Councils can drive down costs and improve the quality of their services by increasing their use of competition and market mechanisms, according to the Audit Commission.
There are big ambitions for the Comprehensive Area Assessment: for it to judge how well councils are serving their communities, and for it to be a more nimble form of inspection than its predecessor...
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 Public and Commercial Services union has attacked Prime Minister Gordon Brown's creation of a Border Agency to oversee security at ports and airports.
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...
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 timing could hardly have been worse. Job creation is the Northern Ireland Executive's top priority, Finance Minister Peter Robinson announced in his Budget.
The Highways Agency must rely less on external consultants, as 'poor commercial acumen' is leading to projects going massively over budget, MPs have said.
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...
Northern Ireland's first Budget since the restoration of devolution has seen a big increase in economic development spending at the expense of social housing.
There is a rich stream of 'untapped' funding from the private sector that could be used to improve Britain's transport infrastructure, ministers have said.
The government wants neighbourhoods and communities to run more services. But with an eye-wateringly tight local government financial settlement, how will this be funded? Peter Hetherington...
Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears is under pressure to reject a proposed overhaul of council services in the Northwest, after auditors representing one of the nine bids for unitary status...
The Comprehensive Spending Review is imminent but Chief Secretary to the Treasury Andy Burnham still has some juggling to do not least to find the funding for the PM's new plans for public services...
The grumblings from public sector trade unions are growing louder as Gordon Brown prepares for his first Labour Party conference as prime minister next week. But the strike threats over the pay rise...
The Comprehensive Spending Review offers the government the chance to grasp the nettle of railway investment and finally set out a long-term transport strategy. It won't come a moment too soon
English cities could raise more than £10bn in extra finance if they were allowed to raise a supplementary business rate, according to research by Centre for Cities.
There has been one gaping hole in Labour's devolution success: the English regions. RDAs and non-elected assemblies have not lived up to expectations and the new PM is looking to give more powers to...
Housing is back at the top of the political agenda, with a green paper promising to solve the affordable housing crisis. But how is the new prime minister going to square a return to social rented...
