Whitehall departments are undermining devolution to town halls by attempting to introduce surreptitious targets for local services despite government promises to slash central diktats.
Welsh local authorities have a tough housing standard to meet and only one real way of paying for it: transferring their stock to an RSL. It's not a popular policy, especially for councils whose...
Welsh council leaders hit out at an 'inadequate' settlement for local government this week, warning that council tax rises and service cuts would be inevitable.
Wales has rejected the Blair-led notion that the private sector should be a major service provider. Andrew Davies, minister for finance and public service delivery, talks to Alex Klaushofer about...
Eradicating hospital infections is not just about intensive cleaning. The ways in which demanding targets have been reached might be a cause of the problem and amount to false economies. Noel...
More than 40% of benefit claimants who enter work are back on the dole within six months, auditors have reported, casting doubt on ministers' plans to get millions more people into sustainable...
Housing associations have leapt to the defence of a major government regeneration scheme after the National Audit Office questioned whether it represented value for money.
The Local Government Association has rejected a Conservative plan to force councils to hold referendums if they want approval for high council tax increases.
MPs have condemned the Department for Communities and Local Government as 'not up to the job' of managing the Thames Gateway regeneration project amid fears of another public spending disaster.
Plans to improve thousands of council homes in London and Southeast England could be further delayed by skills shortages ahead of the 2012 Olympics, ministers are being told.
Private contractors providing welfare services could be subjected to a ratings system similar to that used for councils and NHS trusts, under government plans to tackle unemployment and poverty.
The UK dumps more household waste into landfill than any other European Union country and faces onerous fines if it doesn't clean up its act, the Local Government Association has warned.
Delayed discharge from hospital is compromising the health and independence of vulnerable older people and damaging wider health service delivery, according to a hard-hitting report by the Wales...
Ways to cope with the economic and social implications of an ageing society are at last on the government's to-do list. Public Finance and Deloitte convened a round table of politicians and policy...
The Comprehensive Spending Review held no surprises with only small increases in budgets. But how does this match with the rising needs of vulnerable older people, asks Anne Williams
The forthcoming Comprehensive Area Assessment regime will evaluate public sector bodies' environmental sustainability, the Audit Commission confirmed last week.
Councils could stand to generate substantial financial surpluses by setting up local housing companies with developers and registered social landlords, it emerged this week.