Audit, Inspection and Safety

Michael King: Time for Ombudsman reform

06.08.18: Michael King first joined the Local Government Ombudsman service back in 2004 as deputy ombudsman. At the start of 2017, he was appointed as the local government and social care ombudsman (LGSCO). Here, he talks to PSE’s Daniel Broadley to...

One step closer to voter IDs at elections

19.07.18: Chloe Smith MP, Minister for the Constitution, evaluates the outcomes of the voter ID pilots conducted at the last local elections. We are one step closer to strengthening the integrity of our electoral system through requiring electors to...

Buckinghamshire split into two unitaries would be ‘retrograde’ for children’s services

12.07.18: Buckinghamshire County Council will retain its children’s services after a new government report found that, although there is still long a way to go, the services are on the right path to improve. This is a positive step as the repor...

LGO upholds 60% of investigations against councils

12.07.18: Article by Callum Wood of Public Sector Magazine The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) upheld almost 60% of the detailed investigations it dealt with last year, which is up from just over half the previous year. Its annu...

London council ‘negligent and in denial’ over tower blocks at risk of collapse

22.06.18: Two tower blocks in North London are at risk of collapse, with the area’s council announcing it wants to begin re-housing residents “immediately.” The Tangmere and Northolt blocks as part of the Broadwater Farm estate in H...

Family of Glasgow boy killed in cemetery awarded compensation by city council

19.06.18: Glasgow City Council will pay compensation to the family of a boy who died after a headstone fell on him. Ciaran Williamson was aged 8 when he was killed while playing with friends in Craigton Cemetery on Berrysknowe Road on 26 May 2015. ...

Grenfell, one year on

18.06.18: In the year since the Grenfell Tower disaster, the LGA has been working tirelessly to ramp up fire safety regulations and ban ‘desktop’ fire safety tests in order to prevent such a tragedy happening again, writes Lord Porter, chairma...

Tesco fined £1.6m in successful council prosecution

14.05.18: Tesco has pleaded guilty to a successful prosecution by Ealing Council and has now been forced to pay a £1.6m fine. The supermarket chain pleaded guilty to two offences from August 2014 when a Tesco driver reversed into a member of th...

The legacy of Grenfell

30.04.18: PSE’s Seamus McDonnell looks at the reactions of councils and the government to the Grenfell Tower fire, from the immediate aftermath to the most recent developments. In March this year, the Metropolitan Police announced that one of G...

Save 30% on your IT spend with SAM

04.04.18: Being able to optimise the purchase, deployment and maintenance of software within any organisation is already a difficult process. Add to that the utilisation and disposal of the applications across a public sector organisation, and s...

Yorkshire county council panned for ‘confusing and conflicting’ care errors

05.03.18: North Yorkshire County Council has been criticised by the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) for communication failures which led to two families being given “confusing and conflicting” information on the care of thei...

Troubled Cheshire East Council hit with ‘bullying and inappropriate behaviour’ claim

31.01.18: The standards and practices at a unitary authority in the north west have been questioned after a report found examples of “bullying and inappropriate behaviour” from staff and bosses. Cheshire East Council was subject to an LGA...

Two authorities blasted for ‘inadequate’ children’s services

29.01.18: Today’s latest round of Ofsted reports has exposed failing children’s services in two separate authorities. Sandwell MBC has been lambasted by inspectors despite plans from the government to have services for children and young...

Scandal-hit Rotherham council sees ‘impressive’ turnaround in children’s service

29.01.18: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council (MBC) has seen its children’s service reach a ‘good’ level for the first time since the revelations of tragic child sexual abuse unfolded in the town. Ofsted today announced an &ldquo...

County council to take lead after ‘systemic failures’ in Barnet children’s services

26.01.18: A report into Barnet Council’s children’s services has recommended that Essex County Council take control as a leadership partner, after it found “systemic failures.” The review was commissioned after an Ofsted repor...