Sir Michael Lyons this week denied that his proposed overhaul of town hall funding would initiate massive hikes in council taxes on expensive homes, and revealed that a long-term plan would accompany...
The Private Finance Initiative project to rebuild the National Physical Laboratory collapsed because neither government nor the contractor appreciated the scale of the challenges involved, MPs said...
Public bodies are paying almost three times the market price for IT skills because lengthy supply chains mean that rates are heavily 'marked up' before delivery, recruitment specialists have claimed.
The Scottish Executive has been forced to defend its controversial civil service relocation policy following a critical report by an influential committee of MSPs saying the scheme is 'flawed and...
GPs should be able to provide their patients with free social care services, even if their local authority has deemed them ineligible for such help, the Department of Health has said.
Local government trade unions have agreed to hold off further industrial action in their long-running dispute over pensions as they believe they are close to a deal, Public Finance has learnt.
The prime minister and chancellor this week backed a radical welfare overhaul that will hand over responsibility for millions of long-term benefit claimants and billions in public cash to private...
Thousands of female civil servants are poised to launch equal pay claims following the failure of departments to address glaring disparities in salaries legal challenges that could cost the...
Public sector managers are to be made more accountable for the advice they give to elected members, Tom McCabe, the Scottish finance minister, has disclosed.
Pre-school children are not meeting government-set learning goals because of variable early years teaching standards, education inspectors said this week.
Hospitals could fail the Healthcare Commission's annual health check if they do not treat elderly patients with dignity and give them adequate help with eating.
Unacceptable race inequalities persist in mental health services despite the injection of £16m of public funds committed to tackling the problem, campaigners said this week.
Departmental ministers should have more say over the direction of government policy, while measures must be introduced to improve transparency around planning, an influential committee has reported.
Senior hospital doctors believe that major NHS reforms, such as payment by results and Patient Choice, will fail to improve the service patients receive, according to a British Medical Association...
The government's failure to produce comprehensive estimates of the full cost of London's 2012 Olympics is 'a recipe for an open-ended cheque book', an influential MP has warned.
Local authorities are offsetting low council tax rises with increases in the fees they charge for care services ranging from 13% to 100%, Public Finance has learnt.
Town hall leaders have backed MPs' calls for more funding and financial powers to be devolved to councils to help strengthen major cities' transport infrastructure.
NHS watchers turning to the service's third-quarter financial report last week were bemused. Despite Department of Health claims that NHS finances were more transparent than ever, no fewer than three...
The government this week promised NHS unions a greater say in the development of policy after months of wrangling over pay, pensions and the influence of the private sector.
The government has shelved controversial plans to produce estimates of public sector productivity as part of an overhaul of national accounting, Public Finance has learnt.
Fire and rescue authorities have responded positively to the reform of the service but there has been no clear reduction in reducing the risks from fire, Audit Scotland has found.