The total trading standards spend in Britain has drastically plummeted, undermining the ability of councils to undertake complex prosecutions.
That is the finding of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), which has discovered that total spend has dropped from £213 million to £124 million, equating to just £1.99 per person, per year.
The CTSI report also shows staffing has fallen by 53 per cent since 2009, leaving the CTSI to claim that the government is failing to adequately protect consumers and honest businesses.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s has claimed that too many young people in care are missing out on the support from independent mentors.
The 1989 Children's Act ensures that councils appoint volunteers to ‘visit, befriend and advise’ children in care if it is in their best interests. However, research carried out by the charity has shown that only three per cent of looked-after children were matched with a mentor.

West Devon Borough Council is close to transferring all services into a company which would have the ability to trade its services.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has defended highly paid public health roles, after a study by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) claimed 105 public health employees working in local government earned over £100,000 in remuneration last year.

A new report by Policy Exchange has suggested that relocating 25,000 London-based civil servants to local authorities and city regions would boost productivity and innovation in the delivery of public service.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has urged councils to increase the number of free condoms they offer to young people, gay men and those most at risk of catching sexually transmitted infections (STI).

The Local Government Association (LGA) has called on the government to make the national minimum standard of broadband speed a law, after Whitehall pledged to give citizens the legal right to access a minimum download speed of 10Mbps by 2020.

Nottingham City Council is considering a proposal to ban a march by the English Defence League (EDL), following concerns the march could pose risks to ‘children and families in the city centre’.

In a letter to the government, a coalition of 15 disability charities has called for more certainty over the availability of future funding for supported housing.

A new survey by technology and transformation company Squiz has suggested that over half of young people believe they would be more likely to vote in future elections if they could do so online.