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...
Great Ormond Street hospital has gone public on its intention to establish a trading charity to circumvent the cap on private patient income for NHS foundation trusts.
The pledge to end the 'postcode lottery' in who gets free social care might not bear fruit because primary care trusts are ignoring new guidance from the Department of Health, Public Finance has...
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 government has done it again, rushing to set up new structures without waiting for the due process of law. This time it concerns Local Involvement Networks, which are set to replace NHS patient...
The government's move towards 'lighter-touch' regulation in adult social care creates new concerns, a senior inspector told delegates at the CIPFA social care finance conference on September 24.
The Blairite era of public service reform was seemingly declared dead at this year's Labour Party conference, held in Bournemouth on September 24 27, as the language of choice and markets was...
A single body should replace the 'overcrowded landscape' of organisations that audit, inspect and regulate public services in Scotland, an independent review has concluded.
Mental health used to be the NHS's Cinderella service. Now it gets more funding than any other clinical area and has modernised its methods. But could the controversial new mental health laws roll...
The British Medical Association has accused the CBI of self-interest after the business organisation claimed that GP services were 'outdated' and placed an unnecessary burden on employers.
'Hidden communities' of immigrants could be overlooked in forthcoming government grant settlements to local authorities, putting service provision at risk, urban councils have warned.
Councils are being urged to begin candid discussions with their residents about the imminent possibility of cuts in social care services following next month's Comprehensive Spending Review.
All nationally set targets should be scrapped under a new covenant between central and local government, the Liberal Democrat annual conference in Brighton agreed this week.
Twenty-five finalists have been selected by the judges of the Public Servants of the Year Awards to go forward to the high-profile ceremony in London next month.
No wonder the King's Fund had to take it upon themselves to commission Sir Derek Wanless's review of progress against his 2002 recommendations on funding the NHS.
Primary care trusts need to make more serious efforts to improve the quality and safety of patient treatment, according to a report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee.
The local government balance of funding issue is 'irrelevant' and it would be best if all the money were raised centrally and distributed to councils, Sir Peter Burt has told leading revenue...
Gordon Brown and David Cameron might make out they are miles apart when it comes to education policies. But former No 10 adviser Conor Ryan finds plenty of common ground
A rise in lone parent employment might have put the government on course to meet a crucial Public Service Agreement target, but 10% of the UK's population still lives in workless households.
