Vocational training for school children should be delivered in partnership with local businesses, which are then exempted from their rates. This would boost youngsters' skills and also benefit small...
The relationship between citizen and government will have to undergo a radical shift if future challenges are to be met, two of Tony Blair's former advisers warned this week.
NHS reform minister Andy Burnham used his first speech since Prime Minister Tony Blair's resignation to strike a more conciliatory tone towards beleaguered NHS staff.
Central government is planning a drive to expand the amount of social housing. So where will this leave traditional housing associations? Caroline Shah looks at one option transferring the entire...
Premier-in-waiting Gordon Brown has promised a big shift in 'the way we govern'. So what will this mean in practice for the public sector? James Blitz predicts less spin and more focus on domestic...
The Lyons report suggested a number of ways forward for local government finance. From abolishing capping to localising the business rate, councils must be prepared to seize the initiative and the...
It's the public services, stupid. As Ireland's voters prepare for a general election, the focus is on problems in the country's huge state sector. The rival parties all have their own solutions,...
Rationing of NHS services is 'inevitable' and with us now, but in future it must be done in a more systematic, transparent and equitable way, the BMA declared this week.
Hundreds of town halls have been left struggling with paperwork after the new online registration system for births and deaths was withdrawn following technical failures.
More than a quarter of home care agencies still do not meet the national minimum standards on stewardship of clients' funds, the Commission for Social Care Inspection has found.
The government's initial response to Sir Michael Lyons' report might have seemed muted, but the small print tells a different story. Ministers have not only accepted the core thesis, they have taken...
The new chief executive of London Councils will be watching out not only for his members but for the capital's less affluent citizens, too, he tells Vivienne Russell
The Department for Constitutional Affairs is urging the Law Lords to avoid making registered social landlords and foster carers subject to the Human Rights Act, Public Finance has learned.
Payment by results is here to stay. But now ministers are consulting on the best way to 'unbundle' the tariff-based system. Noel Plumridge braves the details
A council tenancy used to mean a home for life. But all that's set to change, as the government takes steps to break the link between social housing and welfare dependency.
Personalisation is the latest buzzword in the government's public service policy review. But putting the focus on the customer as user rather than as a taxpayer just sidesteps many of the difficult...
England's local authorities lack the expertise to implement crucial government reforms, cannot retain high-quality staff and do not reward employees according to their ability to perform their jobs,...
The chair of the CBI's Public Services Strategy Board combines a commitment to business with a long-held passion for Ipswich Town Football Club. He tells all to Joseph McHugh
Local government faces an uncertain future. The Lyons' report has been largely rejected by ministers, there is the prospect of a messy reorganisation, and local partnerships are failing to get off...
Nurses have demanded a meeting with Chancellor Gordon Brown and Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt as they threatened industrial action over this year's staged pay award.
A white paper on children in care could be published earlier than anticipated as the government steps up the pace of change in this area, experts believe.
