London councils spend £30 million on refurbishment over two years

The BBC has a story about the amount spent by London councils on refurbishing their offices over the last two… Read more »

Sunderland Council targets the vulnerable in spending cuts

Labour-run Sunderland Council is choosing to target the vulnerable and cut front line services in applying its spending cuts. The… Read more »

Councils spend £1.66 million on new logos in the last three years

The Daily Mail reports asurvey by the Taxpayers Alliance into the cost for councils of getting new logos. Freedom of Information… Read more »

Should councils increase their charges?

"Councils pile on tax by stealth," says (£) the headline on the front page of The Sunday Times this morning…. Read more »

Haringey used bottled water from 14 different suppliers

Julia Ross, a former Director of Social Services who now runs the Pi Benchmark division on Care and Health, reports… Read more »

Where would Labour cut?

Liam Scott-Smith, Government Relations Manager at New Local Government Network and an Executive Member of Bright Blue, says Labour hypocrisy… Read more »

Baroness Thornton’s gross distortion of ConservativeHome

In a recent House of Lords debate on Local Government funding, the Labour peer Baroness Thornton said: I read on… Read more »

Has the north been harder hit in Council grant settlement?

The formula for how much money councils get from central government is pretty impenetrable. A big chunk is passed directly… Read more »

4.4% “spending power” cut to councils – has Eric gone soft?

So is that what all the fuss was about? Councils face a cut in their "spending power" next year of… Read more »

As Eric Pickles prepares to allocate budgets to councils, Gavin Barwell MP notes how some councils got cuts while others got plenty under Labour

Gavin Barwell is MP for Croydon Central. He blogs here. In his Emergency Budget in June, the Chancellor set out… Read more »

Redbridge residents demand Council Tax cut

Redbridge Council has been consulting residents on where the axe on spending its should fall by allowing interactive budget setting… Read more »

Flint gets her figures wrong – again

Interesting debate on Local Government funding in the House of Commons on Monday. The Shadow Communities Secretary Caroline Flint said:  "In… Read more »

Tories attack Labour-run Leicester Council for spending £7,000 on 30 different models and makes of pen

By Jonathan Isaby Another day and another example of the kind of public sector waste which will come to an… Read more »

Selby Council plans cutting staff to 14

When he was Environment Secretary Nicholas Ridley used to talk approvingly of a local council in the US which used… Read more »

Flint gets her figures wrong

As mentioned before I am rather a fan of Caroline Flint the Shadow Communities Secretary but she does seem too… Read more »