uncertainty facing local authorities and the depleting capacity in central government.
Appeal granted over ‘unlawful’ boycott of Israel
The Government has received permission to appeal a court ruling that found its attempt to prevent councils boycotting Israel through their pension schemes was ‘unlawful’.