The finances of Aberdeen City Council are 'precarious', according to the public spending watchdog responsible for the audit of Scottish local authorities.
The legal framework for flood risk management is 'a mess', with gaps that make it hard to establish who is responsible for what, Sir Michael Pitt, who is carrying out a review of last summer's floods...
Local authorities are set to be given more powers to crack down on cowboy builders. At the same time, they will have to spend less time regulating firms that provide a good service.
Doctors and patients have cast doubts on the value of the government's extended Patient Choice scheme as ministers did their best to advertise its virtues in advance of an April 1 roll-out.
John Swinney has insisted that the Scottish government's local income tax plans are 'robust' and can be delivered, despite the flood of criticism that greeted the publication of his consultation...
Northern Ireland's 26 district councils are to merge into 11 new councils. A decision of the Northern Ireland Executive was opposed only by the two Ulster Unionist ministers after intensive...
The fire and rescue service must improve on its response to 999 calls, according to the country's most senior fire and rescue service expert, Sir Ken Knight.
The government wants us to have a big conversation about Britishness. But its proposals for probationary citizenship and symbolic ceremonies are deeply controversial with major implications for...
Over the next two years, nine new English unitary authorities will be created out of 44 existing district and county councils. Paul O'Brien discusses how to take the pain out of the process
The Learning and Skills Council will be dissolved and town halls will take control of the £7bn spent each year in colleges and sixth forms, ministers confirmed this week.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has launched a draft strategy on participatory budgeting, aiming to give members of the public more say in how public money is spent.
Scots would get their biggest tax cut in a generation under the Scottish National Party government's plans for a local income tax, Finance Secretary John Swinney has claimed.
Benefits reform is back centre stage, with new get-tough policies for a part-privatised jobs service. The welfare czar talks to Judy Hirst about breaking the dependency habit