CIPFA welcomes stamp duty land tax changes for ALMOs 
CIPFA has welcomed a HM Treasury decision that removes a tax obstacle to more social housing. Treasury changes to Stamp Duty Land Tax will allow Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) - companies established by councils to manage housing stock - to develop and build new housing without paying this tax on prospective purchases. Ian Carruthers, CIPFA's Director of Policy and Technical said 'What might seem to be a very small change in the tax rules may well have a big impact on the provision of affordable housing. ALMOs currently manage over a million council homes and there is a great need to build more'.

Public Money and Management 
High-quality regulation (HQR) is flawed by competing assumptions hiding behind a common language, argue Martin Lodge and Kai Wegrich in the May issue of Public Money and Management. Other articles in this issue look at the continuing challenges of payment by results in the English NHS and a new model early warning system for local authorities in financial crisis.  

Improvement Network: LSP improvement tool 
Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) coordinators are invited to access a new and unique online tool, designed to aid LSP performance improvement. Read more about the LSP improvement tool and how to access it via the Improvement Network.

This week in Public Finance: Sticking to the day job 
The new mega-regulator for health and social care has a huge task ahead, licensing a wide range of providers and ensuring standards of care. It will need to avoid mission creep and stay focused, argues Anna Dixon. 

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