Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, T.D., last week published a White Paper to End Direct Provision and to establish a new International Protection Support Service for Ireland. The White Paper is examined in the following briefing with a clear focus on the local level and within that level, the leadership…
Many local governments are looking at ways to help address the shortage of affordable housing. This briefing explores options for local governments to increase the supply of affordable housing, and argues that a broad-based inclusionary zoning is likely to be the most effective mechanism.
We have summarised the key policy announcements for local government from today’s Budget, which largely focused on the steps the Government will take to aid recovery.
For the second year running the awarding of qualifications to 16 and 18 year olds will take place without formal examinations and assessments in the four UK jurisdictions. This briefing looks at the developing arrangements in England but also what is happening in Scotland and Wales.
The pandemic has highlighted various faults in the UK’s food systems, from the quality of free school meals and their provision over holidays to soaring food bank numbers. This briefing outlines some of the most recent issues and policies regarding food and poverty in Scotland, where food insecurity is more prevalent than in the rest…
The number of councils with arm’s length management organisations (ALMOs) is getting smaller each year. Just under 30 ALMOs remain, many helping to build homes and deliver services such as homelessness. Why do some councils in England retain ALMOs whilst others are reverting to direct management or other models?
Successive governments in Ireland have been seeking to underpin Irish or Gaeilge across the State since independence. As we mark the centenary of independence, however, Gaeilge, which has a very extensive lexicon and important cultural significance, remains vulnerable. In this briefing, we look at a recent innovative example of a local community, Iveragh which is…
John Comrie – Fellow of Certified Practicing Accountants Australasia – draws on his extensive experience working with local government on approaches to achieving financial sustainability, arguing that the sector’s reluctance to use debt at anything like the level it affordably could has consequences for service provision.
Whilst the Christmas Eve 2020 Trade and Cooperation Agreement outlines trade in goods and services arrangements with the EU, how this will impact on specific nations, regions, cities and districts needs to be investigated further and local policies determined accordingly. This briefing considers how that might be done.
As many of us pivot towards moving out of lockdown and the end of the pandemic, there is a lot of recovery-themed output from think tanks this month. However, there’s also a fair number of other topics covered, from housing and employment to education and health. The LGIU think tank review covers outputs from think…
