All children should be able to attend good schools, or at least have an equal opportunity of doing so. But that's not the case at present. The controversial new code of admissions aims to even the...
The Parliamentary and health service Ombudsman has found the Department of Health guilty of 'maladministration' in its bungled attempts to correct an earlier error.
Two heads are better than one when it comes to leading a major culture change in children's services. Sally Gainsbury meets the joint presidents of the Association of Directors of Children's Services...
Ministers must close female prisons and replace them with community-based units to prevent the criminal justice system becoming a 'social dustbin' for vulnerable and abused women, penal experts have...
Councils and nursery providers have warned that the proposed national curriculum for babies, toddlers and pre-school children needs to be backed with adequate funding if it is to be a success.
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.
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...
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.
Number 10's online road-pricing e-petition was a huge hit. Not in terms of the likely fate of that policy but because it encouraged nearly 2 million people to put their point of view. Not a bad...
Ministers would set the education and community care budgets of every council in Scotland and take responsibility for managing these services under a radical plan drawn up by a leading civil servant.
Children's services in hospitals are poor because they are underfunded and not given the priority they deserve, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said this week.
Ministers must commit Whitehall departments to new joint Public Service Agreements if they are to tackle the growing gap between unemployment and skills in the North of England compared with the...
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.
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 has shelved controversial plans to produce estimates of public sector productivity as part of an overhaul of national accounting, Public Finance has learnt.
Building more low-cost homes for sale is one of the solutions to the housing crisis. But this doesn't have to be the sole preserve of private developers. In fact, social landlords are taking on this...
The funding system for adult social care is unsustainable and undesirable and should be replaced with an 'Every Older Person Matters' programme, central and local government leaders have said.
The NHS will improve on its 2005/06 deficit of £547m by just £110m, a Department of Health report has forecast, despite staff cutbacks and rationing of patient services.
The future of public service delivery by the voluntary sector needs careful consideration, the charity regulator warned this week as many organisations are not recouping all their costs.
Babies born in poor parts of England or to parents from ethnic minorities are up to seven times as likely to die before the age of one as those born in the richest areas, a government review has...
