Disadvantaged children continue to do less well at school, the education and children’s services watchdog has said, as it warned of a strong link between deprivation and quality of services
NHS boards in Scotland have made ‘significant progress’ in reducing waiting times for diagnostic services but there is still scope for better use of resources, a public spending watchdog...
Finance directors from Scotland’s 32 councils are unconvinced by the government’s plans for an alternative to PFI. David Scott reports from last week’s Public Finance dinner debate...
The government should move away from pilot schemes and short-term funding packages in its attempts to improve outcomes for vulnerable children, a research centre has said
A national advisory council is to be established to ensure the recommendations of a review of child and adolescent mental health services are implemented
Essex County Council has launched a tendering exercise that could result in ‘any or all’ of its services being contracted out to a private firm in a £5.4bn deal.
The government’s flagship practice-based commissioning policy, designed to let GPs shape local NHS provision, is ‘not operating effectively’ and has stalled completely in some areas...
Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority has more than tripled its borrowing limit to plug a financing gap that threatens to derail its £3bn Private Finance Initiative scheme
The UK government has been accused of trying to stop the process of Scottish self-government after refusing to make any commitment to increase the powers of the Holyrood Parliament
Government indecision over whether to leave Royal Mail in charge of the Post Office card account has left the fate of 3,000 post offices in the balance, senior MPs said this week
Losses from internal fraud and theft in Whitehall increased from £3.9m to over £4m in the past financial year despite a fall in the number of reported cases, a Treasury report has said