Posted on August 13th, 2010 by Alice Hood
The Audit Commission will be scrapped, Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles announced this afternoon. The Commission is an independent watchdog charged with auditing and supporting local councils to ensure that they deliver effective, value for money services. In a move set to raise plenty of questions (and eyebrows) the audit functions of the Commission will be [...]
Filed under: Cuts Watch | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 12th, 2010 by Alice Hood
One early indication of the impact of the Building Schools for the Future cuts cropped up in yesterday’s unemployment stats: an 11.5% increase in unemployment among architects over the past month. This is the first rise in unemployment in the profession for ten months after levels peaked in August 2009, reports journal BD.
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Education, Economics, Labour market | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 11th, 2010 by Alice Hood
Local Government Chronicle reports (subscription required) that Nottinghamshire County Council is looking to cut up for a quarter of its workforce over the next three years.
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Regions, Cuts Watch: Social care | 1 Comment »
Posted on August 4th, 2010 by Alice Hood
Local transport outside London is likely to face massive cuts in the spending review, according to a report published today by transport group pteg.
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Regions, Cuts Watch: Transport, Economics, Regional policy, Transport | No Comments »
Posted on August 3rd, 2010 by Alice Hood
Today the TUC published our response to the first phase of the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission, arguing that public service pensions are affordable and sustainable, contrary to the scaremongering of some commentators. Former Labour Business Secretary John Hutton has been appointed to head up a one-man Commission (no relation to the IoD’s so-called Independent Commission, [...]
Filed under: Pensions, Public services | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 18th, 2010 by Alice Hood
The future of the major British Film Institute project on London’s Southbank is threatened by the withdrawal of £45 million of government funding, as Richard wrote yesterday. As architect’s journal BD reports, the international competition for the design of the centre was launched earlier this year, and a great deal of work has already been done on the project.
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Culture | Comments Off
Posted on June 11th, 2010 by Alice Hood
The leader of Durham County Council, Simon Henig, has suggested that local authority budget cuts are already disproportionately hitting the north. This is because funding streams like Area Based Grants are focussed on need – i.e. deprived communities, of which the north has a relatively higher share.
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Regions, Cuts Watch: Transport, Cuts Watch: Welfare, Regional policy, Transport | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 11th, 2010 by Alice Hood
In the detail of this year’s local government cuts announced by CLG yesterday, spending on road safety has been hard hit, with £17.2 million going from the capital grant for local authority road safety work and £20.6 million from the road safety revenue grant.
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Transport, Transport | Comments Off
Posted on June 8th, 2010 by Alice Hood
Some new analysis from the Campaign for Better Transport finds that local transport schemes worth a total of £5.2bn are under review, and even a 10% reduction in the budget for local transport would mean £2bn worth of projects would be cut in the English regions. CBT’s figures, reported in more detail in regeneration magazine New Start, predict that it [...]
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Regions, Cuts Watch: Transport, Regional policy, Transport | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 7th, 2010 by Alice Hood
The railways look set to be hit by cuts to planned rolling stock improvements, plus fare rises and a looming row over bonuses. A National Audit Office report concluded that Department for Transport plans “…would not deliver as much extra capacity as originally specified, although the taxpayer would have provided nearly as much financial support [...]
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Posted on May 24th, 2010 by Alice Hood
The cuts package announced this morning includes £683m from this year’s Department for Transport budget. PA are reporting that this will include a £100m cut in Network Rail spending, £108m from the Transport for London budget (which could hit London Underground upgrades), a £309m reduction in DfT grants to local authorities and deferral of some local road investment [...]
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Transport, Transport | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 24th, 2010 by Alice Hood
In the stack of papers published alongside today’s Budget was one on the Strategy for National Infrastructure. It might not sound exactly thrilling, but this document could lay the foundations for a more coherent approach to the infrastructure which supports the UK economy than we have seen for decades. Projected demand for infrastructure investment is [...]
Filed under: Budget | Comments Off
