Following multiple critical reviews of local audit arrangements, the UK government is poised to improve public oversight of English council finances to try to identify and address risks as they emerge. This article traces the growing realization that previous audit arrangements were ineffective...

Recession-driven low inflation and high spreads affect the cost of debt in project finance investments, increasing its real burden and so reducing private profits and bankability. This paper investigates the Keynesian impact of quantitative easing, which stimulates economic growth producing...

The global financial crisis had a major impact on the cost and availability of finance for infrastructure-based public-private partnerships (PPPs). In response, policy-makers have introduced models of 'credit-enhancement' that aim to reduce the risk faced by private investors and attract...

English sub-national governance is fragmented, embracing regions, city regions and local government. This complex pattern of sub-national provision has grown ever more varied, subject to ad hoc initiatives, with no overall rationale. There has been little political incentive to address the...

Partnerships, as a form of governance, involve state and non-state actors in networks which are increasingly being employed in the formulation and implementation of public policy. This paper focuses on the internal dynamics of local partnerships and offers insights into the interactions between...

In federal systems the courts are accorded the important role of policing the boundaries of the constitutionally specified powers given to the legislature and the executive. The devolution statutes enacted by the UK parliament have created a semi-federal system, in which the courts increasingly...